BBC 1 'Repossesed - Upsetting To Say The Least!

_Andy_

The_Pawnbroker wrote: »

Banks.... can't live with them... well you know the rest.

Spam you mean?

RobertoMoir

BYALPHAINDIA wrote: »

Just watched a 'Tearful' documentery on BBC 1 - Repossesed.

Charted 3 couples who ended up in a 'Dire' situation at the hands of their Lenders.

Hold on a moment. Irresponsible lending exists and is deplorable, but this is a case where it really does take two to tango; I can't lend irresponsibly to you if you refuse to borrow irresponsibly, for example.

BYALPHAINDIA wrote: »

Norman was shown talking to someone (Bailiff)? and he got rather P****D off at their 'Cold' attitude, They told him there was accomodation at 265.00 or whatever?

He ended up giving them a mouthful, And I would as well.

How can these 'Bailiff's or whatever they are sleep at night.

Are they perfect??

Don't they allow for Anything?

How can (bailiffs) sleep at night? Well when I was a bailiff I had this thing called a bed. I found that a big help.

Are they perfect?? Dunno about now, but I certainly wasn't. If I was perfect, I wouldn't have been made redundant from my job in computing and be forced to take whatever job I could or find myself on my !!! in the street.

Don't they allow for anything? When it comes to evictions, the bailiff has no choice. Their job is to do what they are directed to do by the court and/or the person who owns the debt.

BYALPHAINDIA wrote: »

I bet they (Bailiff's) have if ANY few social friends.Lol

LOL. How witty. ROFLMAO. LMAO. LOL.. I have a good set of friends myself, thank you. Did back when I was a bailiff too. Lol. ROFLMAO. LMAO. LOL.

BYALPHAINDIA wrote: »

What a 'Career' to choose - A Bailiff!!

I doubt that many bailiffs wanted to be one growing up. It isn't a fun job, but doing it is better than being evicted yourself. And taking a job like that certainly took me out of a comfort zone and into the real world. I'm glad I don't do that job any more, but I'm glad I did it because I learnt a lot. I think it would benefit a lot of people to see what goes on in some of these situations.

BYALPHAINDIA wrote: »

When people NEED help, They NEED help and the lenders & their Bailiff friends seem to have no 'Allowance' whatsoever.

That's down to the lender, not the bailiff. And again, the lender has a responsibility to its shareholders to try and recover debts. If only they'd exercised this responsibility sooner in the process and stopped these people getting into trouble in the first place by not making dangerous loans. But then as I said, it takes two to tango, so if only those people hadn't asked for dangerous loans that over-stretched their ability to pay.

BYALPHAINDIA wrote: »

WE ARE ONLY PEOPLE AT THE END OF THE DAY.

WE HAVE TO LIVE IN A HOUSE.

We do? That probably comes as a shock to all those people who live in flats, who share a home, who make do with what they have...

dunstonh

The programme is on Iplayer now if anyone is interested and missed it.

I have watched the first bit (and paused it) about the first couple. My early views are that the information being presented to us is designed to make us feel sorry for them and paints the banks badly. In other words, from the off the editing is pro consumer, anti bank. It has an agenda. There is also enough misinformation for those that can see past the sympathy to realise that the figures mentioned dont add up.

The programme starts by saying it was filmed over 8 months. So, it would have picked up the period of higher interest rates (which were still lower than the long term average it should be noted) and not covered the period of low interest rates.

Issues with couple 1:
1 - They bought their council house 3 years ago after being a long term council tenant. So, that would indicate a discount.
2 - Their fixed rate of 4.1% with Abbey expired 4 months ago and the monthly payment went up £350. Thanks to Iplayer you can pause on the very quick clip which shows the mortgage outstanding was £164,686
3 - The husband said they couldnt afford the increase and said "they automatically put me on the highest rate they had". Of course, what he means is his deal expired and it moved on to variable as it was always going to.
4 - They didnt offer him any deals. Although he didnt go to them to ask for any either. He was no pro-active in seeking a new deal. That said, it looks like (from the statement) that they were already in arrears before the fixed rate deal expired judging by the dates and amounts)
5 - They are £5,000 in arrears. Yet the fixed rate only expired 4 months ago. The increase was £350pm. Those figures dont add up.
6 - They have credit card debts as well.
7 - They are in negative equity in the house.
8 - The husband blames Abbey for not helping them

So, how does a person go into arrears of £5000 and blame it on a £350pm increase that happened 4 months ago?

no onto couple number 2.....

BrightonBlue

testtesttest

beecher

dunston - you're saving me having to watch it. Ta - I think it'd make my blood pressure soar by the sound of things!

dunstonh

couple 2 is the mortgage broker.

He complains about being on an 11% rate. Its clear he is sub-prime. However, he is a mortgage broker. He put himself on that deal. They blame the lender for the 11% rate when others are paying half that.

If I was being cynical and judgemental, I reckon he chose that deal to get the £4500 commission it would have generated. Effectively, trying to get lump sum to clear one debt whilst increasing the monthly on the hope that it will come out right.

Couple 3 is presented as only getting 1 weeks notice of eviction. You dont get one weeks notice that you are going to have to move. The process is longer than that. They also only borrowed £40k but remortgaged frequently and now owe £150k with mutliple lenders. God knows what they did with it as it doesnt appear to be in the house.

One thing that appears to be a common trend is that they all budgeted themselves to the max on the assumption that the good times would continue, house prices would not go down and mortgage payments would not rise. The mortgage broker should know better (and his wife was driving a new car so not much scrimping and saving there).

Bailiff number 1 just knocked on the door of couple 1 and was professional and courteous.

I'm not liking this mortgage broker. He has just whined that a client fee of £3000 hasnt arrived. He is charging massive amounts to deal with clients that are in the same situation as himself. How does he justify a £3000 fee on top of commission?

wymondham

I'd rather fancy being a baliff in this day and age, at least you have good job security! They quite rightly don't get into the moral/social side of things too much as they are just carrying out orders from above.

The cases may be extreme ones for the entertainment value of the program, but I think that many will have watched it thinking this could be coming for them as well......

DKLS

BYALPHAINDIA wrote: »

How can these 'Bailiff's or whatever they are sleep at night.

Are they perfect??

Don't they allow for Anything?

I bet they (Bailiff's) have if ANY few social friends.Lol

What a 'Career' to choose - A Bailiff!!

When people NEED help, They NEED help and the lenders & their Bailiff friends seem to have no 'Allowance' whatsoever.

WE ARE ONLY PEOPLE AT THE END OF THE DAY.

WE HAVE TO LIVE IN A HOUSE.

I am a friend of a bailiff and as far as I know he sleeps very well.

Perhaps with your rose tinted views you should go live on a Kibbutzim.

Johnny_Doe

Since finding out about MSE I've seriously cut my outgoings and only buy things when i can afford them (no loans). For example I drive around in a 'P' reg car. Still runs ok but MOT can get a bit pricey at times..

This has enabled me to pay off my mortgage early at the age of 33! No repossessions here.

I feel sorry for these people who get in financial difficulties but it is avoidable. I've lived well "below" my means to be recession proof and would like to thank everyone here for helping me along the way by posting useful info on this forum.

Cheers and Happy New year!

lisyloo

For example I drive around in an 'P' reg car

What luxury :-) Mine is H.

I have a really rubbish car, but like you will be mortgage free and worry free in a few years.
Well done. You have earnt yourself freedom from worry and a great deal of lifestyle options for a bit of sacrifice.