I hope you will forgive me a touch of trepidation along with anticipation at speaking at UK Finance's Arrears and Possessions conference next week. After all, here you are, an audience of lenders seeking to manage your business risks, and here I am, unashamedly representing a debt advice charity who would really very much prefer it if people did not need to leave their homes at all due to financial problems.

We all understand that there are consequences to non-payment, even if the non-payment is caused by circumstances beyond someone's control. But the question is, whether working together, lenders and advisers like us are truly squeezing every last drop of forbearance that we possibly can out of the toolkit available to try to reduce the harm and misery that debt can cause? If we?re not, what else can we do?

The FCA's thematic review late last year will have been encouraging for mortgage lenders, but the regulator did call some of its findings ?disappointing? and said that some practices had 'the potential to cause harm?.

To paraphrase the FCA, issues included poor communication and record keeping, inconsistent handling of vulnerable customers, a lack of creativity and flexibility in finding alternative solutions, and elements of a 'tick box? rather than truly bespoke approach.

When clients turn to StepChange, it is important to stress that the fundamental cause of their difficulty is usually down to changes in circumstances. But the way that lenders communicate with people facing debt problems doesn't always help them resolve their problems. Crucially, what lenders might regard as customers ?putting their heads in the sand? can equally be regarded from the indebted customer's perspective as ?not giving me any good reason or evidence to believe that getting in touch will result in a better situation for me?. Mortgage lenders are better than many other lenders at this, but there is still more that could be done.

It is also important to acknowledge that as an FCA-regulated entity ourselves - both for the charity's debt advice activities, and for StepChange Financial Solutions specifically in its role as a mortgage and equity release adviser - we do understand the challenges that come with being a regulated firm. We know what it feels like to tread the tightrope to ?get it right? from both a trackable compliance perspective and a client experience one.

We also understand the challenges in encouraging people to get help early. As a charity, one of our own goals is to reach more people at an earlier stage. In fact, we have been piloting a service in another area of lending, credit cards (following the new ?persistent debt? rules) to try to get a better understanding of what works.

Within StepChange Financial Solutions, mortgage and equity release advisers consider borrowing options as part of a holistic approach to mitigating or averting problem debt.

Trepidation aside, there is more that unites us than divides us, and I look forward to meeting everyone coming to the Arrears and Possessions Conference later this week. Together, let us discuss how we can collaborate to make sure that people are helped to navigate the difficult path of mortgage arrears when they do occur with dignity, respect, and appropriate solutions.