 | BORROWERS BEWARE  We seem to have here the most lax regulatory regime anywhere in the developed western world
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Ange and Steve are desperate: they are about to lose their home.
Jeannette Sharratt, meanwhile, has lived under the shadow of repossession for 16 years.
Just two of many families across the country fighting to save their homes.
Debt has soared in Britain in recent years, and home ownership is a key part of that trend. We owe close to �1 trillion in mortgages alone.
But many people are excluded from High Street lenders through their poor credit history, with outstanding debts or country court judgements against them.
They turn to companies charging higher interest rates, sometimes 3-4 percentage points above the norm.
Ange and Steve bought into the home-owning dream.
Encouraged by their broker, they borrowed more than they could afford - and when their fixed rate ended they found themselves in real trouble.
"There was a discount of 2% for 11 months which was fine in the beginning and then it jumped back up and that's when the difficulties started kicking in," Steve said.
Other less scrupulous lenders charge far higher rates of interest.
�100,000 debt
Jeannette Sharratt from Blackpool borrowed �2,500 18 years ago from a "sub prime" lender called London North Securities.
The firm charged an interest rate of 40%.
She ended up with a debt of �100,000. The company wanted her house.
Although Jeanette missed a few payments, over 12 years she had repaid �10,000 of interest on a �2,500 loan.
"The lenders are almost wishing borrowers to default because it is more profitable for a lender to fine a borrower who has missed payments," says Ahmad Butt, a money adviser at the Citizens Advice Bureau.
The stress of fighting for her house took its toll on the whole family. Her son Jamie says now that he couldn't concentrate at school.
Jeanette remembers staying inside for days, refusing to go out fearful the company would come and change the locks.
She even sold her engagement ring and all her furniture and carpets to try and make the payments.
Wiped out
Last November a judge finally wiped the Sharratt's debt and threw out the company's bid to repossess their home.
A few days later her husband Frank had a stroke and can now do little for himself.
"We seem to have here the most lax regulatory regime anywhere in the developed western world," Mr Butt said.
New consumer credit legislation is currently going through parliament.
It should help prevent people being sold loans that put them at undue risk of defaulting - and then losing their home.
Using your home as surety is the easiest way to get a loan.
It's the safest bet for the lender - but a huge risk for the average person, a huge risk that many people take to pay for home improvements or simply to consolidate their debts.
But if you have trouble making payments and fall into arrears your home could be at stake, and today we are seeing more and more people paying the ultimate price and losing their homes.
"Think very, very carefully before you secure any debt on your house," Charlotte Bentham of the Gloucester Money Advice Service, said.
Borrowers Beware, the second of five programmes on Britain's Streets of Debt Series, was first broadcast on BBC TV on Tuesday 6 June at 0915, and can still be seen here online.
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