Let there be no doubt: there are large numbers of people who can pay but won’t pay. These people are not the victims and they do not deserve sympathy.
For the genuine cases the protections and restructuring options now exist, and funds are best-placed to work this through. Banks are not meant to be in this business, and leaving the loans on their balance sheets hurts us all, especially those future borrowers who will face punitive interest rates to pay for those who are gaming the system.
It is high time to get real. It can no longer be acceptable for an investor to pay himself from rents that are meant to be repaying debt and it is no longer acceptable for homeowners to refuse to pay what they can, just because it does not suit them to pay.