Repossession!!!!

hitchins

I hope somebody can help on this matter.

At the end of last year (November) my husband became unable to work due to anxiety and agorophobia, we were unable to make the mortgage payments as my wage only covered basic living expenses. My husband has insurance cover and kept the mortgage company informed of our predicament. We could only claim for insurance after he had been off for a period of 13 weeks, so at 13 weeks my husband sent off his claim (which we are still waiting for, after over 2 months!!!).

He is now back at work and we are desperately trying to get back on our feet. As soon as he was working, he telephoned the mortgage company to make arrangements to pay and also to clear the arrears, the arrangement was made, and we have kept up with it, also before my husband became ill we had NEVER missed a payment.

This morning we have received court papers claiming repossession!!!??? I am so angry and frustrated. We have to go to court on 11th July and also pay an extra £150.00 for the privilege.

I do not know what people are meant to do in these situations, I just cannot beleive they are commencing legal proceedings even though we are making payment and we are still waiting for the insurance to pay out. I feel physically sick, and totally bemused by the whole thing.

Talk about picking you up before you fall!

Help!_pale_

charlies_mum

Contact your Citizens Advice Bureau asap. They should be able to give advice and legal help.

Good luck

AndrewSmith

Hi,

First thing is not to make yourself ill with worry. This is just the first stage for the lender in what would be a long road of claiming posession.

The most important thing is to keep calm and continue to pay whatever you can afford to the mortgage company. By paying what you can afford you are showing a willingness to keep up repayments.

Attend the court hearing and state to the presiding magistrate that you have been paying what you can afford and state the diary of events that have lead up to this situation.

What will happen next, if the judge is satisfied that you have made every attempt to make payments, is you will be served with a 'suspended posession order'.

This is where you will make an agreement of an amount to pay each month, reviewable usually after 6 months. You can also ask for the arrears to be capitalised (added to the mortgage) to further reduce the monthly amount you have to pay.

One you have this 'suspended posession order' in place it is vital that come hell or high water, every payment is made on time without fail. Any breach of the agreement could result in a 30 day posession order and the lender taking back the property.

Another avenue could be to look at moving away from this mortgage company, thus removing any threat of reposession. After all, if the mortgage is no longer with them they can't reposess you can they?

Look very carefully though as the interest rates payable in your situation on a new mortgage could be quite a bit higher than normal, however it may be beneficial firstly to stop the reposession proceedings, secondly to reduce your payments if your existing lender will not capitalise the arrears, and thirdly to begin re-building a good payment history with a new lender.

You would not be looking to stay with the new lender for any more than, say, 2-3 years after which you may be able to re-apply with a more mainstream lender at near highstreet rates.

Before everyone jumps down my throat about 'adverse lenders etc' I am merely offering the possible solutions to the current situation having dealt with a few reposession cases in the past. It is entirely the decision of the borrower what they decide to do in the end.

Hope this helps

Andy

MortgageMamma

Don't Panic

Who is your lender? Have you kept an open dialogue with your lender regarding the situation? Are they aware you are claiming on your payment protection? Have you been chasing your payment protection company regularly? Have the payment protection company actually written and confirmed you have a valid claim?

I need more information before I can tell you what to do next. A lender will normally only reposess so quickly if you have not communicated with them. However, they are obliged under the mortgage conduct of business rules to EXPLORE EVERY POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVE such as extending the term, capitalising the debt or switching to interest only on a temporary basis before they can issue proceedings. The court needs to see evidence they have done this before they will grant an outright reposession order.

Has the lender sent you the FSA factsheet, "what happens when you cannot make your mortgage payments" at any stage?

AndrewSmith

Another imporatnt thing to remember is, whatever you do, do NOT approach these companies we all see advertising on daytime TV offering to grant mortgages whatever your situation.

They will charge you huge fees and have very limited market access.

