Dutch mortgage providers can do more to help clients who run into payment difficulties, the financial services regulator AFM said on Thursday.

In particular, mortgage companies are too focused on recovering the debt and not enough on the interests of their customers, the AFM said in a new report.

The AFM looked at the approach of the 12 biggest mortgage providers and how they dealt with people who were in arrears. In the report, which does not name any names, the mortgage firms score an average of 2.2 out of five.

Figures show almost 113,000 people in the Netherlands are behind in paying off their mortgages.

The AFM says all mortgage providers charge clients a fine if they fall into arrears, without asking if the extra charge will make the problem worse. In addition, they don’t look at their customer’s overhaul financial health and do not look for a tailor-made solution, the AFM.

‘Mortgage providers are more concerned with recovering the debt than finding a sustainable solution,’ the AFM said.