Advice on changing a name on a Mortgage please

sillysausage1977

Hi everyone,

I hope someone could give me some advice on this please.

In November my husband had 3 mini strokes (he is 46). He was an HGV driver but can no longer do this. On top of worrying about his health we are now down a wage each month and have a lot of debt owing to various different credit cards and loans (totally £37,000).

We have been today to see the CAB and saw a lovely lady who will be contacting our creditors for us.

We have a mortgage on our house and I was wondering because all the debt is in my husbands name and is unsecured on the house, if we were to change the name on the mortgage to just mine would the creditors be able to force us to sell the house if the worse came to the worse?

Also if we were to do this does anyone know what kind of fees would be involved?

Any advice on this would be appricated.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

Sillysausage1977.

CloudCuckooLand

Depends to a degree on whether your single income would be enough to support the whole mortgage, in the eyes of the lender.

If not, they will not let you change to a single name. If yes, they have on occasions (it varies by lender) still viewed married people as being inextricably linked in their financial matters, so don't like poor credit history whoevers name it is in, but if you have a lenient lender you may be ok.

A re-mortgage may be required, it depends again on the lender's policy. It might be a simple £200 "adjustment", or a £995 full remortgage.

Worth a go.

Althought to be honest, you might want to consider not ploughing more money into something that you might not be able to afford any more. Depends on your equity position, I guess.

Thrugelmir

Even if you could transfer the property into your name. This, in simple terms, could be overturned if the worst did happen.

As difficult as it is. You need to realistically weigh up whether you can still afford to keep the house. As matters can rapidly snowball out of control.

Dave_the_Ginger_Cat

Can you clarify the position on your husband's debts? Do you mean secured on the house or unsecured altogether?

If they are secured, then you would need their consent to do what you suggest, which they are not very likely to give. If they are unsecured, then you need to go down the route of assessing your own income versus the amount you wish to borrow as the previous posters answer.

If debt is unsecured in one name only and the equity in the house is another name, there is no way a court can grant any powers over it, married or otherwise. Should an IVA or bankruptcy however be considered as an option, then any gifts in the 6 years preceding (such as giving you your share in a house), would be required by a receiver to be paid back. The bankruptcy/IVA threads here offer more detailed advice on this.

It may be worth considering selling up, to clear down the debts, and perhaps rent for a period. You might find this takes the worry out of this aspect of your life right now.

Either way, you have certainly done the right thing by seeing the CAB. They can go through all of your circumstances in detail, and advise you of the best way forward for you both.

Good luck, and hope his health does not give you too many more troubles.

sillysausage1977

All the debt is unsecured and in my husbands name only. My thought was if we transferred the mortgage into my name only then at least the creditors cannot touch our house, though im thinking renting is not such a bad option at the moment...all the stress is because we are trying to save out house

Thrugelmir

sillysausage1977 wrote: »

All the debt is unsecured and in my husbands name only. My thought was if we transferred the mortgage into my name only then at least the creditors cannot touch our house, though im thinking renting is not such a bad option at the moment...all the stress is because we are trying to save out house

Obviously take advice, but sometimes starting afresh is sometimes the better option. Rather than struggling on incurring further interest and fees.