Re-Mortgage Help - Do I Just Give Up?

Jollygiantswife

Thanks in advance for any help or advice......
Ok, last June my current lender (Advantage - subsidiary of Morgan Stanley) offered us £14750 paid off our mortgage (cuurently at £143000 against a property worth £160000) if we remortgaged elsewhere by end September 2009.
However, and this is where it started getting difficult..... my husband had an industrial injury (causing damage to his back & neck) at work in early 2007 and was off work for a few months without pay (only SSP). During this time we fell behind with some payments on credit cards and catalogue payments (all of which have since been cleared). Then, in late 2008 my husband had another incident at work which caused a recurrence and worsening of his back problem and he has been unable to work ever since. (We are in the process of suing his employers, who have admitted liability, but any compensation - although likely to be substantial - is a few months away yet).
So, since April 2009 we have received Employment Support Allowance (£65 a week) and approx £700 per month tax credits - as well as my full time salary of approx 22K. We will need to borrow £110000.
My husbands solicitor recommended a financial advisor to help us remortgage and in the last 8 months we have had 4 mortgage applications refused (all gave us offer in principle) with the latest (Alliance & Leicester) refusing us this week. This advisor will charge us £450 on completion.
Since we began our quest to remortgage, Advantage have increased their offer to us to almost £37000!! Which is fantastic - if only we could re-mortgage!
Our financial advisor is next to useless - rarely returns calls, doesn't seem to chase anything up quickly, but worse of all fills us with empty promises and assurances that everything will be ok.....
Advantage have extended their deadline now 4 times - and I fear they will call time soon. Our advisor is already moving on to the next lender (don't know who yet - we've aready tried Beacon, Woolwich, Abbey and Alliance & Leicester) but I'm worried about all the credit searches on our file - surely that will make things worse? Currently my credit report is 'Good' and my husband's is 'Fair' (but almost good!)
So, do we just let him carry on and hope he comes up with something in time (better the devil you know) or do we try elsewhere and if so where??
I am at my wits end - 8 months of re-mortgage stress as well as everything else going on - I feel like giving up - what would you do?
Many thanks and apologies for the long post :A.

beecher2

Is selling up and renting an option for you? That'd give you £60,000 to save, you could add the compensation money when it comes and hopefully be in a position to buy somewhere new with just a small mortgage.

I'd certainly get a new mortgage adviser if selling up isn't an option

Jollygiantswife

Thanks for your reply. No, selling up and renting isn't an option as we're hopeful that our current financial crisis will be over in the next 12 months. Also, we love our house and have great plans for it once this dismal part of our lives is over....

VIGILANT22

Being with Advantage suggests you had adverse credit as they're/was a sub prime lender...added to that you've had late payments/defaults....Now you're reduced to 1 income plus state benefits...all this added together is going to make rmtg very difficult..If yr not happy with yr adviser change, make sure you have a copy of the credit report which will show up any recent searches...but in all honesty...I think you will have great difficulty finding a lender..

Matt1982

Do you know the reasons why you were refused with Beacon?

Do you know if since March 2008 if you have had any defaults, CCJ or arrears on your mortgage?

What is your advisor saying he can do at the moment?

Jollygiantswife

Matt1982 wrote: »

Do you know the reasons why you were refused with Beacon?

Do you know if since March 2008 if you have had any defaults, CCJ or arrears on your mortgage?

What is your advisor saying he can do at the moment?

Actually, we weren't refused by Beacon - we were very close (we think) to getting an offer when they stopped lending just before Christmas. Then, after Christmas our credit reports had improved somewhat so our advisor decided to go with more mainstream lenders.... but no luck as yet!

My advisor's advice is "to keep plugging away until Advantage pull the plug" - I spoke to him very briefly yesterday and he said he had another couple of lenders to "follow up". The problem is, even when i do get him on the phone, it's like he can't wait to get me off it! I call for updates (because he never calls me!) and his usual line is "I'm just in the middle of something I'll call you back in 5 mins, 10 mins, 1 hour...." and then he never does!

If it wasn't for this 37K I'd have dumped him ages ago - but then he's always saying that something will come up and he's working on it... I just feel like we're flogging a dead horse and I'm concerned about the 8 searches in the past 8 months and the effect that will have on our (slowly recovering) credit file....

Matt1982

I would dump this adviser asap. Obiviously you need to take advantage of advantage's offer asap. £37,000 reduction is alot to miss out on. I am not saying definitely a mortgage provider out there for you but I would think you have a good chance with one or perhaps 2 lenders.

Is this the same adviser who sorted out your advantage mortgage if not why not go back to him or ask family and friends if they can recommend someone.

An adviser shouldnt just be trying pot luck with lenders!

Do you have any of your own money that you can furhter reduce the mortgage balance by

Jollygiantswife

Matt1982 wrote: »

I would dump this adviser asap. Obiviously you need to take advantage of advantage's offer asap. £37,000 reduction is alot to miss out on. I am not saying definitely a mortgage provider out there for you but I would think you have a good chance with one or perhaps 2 lenders.

Is this the same adviser who sorted out your advantage mortgage if not why not go back to him or ask family and friends if they can recommend someone.

An adviser shouldnt just be trying pot luck with lenders!

Do you have any of your own money that you can furhter reduce the mortgage balance by

Hmm that's what we've been thinking - the reason we've hung on so long is because we felt that at least we'd built up a relationship with him and he knew our situation.
He is not the same advisor who sorted our Advantage mortgage, we've always used Moneyquest in the past and we did approach them right at the beginning, unfortunately they said they couldn't help.....
Definitely no more money available - we're just about keeping our heads above water with a £700 pm drop in income since my husband has been on long term sick...... Thanks for your advice, think we've got some (more) serious thinking to do!

Matt1982

No worries. Please do speak with another whole of market adviser though.

I think youu current adviser is just playing a guessing game.

Sallyy2

We are in the same position as you, originally having an offer 12 months ago that we tried to take advantage of but couldnt. We too tried with Beacon and got accepted and then at the last minute they decided that our home was in the wrong place?!! After months of trying we eventually gave up last September.

Advantage do have their own Financial Advisors who will assist you in looking for a remortgage and should work strongly for you as they are keen to get rid of as many people who arent making them any money as soon as possible.

We have just received a further offer from them today....fingers crossed we will be able to take advantage of it this time.

Good luck