In an interview with The Guardian, Mike Regnier, chief executive of Santander UK, said that there had been a rise in the number of borrowers falling behind on their mortgage repayments, noting that this was likely a knock-on effect of the cost-of-living crisis.
Regnier said the rise was “not yet a significant increase”, and that there had been an uptick in struggles for borrowers of all kinds, from mortgages to overdrafts and credit cards.
Regnier confirmed that Santander was putting aside more money to cover potential defaults, noting that provisions had been increased from £52m in the first quarter of the year to £66m in the second.
A spokesperson for Santander said: “Our mortgage teams have been very busy with customers asking about options, however we have only seen a very slight increase in people struggling with payments.”
The latest arrears and repossessions figures from UK Finance found that while arrears fell in the second quarter of the year, there were “early signs” of the rising cost of living starting to impact borrowers.
According to forecasts from Capital Economics last week, a surge in arrears and repossessions is now “unavoidable” as a result of the economic situation.
