Company Secretly changing terms and conditions?

Taliametris

I am nearly at the end of a term of interest-only mortgage of £123,000. My husband and I have been separated for three years, and since our seperation I have paid everything except the mortgage and loan account on the house I no longer live in, and he was responsible for those two things only. Four months ago I discovered that the mortgage hadn't been paid for 13 months.

I understand that it is a miracle that we haven't been kicked out of the house by the company. I discovered that a mortgage advisor had been to the property on the day he attended, and swiftly made arrangements to meet him myself. I took control of the account and undertook to make payments against the arrears, which were considerable. For 13 months non-payment they were charging over £18,000.

I phoned the company to ask if I could negotiate on the arrears, but was told that I couldn't deal directly with them as a mortgage advisor had been appointed to the case. When I spoke to him, he said that he had no power to negotiate, he was only allowed to report back to the company.

I borrowed money from my employer, and borrowed money from family to make payments on the account. I paid £7500 over the course of three months and found that I had paid less than £2000 off the total arrears. I put the house on the market immediately, and within a couple of weeks had found a buyer. Unfortunately, although the buyer has no property to sell, I am still waiting to exchange contracts 12 weeks later.

I have been phoning the collections department of the mortgage company every month, and at the beginning of August when I told them that I had accepted an offer on the property, they told me that there were special arrangements for properties which were sold, and they sent me a form to give them details of the estate agent and solicitor and giving them permission to speak to both. I duly filled this in and sent it back to them.

I was told that filling in this form put my account "on hold" for three months. Whereas the company has been charging me £35 a letter to write and tell me that I am in arrears and that I need to make regular payments, even though I am aware of that and have been making regular payments, I was told that this would stop for three months.

I had claimed my pension early, and was using the lump sum to pay for the costs incurred during the sale of the property. I had intended to make a large payment towards the arrears using this money, but when I contacted the company last month, they told me that as the account was on hold, I need not worry about that until the end of November.

I should say that I have also asked this company to change my correspondence address to my actual address, rather than my old matrimonial home EIGHT TIMES, and each time the adviser says that they have done this, but I have yet to receive any correspondence at my actual address, it all goes to my matrimonial home, which is how I got into this mess in the first place.

My estranged husband notified me yesterday that there were letters from the company at home, and I asked my son to read it to me. It was a letter to the effect that I should make the normal monthly payment on my mortgage, and informing me of the arrears. When I phoned the company to find out what was going on, they told me that they had changed the policy on sales of properties in arrears, and so the three month hold on a property was now from the date of putting it on the market instead of the date on which it was sold.

I asked if they had sent out details of the change in policy and was told that they have no intention of sharing this information with customers! The agent I talked to said that the "hold" on the property had *never* meant that charges were suspended, which is definitely what I was told in August, and that as the three month period on my property began in June, it had ended at the end of September... but that I should have been making payments all that time, and there was only a suspension on the charges for letters.

I dispute that it is reasonable to tell me that the account was on hold and then to change the policy, withold the details, mislead and misinform the clients... and I am wondering how I can take this up with a company who refuses to negotiate with me because I am still in arrears. Help!

kingstreet

Formal complaint to the lender, followed up by escalation to FOS if you do not get a satisfactory response.

http://www.fos.org.uk/

You have to exhaust the lender's complaints process first.