stopped paying the mortgage - now what?

live'n'learn

mrsrwallace wrote: »

Thanks Willyk!
On the outside I appear relatively normal, though the stress is taking it's toll on my skin and i have aged about 10 years! but inside my head is seriously fried! Though i have to remind myself I do have a lot to be thankful for, good healthy children and food in the belly so there is a lot worse that could happen to me in the grand scale of things, though naturally I would be gutted to lose it all but if that's my fate then so be it.

I was in a similar situation and ended up getting my house repossessed but I am not stressed anymore and now living in a rented house. We are much happier now as there was nothing more we could have done.

irishjohn

Lots of people who hit a point where they cannot meet their obligations post an SOA - state of affairs on the debt free forum here. They get such good feedback from other members on areas in their financial affairs which they could consider altering. People like to help and will not pass judgement so its worth thinking about - say perhaps you are trying to find £300 a month they could maybe make some budgeting suggestions when they see your outgoings.

Also - you could perhaps get the children to room share for a while and let a room, or if you think you will get a better paid job soon you could consider getting a credit card with a period of introductory zero interest to buy your groceries for a few months to free up some cash for the mortgage - although not a great idea unless you are pretty confident of the new job. Don't give up hope just keep asking for help - people will give it willingly.

Constant_Gardener

Saw your post on the CAB section and found my way here - hope you don't mind. No easy answers. It seems that there is no mortgage rescue scheme in NI yet. Perhaps contact your MP? This main mse website (not forum) search repossession - I can't post links.

I gather that unless something radically improves very soon, you are resigned to the fact that the mortgage is not sustainable. However, I can't see how you would be any better off voluntarily leaving your home and renting privately to be honest, and you have said that if you rented your home out the extra income wouldn't cover the mortgage.

I think you may be mixing up the homelessness legislation 'intentionally homeless' with the housing benefit rules, but as I don't know what the law / situation in NI is think you need good local advice (rather than based on English etc law) on both aspects. Try starting by Googling Shelter Northern Ireland for housing advice.

In England - 'Handing back the keys should only be considered as a last resort in a case where the lender refuses to negotiate further or to allow a voluntary sale. Even if the client leaves, s/he continues to be responsible for mortgage payments and any arrears. S/he may also be found intentionally homeless if s/he makes a homelessness application to the local authority. Even if the lender asks the client to give up possession of her/his home, the client is under no obligation to do so. The lender will have to make a possession claim and obtain a possession order.'
Have you discussed them allowing you to sell the house privately with the lender - you would probably get a better price than them selling it after repossession, as you are more motivated to do this than they are! If in negative equity after the sale either way, then that would become a non-priority debt and dealt with later, rather than mortgage arrears which are a priority one.
Good luck.

win123

mrsrwallace wrote: »

hi
yes "saverbuyer", you have hit the nail on the head, we cannot afford to live here and our finances are not improving so it does look to me like repossession is inevitable down the line. We took the mortgage out as a self-certified one as my husband was self-employed so it was automatically more expensive as they charged for the privilege and so it is higher than some mortgages around here in similar areas. On my husband's previous income this was not a problem and we always paid on time, however, now it is impossible to make ends meet.
"x12yhp", believe me there is little to no help out there for working families with children! I have looked! In fairness we do get some Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit but it's not enough to compensate for our once high income and so to remain living here is living beyond our means. We get Rate relief but no mortgage assistance. That is only for people in receipt of benefits and even then there is a serious delay before anyone gets actual financial assistance. I'm not expecting to be bailed out here, we took on the mortgage, it is our mess but all I can see is that no matter what we do we keep banging our heads off a brick wall.
We enquired about renting a home today and it seems that there is some kind of clause that if we just move out of here we'd not be eligible for Housing Benefit as we would effectively be making ourselves homeless? Is that correct? Does that mean then if we are evicted by the lender we're being made homeless by them and so eligible for Housing Benefit then? Or if we sell the house before repossession order is made are we still not making ourselves homeless? I am finding this all so confusing. I thought today we'd try and sell the house and if successful rent a property but now it seems that isn't even an option. Oh I don't know! Then there is the whole issue of renting a property and getting a deposit and a full month's rent in advance which amounts to about £1000, pray tell me please where do folk get that money?? I do not understand how people who do not work can secure a property and pay upfront!
Oh yeah, "x12yhp", your suggestion of getting 2 extra hours a day actually makes so much sense on paper as that is quite a lot of money in a month but the actual difficulty in getting ANY overtime at all these days is next to none, I can only get overtime in the summer or at Christmas to cover other staff's hols and my husband has had his hours cut in his new job already as there isn't the money there to pay staff. I have always said there is work there if you really want a job and have never been out of work BUT trying to get an evening job is near impossible, all the Tesco staff round our way seem to still be at school so I don't know if they get paid less or what but I have applied twice and STILL can't get in even though I have retail experience. I've tried selling stuff on ebay etc to try and raise extra cash but I don't have anything left to sell!