Andy

hitchins

I doubt any mortgage lender in the world would touch us Andy, as our credit rating has taken a nose dive over the past few months. At the moment, we are paying our normal monthly mortgage amount plus and extra £100.00 towards the arrears. I am trying not to panic, but I can't beleive they have done this, so it begs the question, would they follow it through? Although, it is not in the mortgage companies interest to repossess.

I shall be going to the Citizens Advice as we are unable to folk out for a solicitor. Yay, lets kick a dog while it's down!! Swines!:mad:

Anyway, thankyou both for your replies. Hopefully, in 2 months time we won't be shacked up in a cardboard box!

AndrewSmith

Also, do not feel too intimidated by the fact that it will be heard on court.

I have attended a number of posession hearings with clients and they are usually held boardroom style around a table in a small office. Not in a full courtroom.

On some occaisions, before you even go into the courtroom, the solicitor acting on behalf of the lender may approach you and discuss reaching a compromise with them, ie agreeing a monthly amount to pay etc.

Only agree to this of you feel it is affordable, if you feel the solicitor is not being fair say nothing and have the case heard in front of the judge/magistrate.

Andy

hitchins

MortgageMamma wrote:

Don't Panic

Who is your lender? Have you kept an open dialogue with your lender regarding the situation? Are they aware you are claiming on your payment protection? Have you been chasing your payment protection company regularly? Have the payment protection company actually written and confirmed you have a valid claim?

I need more information before I can tell you what to do next. A lender will normally only reposess so quickly if you have not communicated with them. However, they are obliged under the mortgage conduct of business rules to EXPLORE EVERY POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVE such as extending the term, capitalising the debt or switching to interest only on a temporary basis before they can issue proceedings. The court needs to see evidence they have done this before they will grant an outright reposession order.

Has the lender sent you the FSA factsheet, "what happens when you cannot make your mortgage payments" at any stage?

Our lender is GMAC, and they sent us a factsheet a few months ago. As I said, my husband, telephoned them regularly, as we thought it best that they do not think we are ignoring them, and to my knowledge they are also aware that there is a claim in place.

So far, the insurance company are waiting for my husbands complete medical history, they have been dragging their feet, and you are right, my husband is going to have to stress to them the severity of the situation and tell them to get their *rses into gear!

MortgageMamma

Hi hitchins

try to stay as positive as you can, I know you will probably laugh at that as you've just received a letter if proceedings BUT you have to be confident and so does the court that the lender has explored every possibility to keep you in your home. Some lenders have mortgage rescue schemes where they will buy a little bit of the propery back from you, you could make your mortgage over a longer term, switch to interest only for a while, add the arrears onto the loan amount and pay them that way. Has your lender given you any of these options? Whats the situation with your payment protection insurance? Was your husbands wage paid for the 13 weeks before the policy kicked in?

Lord knows you have had enough on your hands with a poorly husband without this.

hitchins

AndrewSmith wrote:

Also, do not feel too intimidated by the fact that it will be heard on court.

I have attended a number of posession hearings with clients and they are usually held boardroom style around a table in a small office. Not in a full courtroom.

On some occaisions, before you even go into the courtroom, the solicitor acting on behalf of the lender may approach you and discuss reaching a compromise with them, ie agreeing a monthly amount to pay etc.

Only agree to this of you feel it is affordable, if you feel the solicitor is not being fair say nothing and have the case heard in front of the judge/magistrate.

Andy

Oh no I do not feel intimidated, I really want to vent my spleen on them, and just say "is this really necessary? we have been struggling, you know this, we are making larger payments, and you now have us forking out another £150.00??? well that makes sense!!!" :cool:

MortgageMamma

Hitchins I would recommend you get onto the payment protection company (who are they by the way?) today and tell them whats happened. Ask to speak to someone in chargw nor a call centre op. Follow up your discussion with an urgent fax or email to explain the severity of their delays and tell them they are not fulfilling their obligations to you, their customer.

Copy the lender in on this fax, write to the lender saying you are not satisfied they have explored every option available to you to help you keep your property and this is not compliant with the mortgage conduct of business rules.