Big problems joint mortgage & loan with ex

jorussell_2

Hello all, In response to your comments, I have summarised my original post as it was far too long and detailed. And reviewed and cut down the budget, also correcting a couple of figures that were mistakenly annual and not monthly. Changes and notes to SOA are in italics and blue.
I have a mortgage with Principality BS (£183,101 - up to date) and joint unsecured loan with northern rock (£37,618.15 - under debt management) in joint names with my ex partner who left in 2007.
I have lived in the mortgaged property since we ‘bought’ it in 2006. I have always made all payments on mortgage and loan. I have been financially unable to put either into my sole name.
Up until March this year my ex has been un-contactable, although he contacts me anonymously by phone and has suggested he can visit me as he obviously knows where I live. I can now contact him by post at his father’s address.
My ex is not happy about the loan being under debt management as he was not aware (I couldn’t get hold of him when I lost my job in 2009) and his credit file has been adversely affected. DMP with Payplan. Paying £105 pm (£100 to nrock, £5 to tesco) which will take 25 years to pay off.
In the last 12 months with them my debt has increased and my credit file has been damaged even more than I was prepared for. I am currently looking into this with our creditors as information may have incorrectly been recorded on our files.
The mortgage is now on a variable rate and my ex will not agree to changing to a fixed rate nor will he agree to come off the mortgage unless I get the loan put into my sole name which I cannot do. Nrock say that the only way my ex could come off loan is if he offered a full & final settlement if I then agreed to pay the balance of the liability, but this settlement offer would have to be in the region of 60% (approx. £22,500). This is not a viable option.
I have written to my ex stating the situation and advising the house has been valued at £185,000 and that he can either agree to get mortgage onto fixed rate and come off the mortgage the easy way (by agreeing) or the hard way (court order).
Since I sent him this letter I have learnt that even if he were to agree to come off the mortgage so my new partner can go on it, the mortgage company would treat it as a new application and I would not be accepted because of my credit file, despite my perfect history of payments with them. The mortgage company had told me when I specifically asked about this twice that I would not be credit checked but new partner would.
I have also learnt that the nrock loan has not had the interest frozen despite the DM company Payplan promising to sort this out in Jan and May 11.
My ex’s position remains the same, that he “would not consider coming off the mortgage unless I took full responsibility for the nrock loan”. My ex feels that as the loan was mainly spent on the house and I have the house, he has got nothing to show for it so why should he have to pay anything on loan or mortgage. My position is that we both jointly signed up for the mortgage and the loan and he has never paid towards either and he just walked away from it leaving me ’jointly and severably liable’ for these loans.
Over the past 10 months I have used a legal helpline DAS, the CAB, Community Legal Advice Line, local county court, IFAs, CCCS, Shelter, to get advice.
I need to end my financial association with my ex and repair my bad credit record, so that I can move on with my life with my new partner, (who has no debts, no baggage, he moved into the property in Sep 10, works full time and contributes to all household running)
We are not afraid of making tough decisions, even though it would break our hearts to have to sell our home, we just know we can’t go on with my ex being involved in our lives and with the uncertainty of the credit file accruing a bad record on it for the next 25 years and appreciate fresh eyes and opinions and will consider any advice offered. Many thanks for your time. (SOA below)
　
Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1613.50 (expected income if I get the job I've been shortlisted for)
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1154.50
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2768
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 762.10 (interest only)
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 139
Electricity............................. 47.57
Gas..................................... 30.34
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 45
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 75 (I'm on a contract £35pm til 2012, partner uses his phone for work)
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 350 (looked at last 4 weeks shopping and have based figure on this. OH pays bulk of this)
Clothing................................ 40 (this is averaged out over the year and includes partners work clothes he works in construction. Clothes shopping done in charity shops. I also sold off the contents of my house in 2009 to pay mortgage and bills, contents belong to my OH)
Petrol/diesel........................... 300 (I will be doing 24 miles a day and my partner does min 75 miles a day, he has the diesel, I have the petrol, we've sold original cars for cheaper ones. Live in rural position so need 2 cars)
Road tax................................ 40
Car Insurance........................... 60 (It is a multicar policy, renewal in Jan 12 we will review then)
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 60 (Old cars we budget £360 each to get through MOTs)
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 30
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 21.5 (B&C paid together, have got quotes several times, never comes up cheaper)
Life assurance ......................... 19.58
Other insurance......................... 15 (This is monthly fee for credit report need to pay this until I get mistakes recitified. will stop paying this soon as)
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 8.3 (oops, sorry the £100 was NOT a monthly figure, it's annual - I've changed it to monthly equiv)
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 17 (oops, sorry the £200 was NOT a monthly figure, it's annual - I've changed it to monthly equiv, we‘re taking a 4 day break in a caravan with a token collect promotion)
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2153.39
Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 185000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 186000
Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 184000...(762.1)....4.99
Total secured & HP debts...... 184000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
nram loan under dm.............37618.1...96........12.79
tesco cc defaulted.............1518.4....4.........14.09
Total unsecured debts..........39136.5...100.......-
Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,768
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,153.39
Available for debt repayments........... 614.61
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 105
Amount left after debt repayments....... 509.61 (N.B. this is a joint figure. my partner is not responsible for my joint debts with my ex. As I would be earning 58% of income, this figure should be £295)
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 186,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -184,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -39,136.5
Net Assets.............................. -37,136.5
Created using the SOA calculator

