Repossession payback £50 month then £75 fees???

nrsql

jbindebt wrote: »

Sorry for the delay in replying all. I actually thought there was no point fighting this but you have all given me the boost to at least speak up. what really annoyed me at the time was that when I complained I was told " I understand your concerns but at least your debt is being paid off" to which I replied "Yes but in 80 months time I'll be worse off and still owe you the same amount of money," to get "no, you misunderstand, in 80 months your debt will be paid, you will owe us fees which are a different matter." Every word of that is true!!!

Let's get this straight.
You owe £4000. Yoy have agreed in court to pay this off at £50 a month so it is cleared in 80 months at which point you will owe £6000?

Usually when you make a payment to a debt I wouldn't expect the outstanding amount to increase.

jbindebt

My annual statement arrived a few days ago which prompted all this. Currently I owe £3501.86 in arrears and am currently repaying at £50 per month so approx 70 months to go. In addition I have a fees balance of £1514.50 dating back to July 2008 when the mortgage at one point reached in excess of £1300. I was in touch every month and explained the same story that it was beyond my means but I could give approx £1100 in good faith. Obviously seeing they were on to a good thing they were always friendly and helpful and explained that £75 per month "arrangement management fees" would be charged as I was in arrears. The repo came into play when we reached the "over two months in total payments procedure" even though it took seven months to get there. On my statement it clearly identifys these recurring fees before AND after the hearing. Thereby I am now paying off my debt as arranged in court and being charged £75 to do so. This will mean that when my arrears are cleared in 70 months I will then have a nice shiny fees balance of £6764. Also noted clearly on the fees summary are the legal costs to me for the whole debacle. The current interest balance on the fees balance is £301.60 so in 70 months time it will be ridiculous. I appreciate that fees etc are all there for a reason but when your trying to get back on your feet (and to be fair Ive seen some worse stories than mine!) it's criminal that these companies can charge you even more to do so. Letter went to the Mortgage company on Thursday, I'll let you know. Many thanks all.

Mrs_Bumble

Like I said above jbindebt the fees pre the hearing are one thing. Fees after hearing are another.

See my post above and seek some legal opinon.

Each month (pre hearing) did you receive a statement detailing your arrears and the charge? (this is important)

When you contacted them every month did they offer to put an arrangement in place?

Did you speak to their arrears department?

Seems to me that if you were in contact with them every month, that the court case could have been avoided, they could have put an arrangement in place for the repayment of arrears, without the court costs.

Who is the lender?

My questions:

Who is the lender? I ask this again because there are some lenders under the FSA microscope at the minute.
Did they ever go through an income and expenditure form with you to see what your situation was and how they could help?
Did they ever make any other suggestions of ways to help, another mortgage deal within the lenders portfolio, extend the term?
Why did the lender not formally make an arrangement to pay with you? - this one is really stumping me, they have an obligation to try to make arrangements with you, court is usually reserved for those clients that don't get in touch, can't get hold of, or in some instances where arrangements have been made in the past then you would seek a court order to back the arrangement up.
Why they are still charging fees when a court order is in place.
Was it the actual arrears/collections department that you were speaking to or just a general mortgage helpline, maybe there has been some breakdown in communication.

It would appear from what you say above that more could have been done to help you, and I can quite understand why you are not happy.

Get them to respond in writing to the questions above.

Mrs_Bumble

This might help as well, there are information on agencies that provide help for people in arrears and they maybe able to help you further with trying to get some of your costs appealed.

http://www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk/pdfs/mortgage_cantpay.pdf

sniffercat

Hi, I find your post very interesting reading as i am in the same position but with a different company. I am with MAS no 5, and their charges are horrendous. I also understand charges, fees etc but how about a one off fee rather thena monthly figure that we have to pay interest on. Also how many times can they take you to court as i am getting letters saying this each month as i am not paying the arrears off as quick as they would like.

I am watching your post with baited breath as if you have good luck claiming your charges back then it will prompt me into doing the same.

Mrs_Bumble

sniffercat wrote: »

Hi, I find your post very interesting reading as i am in the same position but with a different company. I am with MAS no 5, and their charges are horrendous. I also understand charges, fees etc but how about a one off fee rather thena monthly figure that we have to pay interest on. Also how many times can they take you to court as i am getting letters saying this each month as i am not paying the arrears off as quick as they would like.

I am watching your post with baited breath as if you have good luck claiming your charges back then it will prompt me into doing the same.

Are they making arrangements to pay with you and are they being maintained? They can take you to court as many times as an arrangement is broken.

See the link above for the FSA guidance on getting help when in arrears.

jbindebt

My questions:

Who is the lender? I ask this again because there are some lenders under the FSA microscope at the minute.
Did they ever go through an income and expenditure form with you to see what your situation was and how they could help?
Did they ever make any other suggestions of ways to help, another mortgage deal within the lenders portfolio, extend the term?
Why did the lender not formally make an arrangement to pay with you? - this one is really stumping me, they have an obligation to try to make arrangements with you, court is usually reserved for those clients that don't get in touch, can't get hold of, or in some instances where arrangements have been made in the past then you would seek a court order to back the arrangement up.
Why they are still charging fees when a court order is in place.
Was it the actual arrears/collections department that you were speaking to or just a general mortgage helpline, maybe there has been some breakdown in communication.

It would appear from what you say above that more could have been done to help you, and I can quite understand why you are not happy.

Get them to respond in writing to the questions above.[/QUOTE]

jbindebt

Sorry, havn't mastered the quote thing yet.

OK....Lender is Rooftop Mortgages.
Yes income expenditure was completed but they agreed that there was not enough money to go around. The conversation was always understanding and non threatening and we were told to "pay what you can" to keep the missed payments under the two months limit. The variable interest rate meant monthly payments jumping from £900 to eventually £1387 at it's height before the LIBOR rate was reduced. We are currently back to £950 inclusive of arrears payments.They refused any other package as understandably the industry was going into meltdown.They were actually apologetic when we had to go to court as "we can see you have always been in touch and tried your best without burying your head in the sand, we don't have to chase you and the payments you make are always on time and never missed completely, we are just following procedure." The monthly charges were described as "every month you are in arrears you will be charged £75 until you get back in line as stated in our tariff." Last week we were told, "it covers the work we do chasing you, writing letters,making calls and making sure your payment has been received." When explained that we never gave them cause to do that I was told apologetically again, "I'm sorry but even though you are of no trouble to us we have to treat everyone the same." I don't know why the fees are being charged after the order. Maybe as it is a suspended order there is some loophole for them? It was made quite clear that if we miss one payment then they without notice can complete repossession proceedings.(I do understand it takes several months though). No failed arrangements in the past, in court the bloodthirsty Solicitor had to nod in agreement that we paid over £1000 every month without fail and strangely wished us the best of luck when we left! Always the arrears/litigation department we spoke to and again never threatened agressively.
I hope this helps some others who are trying to figure it all out. I am due to speak to my old Shelter court advisor tomorrow to see if this is all legit and will let you know.

Mrs_Bumble

I had a feeling it would be a non mainstream lender, this article might be of some interest
http://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=188738&d=340&h=341&f=342&nl=MM_BN&dep=webops&dte=220609
Think it is good idea to speak to the Shelter advisor, I really can't see how they can justify the monthly charges now that a court order is in place. Good luck!

jbindebt

Interesting! Pity they didn't name the !!!!!!s.
We have to remember that we signed the forms and obviously have to deal with the consequences and although I have a fairly good attitude to standing my corner, when it comes to "i'ts this way because WE say so" then there's little that you can do about it.
Thanks again.