Record mortgage payback

Homeowners pay back £7bn in three months.

Mortgage borrowers have been paying back record amounts, as they shore up their finances and take advantage of lower interest rates.

The Bank of England has revealed that in the last quarter of 2010 homeowners returned £7bn, the biggest figure since records began in the 1970s.

During the housing boom homeowners used extra mortgage borrowing to cover other spending, such as car purchases and holidays.

Now the opposite is happening, as families try to curb their debts and lenders demand higher mortgage deposits.

The amount paid back over 2010, at more than £24bn, was an all-time record as well.