Repossessions: Just a little more time

Royal Bank of Scotland has a solution for the rising number of defaulting mortgage borrowers: cut them some slack. The state-controlled UK bank is trailblazing a six-month moratorium on payments for struggling customers before starting repossession proceedings. The policy makes for good PR and popular politics – meaning rival lenders probably will follow suit. But it isn’t without risk. The approach is even more generous than it first seems. Foreclosure typically takes six months, so RBS custom...