getmore4less

Its good to get it down in detail but you need a summary

I tried and gave up most others will also

history is not that relevent to start with

whats the status today

HAYLEY8005

Wow that sure was a read but looking into your soa i can see many room to improve
- mobile can easily be reduced is it a contract?
- groceries is very high for 2 people we are a family of 4 and including pets mine is half this amount.
-petrol/diesel again high make sure you only do essentials driving and ecomonically to save here
-wow £100 on presents a month that is way to much especially with no children to buy for
-holiday id forget this for now and pay it to the debt

looking at it id say you could save at least another £500 if you halve the groceries and forget the holiday and maybe 20 in for presents , it would then clear tesco in 3/4 months.

jellybean39

Hi there
welcome and wd on wanting to sort your debts out. You have a good income and have plenty of ways in saving.
We eat really well and have 3 to 4 adults in the house depending if eldest is home and sometimes 5 at times and we only spend no more than 300 a month on groceries. We dont scrimp on anything i think you could save quite a bit here.
Mobile bill is very high can u do payg?
Home ins is high i have 4 bed detatched and mine with axa for buildings and contents is 1709 for the year. just check on the websites for comparison.
Have you tried multi car ins ours for a mecededes and bmw for the year was 514 after a bit of negotiating. main for car 720 a year seems high is that at a local garage or a branded garage could it be reduced? I love clothes but that is one part of my budget that is no longer part of soa as i had enough to last a lifetime. sodl a load at carboot and using some for some new jeans. And what is the other insurance is it for a mobile? hope u dont think im prying just think these are where u could save gl xxxx

Butti

Right Jo,

I'm not sure I've got this but I'll give it a go.

so you have a property that is not in your name, is in the name of you and ex-partner. He won't sign away his part as why should you have it all, he's non contactable and you can't do anything without him signing away his bit.

getmore4less is right, most people will not read the whole thing. It is a bit 'War and Peace'.

I think you need to try to draw a line under the whole thing. That means selling the house AND establishing a workable budget. All this mortgaging, remorgaging and taking out loans to be a deposit are signs that there is a problem with saving and keeping within a budget. You need to fix both of these issues.

I don't know what to suggest in terms of your ex. I think you need professional advice for that so my first port of call would CAB or some other advice centre.

B

topcat9

Hi,

I'm on a DMP with Payplan so know a bit about how they work, and I'm not totally clear on where they've have been negligent?

Debt management companies always make it clear that creditors are under no obligation to accept reduced payments or to freeze interest. They also make it clear that entering a DMP will inevitably damage your credit file. For example, it is fairly standard for creditors to default you before they will freeze interest. This is what Tesco did with me and it looks like they did the same with you.

