Almost one in ten home owners wrongly believe that the government will pay their mortgage if they are unable to do so for reasons such as redundancy or illness, according to new research.



However, the government will not help anyone with mortgage payments for the first nine months of unemployment and after that, unemployment assistance is only offered to a select group of people who have mortgages of less than £100,000.

A further seven per cent of those surveyed by Lincoln Financial Group were not sure whether government assistance is available, and were seemingly unaware that the last Conservative government scrapped state aid in 1995.

Ian Noble, head of strategic partnerships at Lincoln Financial Group, said that the figures were a warning that million of Britons are enjoying a false sense of financial security, believing that the government will provide financial assistance if and when required.

"That is not the case unfortunately. The government is not going to pay for your mortgage if you lose your job, and assuming that it will place people in real danger is a large risk as it suggests they have no other mortgage protection plan in place," said Mr. Noble.

Indicative of this perhaps is the news that mortgage repossessions are still continuing to rise dramatically, with repossession orders in England and Wales in the first three months of 2006 witnessing a 57 per cent rise.

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