The Wilsons are going under.

dopester

Generali wrote: »

Finally, it is possible that the Wilson's took out 'Lifetime' mortgages which had a 'no negative equity' clause that ME say on their website that the Government will honour (link)

Unlikely. A very quick glance at ME Lifetime and Lifetime Extra stuff suggests it was not structured towards BTL purposes.

Signing the Wilsons into a mortgage product which allows them to buy hundreds of FTB houses and have protection from NE? In the pre-Labour days of sensible banking you could dismiss such a concept as impossible, but I still think it's very unlikely the Wilsons have a NE protection mortgage product for their BTLs.

29 January 2008

A repricing of mortgages by Mortgage Express puts its fixed rate Lifetime Mortgage into the best buy charts.

The product is now offered at 6.29% for the lifetime of the loan with an arrangement fee of £599 – relatively cheap in today’s market. The sole drawback is that it is only available on loans of up to 45% of the property’s value.


However, this product is clearly aimed at the ‘last time seller’ – older homeowners who do not expect to move house until they retire and have either paid off their mortgage or decided to downsize.


For those who need a slightly larger loan to value of up to 55%, Mortgage Express’s Lifetime Mortgage Extra offers a fixed rate of 6.55% for the lifetime of the loan with an arrangement fee of £599.


Kirsty Jackson, head of lifetime mortgages at Mortgage Express, said, ‘our best-buy lifetime mortgages are ideal for customers aged 60 or above who are looking to unlock equity from their homes.’

more re ME Lifetime

http://www.citywire.co.uk/personal/-/news/money-property-and-tax/content.aspx?ID=290954

dopester

Generali wrote: »

Being forced to sell 177 2 bed semi-detached houses in a place the size of Ashford would be pretty devastating to prices I would imagine. According to the Land Registry, about 275 houses were sold there in July 2009. Also, Mortgage Express is the Government owned BTL arm of Bradford and Bingley. The Government has expressly stated that they wish to avoid repossessions.

That is less of a political focus for BTL. Some support maybe for private owners if they meet the criteria. It isn't there to protect some BTL pure-greed twonk with 900 FTB houses.

Assuming there is substance to the Daily Mail story, someone would have some bad-tasting medicine to take.

With so many houses run by the Wilsons, it would be a headache, but not one which would be solved by writing off Wilsons losses behind the scenes and propping them up - to keep up the pretence of their magnificent success story and limiting stock and falls in value in that area.

ME is closed to doing new business. They are not some Govt run dept there to secretly prop up all borrowers. From what I can tell, if there is little hope for a BTLer, they are taking action where necessary. ME do seem to be trying to identify where problems exist.

I trust the staff are incentivised (bonuses) to do what is right, rather than just prop up impossibly bad BTL debtors. It's time the mid-20 year old+ young-guns on average salaries started rising in the banks too, who don't own homes, in pushing for what is right and proper. The old-guard and their ways of thinking properly wrecked these banks in the first place, and propping up the Wilsons and others BTLers just continues the pain.

Even if you are not currently experiencing difficulties, we are able to support you and advise you on how to make the most of your Buy-to-Let portfolio.

http://www.mortgage-express.co.uk/customers/portfolio-landlords.asp

TMF: Wilsons £350k in arrears

I'm a Mortgage Express customer and I've been checked out very closely by them recently, to the extent of them sending one of their managers out to my home meet me for 'an in-depth discussion of my business strategy and future needs'. What he actually wanted to do was interview me in depth to make sure I was not running into the financial quicksand. He wanted in particular to see ensure I had an 'exit strategy' planned should things get sticky. Basically, he wanted this strategy to comprise me ringing him should I ever find myself unable to meet the mortgage payments. Bloody hell, is that IT, I thought to myself, but I nodded, smiled appropriately and agreed with him instead.

I enquired about the REAL reason for his visit. He fessed up said they have large numbers of small borrowers who are bubbling under. Voids are the problem, mainly with (what were) new-builds. They have many many customers with one or two BTLs who are now backed into a corner apparently. They lose a tenant then refuse to reduce the rent to match the market because they 'need' a particualr rent to cover the mortgege. Consequently they get a long void. They struggle and cover the mortgage from their day job income but quickly run out of cash and are possibly threatened with redundancy themselves. They can't/won't sell because they overpaid in the first place and and are in negative equity can't make up the shortfall. ME are now sending staff out into the field to pro-actively seek out these mug punters in advance of their sh*t hitting the fan.

Generali

The problem even if they do try to prop the Wilsons up is that if they are insolvent (as I suspect they are or are approaching if the article is correct) then unless they write off a chunk of the debt, repossession would be all but inevitable.

lemonjelly

Generali wrote: »

The problem even if they do try to prop the Wilsons up is that if they are insolvent (as I suspect they are or are approaching if the article is correct) then unless they write off a chunk of the debt, repossession would be all but inevitable.

I'd love it if the wilsons owed me £751. I'd issue a stat demand & sit back...

MissMoneypenny

lemonjelly wrote: »

I'd love it if the wilsons owed me £751. I'd issue a stat demand & sit back...

Oooooh...that's mean. I like it.:rotfl:

dopester

It seems like the Bradford & Bingley "Mortgage Express" Portfolio Management Team are not particularly knowledgeable about Fergus Wilson.. despite him having over 100 mortgages with them. And despite him reportedly being in arrears with a final warning letter.

When he called Mortgage Express they didn't seem to instantly recognise him or his wisdom.



Notes:
a) I gave it 3 call attempts to try and get a rise as a joke... no more than 3 calls as I didn't want to annoy the Mortgage Express people.

b) Lost control of my voice-play clip controls this side at end of call 1 and 2. Also I'm not very good with these prank things... my first attempt and doing a prank call voice clip call is much more difficult than I expected it to be (including recording/play - volume clips are a bit low in places.)

Edit: Click the pic to listen, or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv7M0Zkhs2g

Mr.Brown_4

dopester wrote: »

Nuisance caller..

That's funny but a bit unfair.

So it ticks both boxes really.

boomerangs

" I'd love it if these two vultures went bankrupt.

I'D JUST LOVE IT! "

RDB

Whats the latest?

What will be the situation in 1 year?

PasturesNew

RDB wrote: »

Whats the latest?

Somebody resurrected this thread.

RDB wrote: »

What will be the situation in 1 year?

Nobody knows.