If you are a homeowners under the threat of repossession, did you know that you could be offered a 'mortgage holiday' from your payments in order to keep you under your own roof?

It's just one proposal that the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, will be discussing at a government summit later week, in a bid to help those of you at risk of defaulting on your mortgage.

Other proposals include putting those of you with previously good credit records on flexible mortgages (which allow a few months' breathing space from payments, to be made up in the future) or even deals allowing you to sell up to your mortgage lender but stay on as rent-paying tenants.

This week the Bank of England should unveil their plans to put £50 billion into the mortgage market, but Alistair Darling will make it clear that he wants the benefits to be passed to homeowners through cheaper mortgages and more help for those in trouble.

• How do flexible mortgages help?

Flexible mortgages allow you to underpay for a few months and then make bigger compensating payments later if your circumstances have improved.

Many mortgage lenders also offer you 'mortgage holidays' for those of you with particular circumstances, (i.e. if you are having a baby), which could be extended.

The Government is already studying so-called 'rentback' schemes now operated by private companies which offer to buy houses from struggling owners, and then rent the same house back to them as tenants.

However, some housing charities say that desperate families are being exploited by their homes being bought at less than two-thirds of their market value and ministers, together with the Financial Services Authority, are already examining stricter regulation.

• How about shared ownership?

Another option is to encourage more mortgage lenders to offer their own shared-ownership schemes to those of you with a good track record but who have been struggling to meet your payments. The bank would effectively buy your house and you would stay on as the bank's tenant, paying them rent.

• Is the Government doing enough?

All these ideas come on the back of strong criticism from Labour MPs who believe the Government is not doing enough for those of you at risk. Up to two million customers due to come off cheap fixed-rate mortgage deals this year face remortgaging just as lenders are scrapping such offers and house prices are falling.

Mortgage lenders propose increased state support for those of you who lose your jobs and then default on your mortgage.

Currently you are only entitled to state help with your mortgage once you have been unemployed for 9 months; by which time some of you may have lost your home.

A spokesman from the Department for Work and Pensions said ministers understood the pressures on homeowners and were ready to listen to mortgage lenders but added:

'It is a balance between what it costs the state to do this versus making life easier for individuals. There is obviously not a lot of spare capacity (in the welfare budget).'

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