Advice please

yellowrock

Hi all

We are seeing the citizens advice bureau but I need a bit of extra advice.

We have debts totalling £40,000 excluding our mortgage. WE have managed to secure token payments of £1 a month of these debts for the next 3 months.

We have tried to get mortgage interest relief but are £16 a month too well off to get it. Our mortgage is £566 a month and we are really struggling to pay it. We have asked our mortgage lender for an interest only period they did this for 3 months now the payments are back up to the £566 a month.

I am worried in case the interest rates go up, the mortgage lender wont fix our rate because we have arrears ( caused by the concession) and they are also currently deciding on if we can have a concession again. If they wont grant us a concession and/or the interest rate goes up we are in trouble. WE have never missed a mortgage payment or asked for concession/mortgage holiday in the past. They won't give us a mortgage holiday as we have never overpaid on our mortgage.

Can anyone give us advice on what is the best course of action with our mortgage. Do we try the govenment rescue scheme, can the mortgage lender be made to accept reduced payments and fix our interest rate? Do we just sell up and rent?

I really don't know which way to turn. I am a little worried about posting on the forum as the last post I made I had some awful comments about my ability as a mother made! and that was just because i dared to say we had spent £50 on our 12yr old for his birthday.

Thank you

carslet

i am sure you will get some good support on here, you have made the first big step tackling the debt,

Standingtall

Ah Yellowrock, welcome and please ignore any nasty comments although hopefully you will not receive any this time.

I personally think a little more information is needed but let me have another read and I will get back to you. I was so concerned about assuring you regarding the comments that I have forgotten the majority of your post:o

Standingtall

Ok. Unfortunately I do not know a lot about the mortgage relief scheme but I take it that you / partner have become unemployed?

I think that maybe you need the mortgage forum for information on mortage relief or maybe the benefits forum?

I can tell you mor about DMPs, etc though, so ask away if these are options you are considering.

Additionally you could post your SOA on here and we could see if we could find a little spare in your budget in case the worst does happen.

Regarding fixed rates from current lenders, the only one the Halfax could offer me was £80 higher than I am paying on SVR. Even with the .49% rise we are now going to have to absorb I will still only pay and extra £40 or so (or so I believe). Although it would provide long term certainty I have decided the lower payments more attractive and less risky for the time being.

Good luck and keep asking any questions.

yellowrock

Will post my SOA tomorrow, going to (try) to sleep now, thanks for all the lovely posts, I feel most welcome already!

bangersnmash

If it's getting towards push comes to shove then would you perhaps consider living in your living room and renting out your bedroom to a lodger, just as a temporary stop gap solution until hopefully you can get on top of the situation? Or do you already have a spare room that could be rented?

Perhaps a nice young student type who could perhaps add a bit of an extra dimension for your son's education and experience.

I appreciate that obviously having a bod in the house wouldn't be your preference but nevertheless I suggest that possibly it's worth considering as an emergency option if things are starting to look a bit squiffy. Over the years I've known of a number of people taking lodgers and it's often made all the difference for them.