Please advise - Mother in Law stuck

themadbird

Hi all

5 years ago my father in law who was living with cancer took out a lifetime mortgage with Mortgage Express for £57,000. He never told my mother in law. Subsequently 2 years ago he died, and my mother in law started receiving information on the mortgage - she contacted them as she didn't believe he had a mortgage out but as it happens he had.

Apparently it's 6.6% lifetime mortgage and at present is valued at £80,000.

Here's the problem. She wants to move to be nearer us. Her house in valued at £210,000 but she wants to pay the mortgage off. She contacted them and they told her that she will need to pay £98,000 (?!) plus a £40,000 final fee or just pay the £40,000 fee and carry the loan to her new house.

Mortgage Express sent their own mortgage advisors to the house to get it valued even though they value it at only £205,000 (three other estate agents value it at £210,000) they have told her that she will have to pay £1,700 on stamp duty (which I believe you only pay when you buy and not sell) and over £3,500 to them, plus £200 for the Mortgage Express Advisor (called Mike who tells my mother in law he's doing everything he can to bring the price down - even though he's stringing her along).

So basically if she stays in her house she's got max 10 years then the house belongs to them, but if she moves and pays the £40,000 which they say will stop the interest (but I don't think it will) and bring the £98,000 (again which I don't believe is the right amount) with her here to a new house. She's 70 years old, is scared and confused with it all.

Can anyone advise if they are just stringing her along? Or is there any other way out of it?? Why aren't companies like this stopped!

Thanks

sleepless_saver

This seems very strange. Was she the joint owner of the house? If so, surely he can't have made a valid mortgage agreement without her signature?

And what happened to his estate when he died? Was there a will? She needs to see the mortgage documents and probably get legal advice.

Cannon_Fodder

SHIP are supposed to be the decent portion of the equity release industry. http://www.ship-ltd.org/default.aspx

From googling, Mortgage Express appear to have once been members. Not showing on the list now, perhaps because of nationalisation of Bradford and Bingley - http://broker.bbg.co.uk/en/about-us.aspx.

Worth asking SHIP for an opinion on where you stand for fair treatment/complaints.

Maybe Shelter or CAB can help, if SHIP cannot.

Or Help the Aged's own Equity Release arm; http://www.helptheaged.org.uk/en-gb/OnlineShop/FinancialServices/EquityRelease/default.htm

hwalkerh

You could ask the financial services ombudsman for some advise about it especially if they are joint home owners as then i would have thought they would need both signitures.

Also do you know where the £57000 has gone? Has your mother in law found copies of the signed documents in the house? Can she see any money that came into his bank account?

I just wonder because if she didn't see any sign of it or were the money came in and how it was spent then maybe it could be wrong.

VIGILANT22

[QUOTE=themadbird;

Customers of Mortgage Express who had equity release schemes received communication in 2008/9 as ME were willing to release these mortgages, without penalty to a new equity release company of your choice. Maybe you could remind them of this.

Request a copy of the KFI & Offer of Loan, ER is regulated the same as any other mortgage...except with ER (Equity Release) the loan “rolls up” (i.e. no interest is payable), making the “debt” bigger each day it continues to run. As per the contract with most ER products exit fees are quite high....

VIGILANT22

SHIP is neither a lender or regulator of Equity Release........SHIP are a "watchdog".....As ER is a regulated product the complaints procedure is the same for ER as any other product ..... you must first contact the individual company directly and try to resolve the issue with them.

If you are unhappy with the outcome of the company’s investigation into your complaint, you can refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

SouthCoast

Bearing in mind the amounts involved I would suggest taking professional legal advice.

themadbird

Thanks all.

As to her being part owner, she is - talking to her further, she says she doesn't know if she signed anything to do with it. He used to go out and come back with paperwork claiming it was from the bank just telling her to sign it and as she trusted him (plus he was a control freak and if she didn't would give her grief) so she would sign it. So we're asking for all the paperwork as we speak.

He did leave a will, and in it basically his part of the house went to her etc. Standard husband and wife will (well so she told me).

As for where the money has gone, we're not sure. Apparently he spent £5k on a new conservatory roof, £6k on holidays but that's as much as I know.

She's terribly confused about it all so we can't get that much info out of her but it's worrying her so very much I feel for her.

JA1000

£50k gone in 3 years, nothing has come to light in the last two years. I would do some digging around the bank statements to shed some light.

I think she has probably signed for it, even without knowing. You are going to have to get tough with ME and push for a reduced settlement figure.

VIGILANT22

themadbird wrote: »

Thanks all.

As to her being part owner, she is - talking to her further, she says she doesn't know if she signed anything to do with it. He used to go out and come back with paperwork claiming it was from the bank just telling her to sign it and as she trusted him (plus he was a control freak and if she didn't would give her grief) so she would sign it. So we're asking for all the paperwork as we speak.

He did leave a will, and in it basically his part of the house went to her etc. Standard husband and wife will (well so she told me).

As for where the money has gone, we're not sure. Apparently he spent £5k on a new conservatory roof, £6k on holidays but that's as much as I know.

She's terribly confused about it all so we can't get that much info out of her but it's worrying her so very much I feel for her.

As this is in joint names she can request all the paperwork etc from ME...In there you be a copy of the Fact Find detailing their circumstances 5 years ago, also will be a Suitability Letter detailing the amount of equity being released and the purpose of it..This will hopefully throw some light on what has happened...It has not been unusual for ER clients to have had large amounts outstanding on credit cards/loans abd used ER for consolidation purposes. Also bear in mind, as nothing is paid back monthly interest is added and compounded..