Northern Rock Mort, unpaid Credit Cards but need to move

buuuug

Hi,

I'll make this short as longer threads are less likely to be read or have responses but please do ask if you need more info from me.

I have a mortgage with Northern Rock and like many #00,000's i cannot remortage with them onto a lower rate without moving property, grrr.

In May '08 i could no longer pay my unsecured credit cards as a result of the financial market collapse, my panic buying by purchasing a fixed rate mort before the rates went even higher but even so, my existing mort went up nearly £300 which crippled me. A few months later the rates collapsed to the hoistoric lows but unfortunately i was locked in for 2 years by then at 7.49%.

That ended in March 2010, not as low as it was pre May '08 but at least a bit better by about £160..

I work about 50 miles from home so fuel bills are around 500miles a week, currently about £60 so i think i ought to move nearer to work BUT i am stuck in a catch 22.

I cannot get a mortgage with another company (not that i have tried but expect it to be a no) as i havent been able to pay my credit cards since the June 08 payments, i have been in full dialogue with each of them offering them settlement figures but it was almost a year before they even acknowledged i was writing to them and so heaped on charges etc.

How do others fare in these situations? If i didnt have the £300 plus fuel bill and subsequent maintenance (usually a couple of hundred £ every couple of months minimum as car is old) then i could pay everything. How can i move to Maidstone and still own something and still then be able to honour my commitments? I have gone from a near impeccable credit record (i sometimes paid days late because i'm stupid) to what at the moment is a bad one which makes it difficult to fix things.

Advice much appreciated as this just gets me down being trapped. I followed the advice of National Debtline in dealing with my creditors so i have done things above board to survive, i just need to move on so i can actually attack the problem.

Thanks

Nat.

VIGILANT22

Quote I followed the advice of National Debtline etc....

So what is the actual problem

buuuug

Um,

That i need to move nearer to work so i can have money left each month. Currently i pay essentials only and use a bit of money i have in the bank each month to survive. This situation will not last forever (i wince everytime i have to pay for something on the car) and eventually the interest rates will go up and then i am screwed once more.

I dont want to sell my house and rent if i can avoid that, i would prefer to buy but my credit rating is likely to make that difficult. I almost feel that the system is encouraging me to stay in a situation i cant sustain indefinately due to the restrictions that Northern Rock are operating under, that being that you cannot remortgage without moving. I expect i cant apply for a mortgage elsewhere as what do i say when i get to the bit about outgoings? My answer would be i pay £4 (token payments) but of course, it should be nearer £300 or so (hard to say for sure now because of the immoral charges)

I will not be the only NR customer in this situation so i would like some advice on how best to keep a mort but be nearer to work which in turn as a result of less fuel and car bills will provide me money to then pay the credit card people so i can 'move' forward to get out of this situation.

If i do nothing and stay where i am then the only answer would be to get a job nearer home but again, that is not an easy thing to do because of the market and the area i live in (hence the job being so far from home in the first place)

Nat

VIGILANT22

I almost feel that the system is encouraging me to stay in a situation i cant sustain indefinately due to the restrictions that Northern Rock are operating under

Did NR impose these credit cards on you? & Do they impose where you work

buuuug

Your rhetorical questions are not really helpful in anyway.

Of course NR did not impose the credit cards on me, neither do they dictate where i work. I fail to see how you believe i said that they do.

NR along with many other banks had financial difficulties and collapsed shortly after national interest rates peaked. This meant that as i came off very low rates (it was a major news item at the time and affected great numbers of people, not just me so you need to broaden your perspective on my question) the national rates were increasing monthly before the bank went almost bust and the general economy dipped sharply to where we are now.

Before they dipped I, along with many others, re-mortgaged to avoid situations of unknown SVR rates and subsequent problems, prefering a situation where outgoings could be fixed. As it happened, if i had remained on the SVR then i would have been ok but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

So, because of this sequence of events i could not afford the unsecured debt and followed National Debtlines guidance to ensure i did the right things.

Now, this doesnt help resolve the situation, merely appease it and my questions were how can i resolve this and move on.

To directly answer your quotation of mine where i say I feel encouraged to stay put - Because if i sell then i do not know if i will be able to buy (hence the questions!) and NR will not remort on existing properties, SO, to have a NR mort (basically the people most likely to provide me a mort as i have never defaulted) in order to reduce my outgoings and to ensure i stabilise the situation (against increase in rates) I HAVE to move. Again, hence the catch 22.

Your responses thus far Vigilant22 are quite poor and do nothing to help myself or others who may be interested in how they may move on too, please think before you write.

Nat

getmore4less

buuuug wrote: »

Before they dipped I, along with many others, re-mortgaged to avoid situations of unknown SVR rates and subsequent problems, prefering a situation where outgoings could be fixed. As it happened, if i had remained on the SVR then i would have been ok but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

So, because of this sequence of events i could not afford the unsecured debt and followed National Debtlines guidance to ensure i did the right things.

So you changed mortgage to an unaforadable at the time.
No mater ho much you try to blaim the markets you made a mistake at that time.
NDL helped you but presumably that was by defaulting on you commitments through a DMP.

More info will be needed to even consider what options you might be able to look at.
What is your LTV?
How big are your current debts(mortgage and others)?
Are you still on a DMP?

buuuug

Hi,

Lets get this straight, I am the one that signed forms so i do not blame others, i am just a victim of the market place at that time. This is a support forum where people should be able to ask for support, not be blamed or ridiculed for how they got there. The important thing is i am trying to do the right thing and have been trying to do so until now. You would not expect the doctor to call the patient fatty when they are there to ask how to sort out the problem.

I did not purchase a mortgage i cannot afford, it was the best of two evils. If i stayed on the SVR that i fell into after coming off of the low fixed rate (it was a major news item for thousands, no matter how you wish to blame me) then my mortgage at that time would have been higher. By taking a fixed rate with NR (twho were my lender at that time and fixed rates are always a gamble) i thought i was doing the right thing to ensure i had a home. Had i stayed on the SVR at that point then within some months as the national rates fell then i would have only been in problems for a short while, however, I, ME, chose to purchase a fixed rate as i thought it the safest thing to do.

My LTV at the time was about 71%, unsure exactly at the moment as i do not know its current value. In 2007 i would have had about £55k equity, that would have been less in '08-'09 as money was hard to find but now i believe the market is better. NDL advised in March/April '08 that i probably had about £20k equity after the collapse so no poit in going bankrupt as at that would only just meet my CC debt of almost 20k.

I am not on a DMP, i took NDL advise to try and offer a pro-rata settlement as my income did not permit DMPs. Obviously if my motoring outgoings where not there then i would have money but unfortunately work costs are too high which is why i have two options, either move closer to work or bring work closer to home.

Obviously a financial support forum is not the place for job hunting hence you get the financial question!

VIGILANT22

Speak to someone "face to face" and addres your problems that way....do you really expect the internet to give you a resolve?

getmore4less

What are your current mortgage and debts?
How much of that £20k did you default?
How could you find money to offer F&F if you could not pay min payments?
Do you have any savings?

With no relevent details no one can even guess what your options are.

Thrugelmir

Sell you existing property, clear your debts, and rent closer to where you work.

Then take time out before moving forward again. Learn from your experience and next time you buy keep your financial committments at a more affordable level.