Mortgage Arrears Help Guide Discussion Area

Former_MSE_Dan

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Mortgage Arrears Help Guide

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amersall

i think its awfull that the only help the government will give is if you have disabled. elderly or children living with you. what about people like us who earn under 60000, we got behind with mortgage as i lost my job. where is the help for us? sometimes i dont think it pays you to work we would be better off on benefits.(sorry just needed a moan)

mullinp

My Dad's got into a bit of a strange situation. He has been self employed for the past 5 years and been paying for MPPI. He had to give up in January as he was not earning enough to pay the outgoings. Unable to find another job after a couple of weeks, he contacted his MPPI company who send him some forms to fill out. One of the requirements is for him to get a letter from the Inland Revenue to prove that he has ceased trading. Upon contacting the Inland Revenue they refused, saying that they don't issue such letters as he is Self Employed. The MPPI company say that they cannot process his claim without the letter.

In the meantime, my Dad had run out of money to live on (to buy food). Mortgage, utility bills, council tax, direct debits etc have not been paid for 4 months now. Due to this situation, my Dad attempted to claim Job Seekers Allowance. After going through the "process", they are refusing to give him any money as they say that he has MPPI. He has told the JSA people that the MPPI people are not paying out but nothing seems to be happening.

So now he finds himself in this triangle of hell. Any advise would be appreciated.

KERENSA_3

amersall wrote: »

i think its awfull that the only help the government will give is if you have disabled. elderly or children living with you. what about people like us who earn under 60000, we got behind with mortgage as i lost my job. where is the help for us? sometimes i dont think it pays you to work we would be better off on benefits.(sorry just needed a moan)

I just wanted to say that that isn't strictly true - we have a 15 month old, I work for less than £550 a month take home, we do get wtc and ctc, and my other half was self employed, work ran out, and was refused income based JSA as apparently I earn enough to keep us and pay hte bills etc. We're struggling to pay the mortgage big time and the building society are only letting us have reduced payments for 2 months before we have to resume normal payments plus what we reduced by on top. There is no government help for us as our building society (Chelsea) hasn't signed up to the govt scheme, we don't have any equity anymore and my OH doesn't get JSA - we will be repossessed eventually at this rate if no work comes in for my other half or if we don't sell our flat (been on market for a year now and dropped asking price by 25k)

darkandsparkling

Yep - my reply is along similar lines......the company I work for have taken the decision to "ask" everyone (thousands of us) to agree to cutting each individual's wages by 2.5% - it will mean a lot of people will be in the postion of having a "reduction in income" and not being able to afford mortgage payments as many have been struggling already as there have been no rises to meet the rising costs of everything else for the last 18 months!
I'm very thankful as I'm in rented and have a lovely landlord! :A - I've been very lucky to be able to negotiate a reduction in my rent with him as he understands the situation, and with his portfolio, it turns out he was in a position to be able to do this for me!:j Have to admit I found it very embarrassing having to ask, however if anyone else is in this position it may be worth a try!

lavender789

Hi All,

Just thought I would pot this to give some of you a bit of hope. (By the way, I am also after some advice and have posted a thread on the Mortgage Forum, so if anybody would kindly take a look?)

Personally I think that the Government help for mortages is a little after the horse has bolted. The Mortgage Rescue Scheme appears very difficult for Local Authorities to administer, and is estimated to only help 6000 families across the UK. Which really is a drop in the ocean compared to the sheer numbers of people experiencing or facing problems - myself included.

What I will say however, is that there is now a new little peice of policy, which allegedly has a little bit of law behind it, this is called the Mortgage Pre-Action protocol, this means that lenders HAVE to have applied their hardship options prior to going for possession of a property. Hardship options include switching to interest only payments, deferring payments, adding the arrears to the back of the loan, extending the term of the loan etc etc. I would suggest that if anybody is facing action or is attending Court that you make sure that you ask your lender to discuss the hardship options with you, and if they havn't or they won't then mention the Pre-Action Protocol to them or to the Judge and ask for it to be considered, this may just save you your homes, buy you some time to get back on your feet, and save your worries and stress.

i hope this is of some help to some people.
x

mcneilj

Dear Sirs,

My mortgage is with the NatWest Bank. Would taking a 3 month mortgage holiday affect my credit rating?

juneandon

lavender789 wrote: »

Hi All,

Just thought I would pot this to give some of you a bit of hope. (By the way, I am also after some advice and have posted a thread on the Mortgage Forum, so if anybody would kindly take a look?)

Personally I think that the Government help for mortages is a little after the horse has bolted. The Mortgage Rescue Scheme appears very difficult for Local Authorities to administer, and is estimated to only help 6000 families across the UK. Which really is a drop in the ocean compared to the sheer numbers of people experiencing or facing problems - myself included.

What I will say however, is that there is now a new little peice of policy, which allegedly has a little bit of law behind it, this is called the Mortgage Pre-Action protocol, this means that lenders HAVE to have applied their hardship options prior to going for possession of a property. Hardship options include switching to interest only payments, deferring payments, adding the arrears to the back of the loan, extending the term of the loan etc etc. I would suggest that if anybody is facing action or is attending Court that you make sure that you ask your lender to discuss the hardship options with you, and if they havn't or they won't then mention the Pre-Action Protocol to them or to the Judge and ask for it to be considered, this may just save you your homes, buy you some time to get back on your feet, and save your worries and stress.

i hope this is of some help to some people.
x

I am an advisor in a local authority. In my limited experience there seems to me very few scenarios when repossession is necessary. The lenders are complaining that borrowers are not engaging and contacting them. If contact is made I am convinced that the vast majority of problems can be resolved. The lenders dont want to repossess, not because they care but because they cant sell the houses they take back. IF YOU ARE IN ARREARS - CONTACT YOUR LENDER AND/OR LOCAL AUTHORITY. If this is done there are so many ways to avoid legal action so repossession is really not necessary.

juneandon

I am an advisor in a local authority. In my limited experience there seems to me very few scenarios when repossession is necessary. The lenders are complaining that borrowers are not engaging and contacting them. If contact is made I am convinced that the vast majority of problems can be resolved. The lenders dont want to repossess, not because they care but because they cant sell the houses they take back. IF YOU ARE IN ARREARS - CONTACT YOUR LENDER AND/OR LOCAL AUTHORITY. If this is done there are so many ways to avoid legal action so repossession is really not necessary.

juneandon

REPLY TO MULLINP

Is your father sole-trader or limited. He can ask Inland Revenue to change status to PAYE - if limited, wind up the company at companies house and confirm to MPPI

juneandon

darkandsparkling wrote: »

Yep - my reply is along similar lines......the company I work for have taken the decision to "ask" everyone (thousands of us) to agree to cutting each individual's wages by 2.5% - it will mean a lot of people will be in the postion of having a "reduction in income" and not being able to afford mortgage payments as many have been struggling already as there have been no rises to meet the rising costs of everything else for the last 18 months!
I'm very thankful as I'm in rented and have a lovely landlord! :A - I've been very lucky to be able to negotiate a reduction in my rent with him as he understands the situation, and with his portfolio, it turns out he was in a position to be able to do this for me!:j Have to admit I found it very embarrassing having to ask, however if anyone else is in this position it may be worth a try!

Did you try applying for Housing Benefits??