Mortgage Arrears Help Guide Discussion Area

johnboy1980

I am a barrister based in the South East. As I am relatively junior, some of my work consists of mortgage repossessions.

I have acted both for the lender and the borrower.

The best advice I can give anyone in difficulties is CONTACT YOUR LENDER!

In many, if not most situations, they will be happy to help. I recently managed to negotiate a 12 month payment vacation for a borrower who had been made redundant.


Do NOT save your information until you reach the door of the courtroom. At this stage, the lender can quite rightly say that they are being ambushed. If you are, for example, 3 months in arrears, then the unfortunate truth is that the lender has a RIGHT to possession. If however you keep them in the loop, they are far more likely to allow some space. Today I dealt with a lady who had not paid a penny towards her mortgage in 14 months. By keeping the lender informed she was given space. She did take liberties towards the end however, hence the court case. However even at that court case she was offered the chance to pay her current monthly instalment plus an extra £29. As such she did not lose her home.

On the other hand, a failure to communicate can leave a lender with a sour taste- it is not uncommon to see repossessions after 3 months, so KEEP IN TOUCH WITH THE LENDER!!


I hope the above helps!

jest

Hi Lavender789
This is a great piece of advice but readers also need to be aware that some unscrupulous lenders are more than happy to lie in their court documents and say that they have undertook the necessary Pre-Action Protocol before issuing proceedings. Beware that if you have spoken to your lender and not written to them and received a written reply it is simply your word against theirs in a court of law.
If you need to contact your lender -write to them and send it recorded delivery so that you have a record of it being sent. If you don't hear from them, write again and give them 10 days to respond, the FSA's recommended time limit.
If you still don't receive a response write to the Financial Services Ombudsman but do be aware that they are unlikely to deal with your case immediately (there is around a three month backlog on complaints) and even when they do respond their action may not wholly satisfy your complaint. The Ombudsman is pretty powerless against some lenders - especially those outside the mainstream banks and building societies like Blemain Finance (a subsiduary of Barclays) who you will see have not signed up to the Govt's mortgage help initiatives.
All in all the Pre-Action Protocol is pretty toothless when dealing with these
organisations. But if you know better or have a way forward do let me know.

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

vix2000

carmen_sm8 wrote: »

Hi Mark
Abbey have a payment holiday clause - am I to assume that you have already used up this option and deferred payment?

my friends husband went to prison in May and left her with no income. I advised her to contact the abbey and ask for a mortgage holiday to help until she sorts things out. She has telephoned them 3 times to be told that hers isn't that kind of mortgage? And that this scheme is for people on a low income? My opinion is that they are trying to fob her off, but are they right?

dogsrus

Does anyone know if Royal Bank of Scotland have a holiday clause in their mortgage contracts ? I have read mine through several times and can't find any reference to one.

tarzan73

hi, Im just wondering if anybody can give me any advice on my current situation... i purchased my current home with a partner, who after a month of moving in disappeared off the face of the earth without contributing towards the mortgage repayments... (which im sure its illegal to sign a written contract then not abide to the terms you agreed too?). Since ive been left to struggle with the repayments myself, its got to the point now where i cant afford to pay bills or even buy food on occasions & im getting into serious debt because of this. I have visited the lender on many occasions to ask for a payment holiday or to pay intrest only to help me get back on my feet... but they say they cant do this as it needs a joint signature from both parties, but my ex partner refuses to cooperate.. I have explained the situation to the lender but they say they cant get involved as its a private matter. The house was bought at the top of the housing boom, so is now in negative equity, selling is possibly the best option that i have, but even so with this there will be a mortgage shortfall in this present ecconomical climate & it could be on the market a while, in the meantime i still have to keep up the mortgage reypayments on my own to avoid getting into arrears... i really am struggling so any advice would be very much appreciated, thankyou.

Chameleon1972

I would like some advice, i was made redundant in september, i am not in arrears but may soon start struggling as i am only on JSA and some housing benefit due to my house being shared ownership and the redundancy money will run out soon which i have used to pay my mortgage, bills and C/C debts & unsecured loans. I am worried that if i contact my mortgage company they may blacklist me or be anti as i am not working at present

dee67

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone can help. I havent actually missed any payments on my mortgage yet, but am thinking of writing to them to see if they can give me some breathing space. I havent had a pay increase for the last three years, and as everyone knows everything else has went up. I've got to the stage now where I'm struggling a bit to pay my monthly bills, as well as a credit card bill, and a couple of loans.

I feel if I could have a couple of months help on the mortgage thing I could get myself back on track, but I'm not sure the mortgage company would see my situation as 'urgent', so to speak.....So I'm not sure how to word a letter to them, as I say, I havent lost my job or anything like that, but AM struggling to keep up payments at the moment.....:o(

Any advice anyone?

Thanks

Mickyfinn

Hi dee67,

As Johnboy1980 suggested it's best to let your lender know as early as possible that you are having difficulties making your monthly payments. Your lender will then be able to let you know what your options are if your situation gets worse. Forewarned is forearmed!

Whenever you deal with a mortgage company record names of people you have spoken to, the time and date of calls and if you are in arrears follow up your calls with a letter or email confirming what was agreed. That way if you end up in court you can demonstrate you have communicated with your lender and have an audit trail.

Not all lenders follow the process by the book but doing this and getting signed for deliveries will put you in the strongest possible position.

Micky

dee67

Thanks for the advice Mickeyfinn

ciacai

Due to a severe drop in my income last year, i fell behind in my mortgage payments (3 months), I have since started paying the full monthly mortgage payment but cannot get to the stage of paying back the arrears, I have asked the bank (Direct line) if they will help me i.e. move from repayment to interest only or better still to move the arrears to the end of the mortgage, the bank is not for helping with this and it is stressing me out.

What else can I do?