Mortgage repayments help, or lack of it!

gordy1976

Having lost my job in June of last year, I was fortunate to find another job quite quickly however took quite a hit on my salary. I am tied in to a fairly expensive lease car until May this year and my wife has a horse which she is trying to sell at the moment but is having difficulty getting interest in, both of which will save us around £400 a month once we are rid of them.
Although we have never failed to pay our Mortgage and have never been in arrears, I have struggled to keep on top of credit cards and having no expendable income these have all defaulted now. I have made arrangements with most of my creditors but things are getting tight and we don't see that improving for 2 to 3 months.

In order to help us out we were advised that we may be able to apply for additional borrowing on our existing Mortgage however due to the fact that they will only lend upto 75% of the value of the property we are unable to do so.
The other option suggested to us was to look at either extending the term of our Mortgage or changing from repayment to interest only for a period of time. I spoke to an advisor in branch and they told me that it used to be easy to do, you pay £75 and they transfer it over but apparently nowadays they have to re credit score you as if you were getting a new mortgage! Obviously I have defaults so this would be nigh impossible. So what I don't understand is that the most likely people to want to consider doing this are people like myself in financial difficulty who are likely to have defaults or CCJ's and thus are unable to get the help they need. Finally the advisor suggested I speak to the collections department and ask them for a short term agreement however it turns out that whatever they reduce your payment by for 3 months you have to pay back on top of your current amount over the following 6 months.

It just seems like the banks are happy to lend people the money but when you need help they don't want to know. All of these things seem like they are there to help but none of them are viable options for me and there will be people in far worse situation than I am who i'm sure will agree that the banks just don't seem to want to help. :mad:

Thrugelmir

gordy1976 wrote: »

Having lost my job in June of last year, I was fortunate to find another job quite quickly however took quite a hit on my salary. I am tied in to a fairly expensive lease car until May this year and my wife has a horse which she is trying to sell at the moment but is having difficulty getting interest in, both of which will save us around £400 a month once we are rid of them.
Although we have never failed to pay our Mortgage and have never been in arrears, I have struggled to keep on top of credit cards and having no expendable income these have all defaulted now. I have made arrangements with most of my creditors but things are getting tight and we don't see that improving for 2 to 3 months.

In order to help us out we were advised that we may be able to apply for additional borrowing on our existing Mortgage however due to the fact that they will only lend upto 75% of the value of the property we are unable to do so.
The other option suggested to us was to look at either extending the term of our Mortgage or changing from repayment to interest only for a period of time. I spoke to an advisor in branch and they told me that it used to be easy to do, you pay £75 and they transfer it over but apparently nowadays they have to re credit score you as if you were getting a new mortgage! Obviously I have defaults so this would be nigh impossible. So what I don't understand is that the most likely people to want to consider doing this are people like myself in financial difficulty who are likely to have defaults or CCJ's and thus are unable to get the help they need. Finally the advisor suggested I speak to the collections department and ask them for a short term agreement however it turns out that whatever they reduce your payment by for 3 months you have to pay back on top of your current amount over the following 6 months.

It just seems like the banks are happy to lend people the money but when you need help they don't want to know. All of these things seem like they are there to help but none of them are viable options for me and there will be people in far worse situation than I am who i'm sure will agree that the banks just don't seem to want to help. :mad:

Fully understand your predicament and have empathy. However you choose your lifestyle, expensive car , own a horse, size of mortgage etc. So unfair to blame your bank for not willing to bail you out, particularly as you have run up credit card debt as well. I'm not sure what you expect them to do.

Your question is better directed on one of the other forums. Where you might get help with how to approach your total debt issues. Changing the mortgage may not in itself be the answer.

An honest apprasail of your situation is required. Something you and your wife need to action fairly promptly. Before matters spiral totally out of control.

ninky_2

oh dear. can i suggest you post on debtfree wannabe? if you give an accurate SOA people may be able to help you cut back on non-essential spending (not just the horse and car).

the banks are not very helpful. unfortunately it's not their job to be helpful. it's their job to make money. it would have been best to have changed to interest only BEFORE you couldn't meet your payments.

are you able to take a lodger? this might help with mortgage payment.

Ankara_2

I don't know what the value of your horse is, but have you thought of giving it away? You'd save money on stables fees, vet costs etc. immediately