Mortgage lenders are gearing up for a rise in repossessions by publishing manuals for MPs to advise them how to deal with constituents in danger of losing their homes.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), which represents 98 per cent of the mortgage industry, revealed its plans in a letter to the Chancellor, which also outlined its intention to launch an internet course in “arrears and possessions”. This will be available for mortgage lenders' staff to brush up their skills in dealing with customers who fall behind with their mortgage payments. The course will be aimed at workers such as call centre staff, collections staff and supervisors, the CML said.

Repossessions are set to rise by 50 per cent this year to 45,000, according to the CML. This is the highest level since 1995. At the height of the housing market crash in 1991, about 75,500 properties were repossessed by banks and building societies.

Michael Coogan, director-general of the CML, said in the letter: “With a worsening economic environment and an incomplete safety net for borrowers, we cannot be complacent about prospects and the challenges facing borrowers, lenders and public policy makers.”

However, Vince Cable, Treasury spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said that he was concerned about plans to publish specific information for MPs, which comes two months after the British Banker's Association sent pamphlets to all 646 MPs outlining how to help constituents experiencing debt problems. “MPs have no experience as financial advisers. Using us is a poor substitute for having independent debt advice,” he said.

The CML said that it was drawing up a new set of guidelines for lenders dealing with repossessions, including an action plan that lenders should follow before issuing court proceedings and underlining that repossession should be a last resort for lenders.

Just over 27,500 repossession orders were granted by English and Welsh courts in the first three months of the year, nearly a fifth more than in the same period last year, figures from the Ministry of Justice showed. However, not all repossession orders lead to repossessions, as an agreement may be reached before the order is enforced.

A CML spokesman said that borrowers were much higher up the agenda than in the 1990s: “It is much more of a consumer agenda now. Mortgage lenders are also regulated now, which they weren't in the 1990s.”

While mortgage lenders are regulated by the Financial Services Authority and so must abide by its rules - which state that repossession should be used only when other alternatives are not possible - Mr Coogan said that lenders still had their own routines for managing debtors. The guidelines would attempt to address this, bringing all lenders broadly into line in their approach to borrowers.

The CML could not confirm when its guidelines would be completed.

Mr Cable queried if sub-prime lenders would stick to the CML guidelines: “There are many sub-prime lenders and other creditors who do not have the scruples of the main mortgage lenders. Unless these guidelines are enshrined in law, it is difficult to see what impact they will have on the spiralling number of repossessions.”

Sub-prime lenders have been quicker to repossess than high street lenders. Moira Haynes, of Citizen's Advice, said: “We have a lot of evidence that these lenders tend to use court action as a first, rather than a last, resort.”

Chris Tapp, of Credit Action, a debt charity, said that the CML's plans lacked substance. “To a degree, this is just lip-service ... The CML's comments are insubstantial.”

By numbers

75,500
Number of repossessions in 1991 at height of housing crash

27,100
Number of repossessions in 2007

45,000
Number of repossessions forecast in 2008

Source: CML