NRAM voluntary repossession????

skint98

Hi sorry if this is the wrong forum but wasn't sure where to post. I'm looking for some advice/opinions. We bought our house in 2005 with an NRAM together mortgage then a few years later took out another secured loan of 30k over 10 years to consolidate other debt and make home improvements (in hindsight this was a VERY BIG mistake!!). 4 years ago my husband was made redundant and we changed to interest only payments. He quickly found work but has been unable to earn anywhere near his previous salary and due to now having 3 children I work part time so we have remained paying interest only. Unfortunately my husband lost his job again in Aug this year and we are now 3 months in arrears. We have done an income and expenditure with NRAM but were unable to come to a reduced payment plan as we are in negative income but have made a few token payments anyway. The house is in approx. 25k negative equity so can't sell. We feel in the long term we will never earn enough to return to repayment and have the added pressure of the other secured loan ending in 3 years time and we will still owe 27k on this. NRAM have said we cannot increase the repayment term and they will expect the loan to be repaid in full in 3 years time.

CAB have advised to save for a deposit to rent privately and wait for NRAM to repossess then consider bankruptcy for the shortfall. We were accepting of this however my husband thankfully has a new job and is due to start next week. We will then be in a position to afford the interest only payment again however we will still owe the 27k in 3 years time. Another debt charity has suggested we should continue with the mortgage payments and worry about the 27k in 3 years time but I think we will just spend the next 3 years worrying about being back in this position. We have thought about voluntary repossession to get this over and done with but can NRAM refuse as technically when my husband starts his new job we will be in a position to afford the interest only payments again?
Thanks for reading. Hope it makes sense. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Sars49

Hi, there are people on here who will give you VERY good advice, but here is my take on it. First of all you have to consider your overall debt, if it is only with NRAM can you honestly say that in 3 years you will have the money to pay them? If not BR may be an option, do you want to keep the house? Have you thought about moving out & would that bother you? The important thing is, if you have not already, DO NOT sign a deed of acknowledgment with NRAM, if you do & then go bankrupt (BR) you will still be liable for any shortfall, if BR does not bother you or moving out, stop paying now & save for a place & maybe declare BR yourself, allthough that will cost for you both £1400.

We stopped paying in June & we are about to go BR & we have just had the Mortgage Company take it to court for repo'.

Hope that helps a bit.

skint98

thank you very much for your reply. To be honest it's got to the point now that the house feels like a millstone round our neck rather than a home so moving wouldn't be too much of an issue. I suppose I mainly feel guilty that if we go down that route we are just giving up but I just can't see us ever being able to pay back our mortgage. We have some other unsecured debt that on it's own isn't too much of an issue but the secured loan just seems to be hanging over us. Thanks for your reply. It's appreciated.