Mortgage arrears - charges

simon34_2

About 4 years ago I was in real trouble and got behind with my mortgage. Fortunately I've steadied the ship since and have been chipping away at the arrears. I'm with the Bradford and Bingley who I believe are now a bank. For the last 4 years they have been charging me £25 a month for the privilege of their "Administration Costs" and these charges will continue until the arrears are cleared (which could be years yet). Does anyone know if I can do anything about this-i.e. claim back these charges which I'm sure are money for nothing,
be grateful of any advice on this.

cattie

You can't claim them back & it isn't strictly money for nothing as you have to pay interest on mortgage arrears & there is a level of administration to maintain your mortgage account. In actual fact if you have been in arrears for 4yrs you are quite lucky that the lender hasn't taken steps to repossess your property.

If your mortgage is higher than you can really cope with then it may be an idea for you to sell & find a cheaper property or if you have a spare room, think of taking in a lodger & pay any rent you receive straight off of the mortgage arrears.

simon34_2

Thanks Cattie, they're happy with us chipping away, I think that's because we've plenty of equity in the property and we are keeping up with things, they did take steps to re-possess about 4 years ago so if things were to slip again we'd be in trouble. The kids are all grown up now so maybe we should "downsize" (sorry, I hate jargon language). Thanks for your reply and for the info.