Being hounded by Mortgage lender?

ewoodparker

Hi
this is my first posting, but wanted to know if anybody else was experiencing the same dogged hounding I am experiencing from A&L.
3 years ago, I arranged a mortgage through A & L to buy our home. I also opted for their recommended MPPI through Cardif Pinnacle. I have suddenly be made unemployed and being unable to continue Mortgage payments I activated the MPPI.
Now here is where the catches Kick In. The MPPI doesn't pay anything out for the first month and then in arrears if you prove monthly that you are Unemployed and actively seeking employment.
This automatically places you into 2 months of arrears with the Mortgage Lender. A & L have taken a very active policy of chasing me for payments, but being on benefits I cannot pay anything else towards the arrears. I took the MPPI out in the first place to pay the Mortgage payments should i fall unemployed. I have kept the Mortgage Lender continually up to date with my circumstances, but still am being chased. Now that the MPPI is paying out monthly at least my arrears are not increasing. However, A&L are now hounding me about the 2 months of arrears, stating that if account still in arrears after 2 months interest on the arrears will commence.
The stress surrounding unemployment, claiming benefits and making extreme cut backs in expenditure is bad enough without the worry of losing your home , especially when you feel that you have done all you can to prevent it. Everybody I have spoke to about this are surprised that a reputable big company like A&L should be hounding customers this way.
Do other big Lenders act this way or is it just my bad luck.
We are looking at selling our home now to pay off the arrears and balance of Mortgage. We do have quite a lot of equity in the property, which makes all the above even more unbelievable.

Mortgage_Help_4

Look you have done everythig you possibly could in that you have made sure you had unemployment protection and also informed A+L as and when. They are treating you unfairly under the terms of the FSA rules and you should ask them if you could switch to interest only and for them to at least capitalise the 2 months arrears as a payment holiday. They have a duty to treat you fairly and arrange a meeting and state taht you feel that you are not being treated fairly and aks if they can help you by doing the above. Tell them you are selling and you can do no more and ask them to confirm there standard policy on these matters. I hope it all works out for you but don't let them bully you as 2 months arrears is nothing these days and they should not be able to take your house back for this. Most unemployment policies have a minimum deferred period or excess of 30 days and then pay in arrears. Where you have made a mistake is by not having an emergency fund of around 2 to 3 months net salary, however almost 90% of mortgage holders don't so don't worry about it. It sounds like you have seen the worst from A+L and if they tried to take you to court they would lose if you can manage to keep the mortgage arrears to 2. The unemployment payment should be coming to you and not then unless they sold it to you as their own, etc. You probably hold more cards than you think. Best of luck.

opinions4u

ewoodparker wrote: »

This automatically places you into 2 months of arrears with the Mortgage Lender.

Only if you don't make any payments.

There is actually a case for walking in to a branch and making a payment of 1p.

This will mean that even if you miss a payment you are less than a month in arrears.

A & L have taken a very active policy of chasing me for payments, but being on benefits I cannot pay anything else towards the arrears.

You do need to come to some sort of payment arrangement with them, even if it only involves a nominal payment.

It is not unreasonable for a lender to actively seek payment from you.

I took the MPPI out in the first place to pay the Mortgage payments should i fall unemployed. I have kept the Mortgage Lender continually up to date with my circumstances, but still am being chased. Now that the MPPI is paying out monthly at least my arrears are not increasing.

Other readers take note: build up a contingency fund, typically at least 3 months pay, to cover these sort of circumstances.

However, A&L are now hounding me about the 2 months of arrears, stating that if account still in arrears after 2 months interest on the arrears will commence.

It's not unreasonable for them to charge interest when a payment is missed. The amount will be fairly small.

You don't appear to have made an offer to pay anything.

Did you get and payment in lieu of notice or redundancy? If so, what happened to it?

The stress surrounding unemployment, claiming benefits and making extreme cut backs in expenditure is bad enough without the worry of losing your home , especially when you feel that you have done all you can to prevent it. Everybody I have spoke to about this are surprised that a reputable big company like A&L should be hounding customers this way.

You haven't really explained how they have hounded you.

Asking for you to make your contractual mortgage payment isn't hounding.

Is there something about the way the request is made that is threatening?

We are looking at selling our home now to pay off the arrears and balance of Mortgage. We do have quite a lot of equity in the property, which makes all the above even more unbelievable.

Just because you have equity doesn't mean it would be responsbile for a lender to allow you to continue to miss mortgage payments.

You need to call them. Talk to somebody senior in their collections team and agree some sort of reduced contribution towards the mortgage payments.

uzubairu

opinions4u wrote: »

Other readers take note: build up a contingency fund, typically at least 3 months pay, to cover these sort of circumstances.

Couldn't agree more.

ewoodparker

Thanks to all who have replied to my posting. I am gratefull. Needed a bit of realism surrounding the events and process, as all seem surreal at the moment.