Lenders are rushing to secure loans and credit-card debt against houses, says the Ministry of Justice.

The credit crunch is driving banks to shore up lending positions that are now judged too risky as they become ever more jittery about exposing themselves to bad debts.

The number of banks seeking court orders to secure personal debt against property hit 131,644 in 2007, up 42% on the previous year. With a charging order, creditors are given security for the debt, so when a home is sold the lender is repaid from the proceeds.

The figures were obtained by the BBC from internal MoJ reports. They show that while the pace of applications of the so-called charging orders has increased, it is part of a wider trend over the past two years to tighten up lending policies. The number of applications has almost doubled since 2005.

The number of people petitioning for bankruptcy has almost doubled in four years. Chancellor Alistair Darling this week urged the industry to do more to help struggling borrowers. He and housing minister Caroline Flint met mortgage lenders in the wake of the £50 billion Bank of England plan to allow banks to swap mortgage debts for Government bonds.

Shadow Treasury Chief Secretary Philip Hammond this week claimed that personal debt in the UK was growing at an unprecedented £1 million every five minutes.