Paul Holmes, chief executive of Firstrung, says various schemes have been put in place under the advice of the government to give homeowners more leverage when it comes to making their mortgage payments.

“As a short term solution, it has been superb if arrears in whatever form have been wiped clean and people have a fresh start,” he advises.

Mr Holmes’ comments come in response to new figures from the Financial Services Authority, which show the number of home loan accounts in arrears has reduced by nine per cent in the last quarter.

However, he suggests the only reason why lenders became more flexible with who could not keep up with their payments was because of the slight rise in house prices that was seen during 2009.

He advises that if property values fall again, as he expects, arrears and repossessions could rise again “quite dramatically”.

Over one million homeowners in the UK used their credit cards to make mortgage payments over the past year, housing charity Shelter recently noted.

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