Northern Rock - Together Mortgage

hullgooner

I am looking for advice on the Northern Rock Together Mortgage. I think there are quite a lot of discussions about this on various websites, and I have looked at some of these but am a little confused by what my options are. My wife and I opted for the together mortgage in 2008 (we signed literally the day before Northern Rock went belly up). I was initially angry as it was sold to us as a good option that would always be available, we where even being encouraged to borrow more, and as I say this was the day before the bubble burst. However it was out choice to take the mortgage. Anyway we are now in the following position, our house as a rough sale value of £110,000 to £115,000. The mortgage section of the together mortgage is approx £108,000, the loan on top is about £20,000. Therefore a grand total of approx £128,000. I would like to sell our house but will be left with a short fall of at least £13000 if we give NR everything we sell for. This is turned into a loan at a high interest rate as far as I understand.
There is a chance that we may like to buy a house that is actually cheaper than our current house, about £95,000 - £100,000, I know NR don’t offer new deals to existing customers, but do they allow existing customers to transfer mortgages? If they do allow this, how does it work? Would they only give me a percentage of the mortgage for the new house. For instance if I sold our house for £110,000 and bought a house for £100,000 would they give me say 85% and expect me to find a 15% deposit or would they transfer and reduce the existing mortgage to £100,000. This may be a daft question but I don’t really know how it would work (I am relatively new to mortgages). I would like to speak to a NR mortgage advisor but they have decided not to have these in the branches anymore, and when you call the NR mortgage centre the level of advice you get depends greatly on who you speak to.
I would really like to get rid of it all together and go back to renting, dead money or not (and that is a matter of opinion, as I am struggling to see the benefit of finally owning a house when I am pushing 70) but unless house values shoot up so I can sell my house for £128,000 and clear the mortgage I don’t see how I could afford that, due to the crippling interest rate NR put on the loan amount if you pay off the mortgage.

poppy10_2

What did you do with the £20,000 cash you got when you took out the mortgage?

opinions4u

You can point the finger of blame here there and everywhere, but it achieves little. You are where you are and nothing is going to change that. If Northern Rock had been sound but a different lender had collapsed, you'd still be in the same position.

I would like to speak to a NR mortgage advisor but they have decided not to have these in the branches anymore, and when you call the NR mortgage centre the level of advice you get depends greatly on who you speak to.

I prefer face to face advice, rather than over the phone information, but it seems to me that you don't have much choice but to pick up the phone. In fairness, bank branches with all banks have a mix of the good and not so good staff.

if I sold our house for £110,000 and bought a house for £100,000 would they give me say 85% and expect me to find a 15% deposit or would they transfer and reduce the existing mortgage to £100,000.

You need to phone them and ask. I would expect them to demand a deposit. If they do, then why not consider another lender who may be able to offer a better rate for the deposit that you are able to introduce.

I would really like to get rid of it all together and go back to renting

There are advantages to renting.

dead money or not

Dead money to rent is better than a falling house price! Owning in a low interest environment with inflating property price is good though!

and that is a matter of opinion, as I am struggling to see the benefit of finally owning a house when I am pushing 70

Now this is a key point. Why did you choose to take a mortgage out until you're 70? When is your likely retirement age?

but unless house values shoot up so I can sell my house for £128,000 and clear the mortgage I don’t see how I could afford that, due to the crippling interest rate NR put on the loan amount if you pay off the mortgage.

I'm not going to say that house prices will continue to recover. They might, they might not. But if they do, then that alone could get you out of this.

I'm assuming that you post because your are struggling financially. I'd suggest answering my question about "age 70" above and seeing what responses that generates, but also hopping over to the Debt-free Wannabe part of this forum. You will get some great ideas on how to reduce outgoings and possibly nudge up income a little too.

I hope this helps.