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The number of lenders seeking court orders to secure personal debt against property hit 131,644 in 2007, a 42% rise year-on-year.

"It's a drastic increase," said Mark Sands of the accountants KPMG.

""You take on an unsecured loan or credit card, you fall into arrears, the bank decides to take you to court, and if you still don't pay you end up with a charge imposed on your house by the court.

"Lenders are looking at all options to get their money back," he added.

While applications for charging orders have increased 42% over a year, the growth over two years - between 2005 and 2007 - is close to 100%.

The charging orders are effectively a second mortgage on a home and give creditors security for their loans if they find their customers are having trouble repaying the money.

"Lenders are worried about people's ability to repay and a charging order gives a guarantee to the lender that at some point in the future they will get their money back," said John Fairhurst of the debt advisory company Payplan.

A charge on a home does not immediately compel the debtor to sell their property and the lender usually hopes to be repaid when a home is eventually sold by the borrower.

"What's quite difficult for a creditor to do is to follow that [charging order] through to repossess the house," said Mr Fairhurst.

"Repossessions as a result of charging orders are extremely rare."