WIN123

would you both not be entitled to mortgage rescue scheme that is run by the government? Its worth a try. This is available if you have had a sudden drop in income or have children who are dependant on you = You never know you should look in to this if you have not already xx Good Luck = I am in the same situation my income has dropped and I am going to seek advice re Mortgage rescue scheme

mrsrwallace

Hi
Yeah I have already looked into this mortgage rescue scheme but as per usual with a lot of things in the UK, Northern Ireland gets overlooked/left behind and so there is no help available as yet here in a form of the rescue scheme available in England.
I did contact the Department of Work and Pensions and explained the massive income drop but because myself and my husband are both in employment and earning just over what the law says we need to live on we could not get any help through Income Support, Jobseekers etc and so applied for the WTC and CTC (tax credits) which we did eventually get. We also applied through the Dept of Work and Pensions for help with our mortgage costs (this is help towards the interest on our mortgage not the capital) and it took MONTHS for them to give a final decision which was a "No" and their explanation was that we are only entitled to assistance with our mortgage "if we were in receipt of a benefit e.g Income Support, Jobseekers etc". Now, they knew fine well at the start of our application process that we were not in receipt of benefits so WHY could they not have just told us at the start that we were ineligible for help?? Beggars belief as we were sitting in a little bubble assuming we would get something to tide us over in the meantime but no, so that was months wasted and just prolonged the worry.
I have looked into renting a home and we would (according to the Housing Benefit website) be able to get quite a bit each week towards our rent so I think it's a bit ridiculous that say we lose our home, the state will help us pay rent to a landlord to pay for his/her house yet we can't claim the same amount to pay our lender. But whatever! The system is rotten to the core. At the moment we are still awaiting a formal response from the lender in relation to how we move on from here, note that when we were late with payments they were quick to reply, now that we are contemplating selling up they take AGES to reply! Ah well.
At the moment I am just wishing that we could sell our house, rent a house and get on with the rest of our lives. There will be a shortfall if and when we sell but we can deal with that and pay it back over time or consider bankruptcy down the line, but this sitting in limbo is annoying the hell out of me! Your life is at a standstill. Then in my darker days I am so resentful wondering why we ever bothered to work at all, why did we ever try and give ourselves and our family a nice life and a nice house, why I get up in the morning at all when I could have taken the easier option some folk I know have taken and just did nothing with my life. I have friends and family who are sitting in a free home, get money every week from the state for doing nothing, go out every weekend and drink, wear the latest fashions and go on holiday. Then there is me and some other of my friends who sit in cold houses, have little food to feed us all, maybe go for days without electric and if they are sick have to go to work because they won't get paid otherwise. It just seems so unjust at times. My children see the difference and I find it very hard at times to remind them that nothing in life is free and they have to work for all the nice things they will want when they are older, yet I look around and the reality contradicts everything I try and teach them.
My daughter announced to me one of her classmates is going to America in the Spring and I queried if this was a holiday and she said no, it is some scheme run for "disadvantaged children"!! I must point out this same child is always in designer clothes, has the latest gadgets and allowed trips to the cinema, shops etc EVERY weekend and my children have NOTHING! Who is disadvantaged here really!?!
Anyway.......serious apologies are warranted here, you folk are just trying to be supportive and helpful and I am letting my anger with the losers in society and the totally out of touch politicians get in the way of all this advice.
So thanks for listening! Rant is well and truly over!

Beetlemama

mrsrwallace wrote: »

I find it very hard at times to remind them that nothing in life is free and they have to work for all the nice things they will want when they are older, yet I look around and the reality contradicts everything I try and teach them.

I hear this, say the same thing to our son but watch other kids getting things he can't have even though no one in their household appears to work at all. we had a big scramble the other day when we realised he doesn't have any school shoes without a hole and it was pouring (I bought some yesterday because of this - with stacking codes from here, and a discount and an offer of £5 off kids clothes etc its the only way sometimes.)

Stay strong, I have no advice, I was lucky with my house, no worries about losing it but there's literally plaster falling off the walls since we can't afford to maintain it. I hope it works out for you.

Mistral001

I was told by my Bank (Northern) that they start sending "legal" letters when you miss two mortgage payments and they charge for those letters.

That is the only thing I can add. For me it is all in front of me it would seem.

Golden_Anemone

MrsWallace, my heart goes out to you. Have you contacted Housing Rights for Northern Ireland specific advice? They are the best advice organisation here for housing issues.

mrsrwallace

Mistral001 I feel for you if it is all ahead of you too. It will be a very confusing time and stress levels will go through the roof but the way I see it now is that what is the worst thing that can happen? A house is only bricks and mortar and yes at first I loved my home but the area has seriously gone downhill now as most homeowners in my area have sold up, been repossessed or rented their home out as they couldn't afford to stay there themselves. So the folk who live here now are not what I would have chosen for neighbours (let me add here I am NOT a snob by any stretch of the imagine and am working class and from a working class family) but the folk who live here have given our wee place a bad reputation now so I am kind of relieved in a way to be going as it's not the place it once was.
So the plan is now that I am getting an appointment with CAB and getting as much housing info off them (shall also contact Housing Rights, thanks for that Golden Anemone ) and going from there. Could be ages yet before the mortgage company takes court action to remove us and so by that time I should be well and truly versed in what to do and where to go to get a rented house.
I could sit and dwell on the thousands and thousands of pounds gone down the toilet with nothing to show for it but at the end of the day that will only serve to make me mentally ill. Another little thing I realised too is that I shall NEVER make plans for the future again. I had hoped that my home would be something solid for my children to have when I die and they could sell it and have cash when it was needed but do you know what? It's not worth the hassle or annoyance anymore. I would rather my children had happy memories of their childhood but at the minute I fear they'll only remember the hardship, the lack of money and how they saw their mother react every time the postman came or the phone rang. Unfortunately a lot of children are seeing too much of this.

wanchai_2

No advice to add but just wanted to wish you all the best xx