With regard to the late payment markers by NRock - I can think of two possible reasons for this - when your payment is sent to Payplan it always takes a number of days for the payment to be processed and sent onto your creditors. Also, if you are paying NRock an amount less than the minimum payment each month, this is likely to be recorded as a missed payment. I take it that Northern Rock haven't defaulted you yet?

From what I could pick out of your long original post, the only error by Payplan was a failure to send a new request to Northern Rock to freeze interest in May 11? Which at worst would have lost you 2/3 months interest (assuming Northern Rock would have agreed to the freeze). Very annoying, but in the overall scheme of things you've got plenty of other more important battles to fight!

Giddytimes

Do you agree with your ex's view that he isn't responsible for any of the unsecured loan?

If so in your situation I would just sell up, it really doesn't sound worth all the stress and hassle to try and hang on to a house which has no equity.
Sell up, clear the mortgage. Rent somewhere cheaper with your new OH and concentrate on cutting your expenses to the bare minimum so you can either pay more per month, or continue with the arranged payments and try and save up enough to make Northern Rock a full and final offer on the unsecured loan.

Have you told your ex that Northern Rock said they would consider removing his name from the loan if he made a full and final offer? Perhaps he would consider this to fix his own credit record? You never know and they may accept less than you think.

What an awful situation to be in, you seem to be handling this very well considering.

ETA I would also change your phone number an send your ex an email address he can contact you on if he needs to in future. Why should he be able to contact you whenever he feels like when you have been unable to contact him for years!

jorussell_2

I've taken all comments on board and shortened original post. I also made a few mistakes on the SOA and have amended this as well as reviewing figures and adding explanatory notes.
I really appreciate your feedback, as you can see I am listening and working with you to look at everything. Hope my abridged version is more constructive. Many thanks again.

RAS

Are you married or not?

Start by selliing the house, to remove that liability unless it would cost you a lot more to rent locally. Do you realise that you are effectively renting the property from the mortgage provider at the moment? You have life insurance? Who is the beneficary? And a will, I hope? You realise that if you die, your ex will get the house automatically if it is a joint tenancy? You need to sever ties. You may need an order for sale from the courts.

Rent somewhere not rural closer to your workplaces for a few years and put as much as you can towards the debt, or consider going BR and then your ex is wholly liable fior the debt?

Giddytimes

I see your post has now been edited to say Northern Rock would want 60% of the loan from your ex to take his name off the agreement. This seems high, I suspect they are playing hard ball and would actually do it for a lot less.

Do you feel like you have 295 left at the end of every month? Where does this go? Perhaps you need to consider starting a spending diary as right now it looks as though you could at least treble the amount you pay Northern Rock per month on the DMP and therefore be done with the loan in 8 years instead of 25.

Cancel the life insurance, from your post I gather you are not married and have no dependants so it's an expense you could do without.

How much could you rent a 1 bedroom place for in your area? If you could knock 200 off your joint monthly living costs that would free up another 100 for the DMP.

All this of course assumes you are willing to try and clear this loan yourself even though your ex is responsible for some of it. The other alternative (as RAS said) would be to sell the house, clear the mortgage and then declare bankruptcy, therefore passing responsibility for the whole loan to your ex. I think before you edited the post you suggested your ex was struggling financially too, perhaps the best solution would be for both of you to declare bankruptcy and start again.
Personally I wouldn't take the bankruptcy route, I would tighten my belt, take a second job and try to pay the loan as quickly as possible, but I've never been in the situation where I felt like I was paying somebody elses debt too-I can't imagine how frustrated the situation must be making you!

jorussell_2

Hi RAS thanks so much for your time.
Not married. I have a will, beneficiaries are 50% each to my OH and my younger brother. I have severed joint tenancy so we are now tenants in common and my OH can now build an interest in the property. I understand my ex will now only automatically be entitled to half rather than all and that can be adjusted by me proving Beneficial Interest. Life insurance I have been told is a good one that the govt stopped a couple of years ago and to keep it if I can. Thanks, more for me to consider :-)