Repossession and debt- Can i still get a mortgage?

mr_man1

This is my story-

I split from my ex wife, to which it was agreed that she was taking on the house with its mortgage. I moved back in with my parents, i lost my job at the same time which meant i could not afford to stay at the house. She was living in the house for a good 6 months before getting herself a council house. It was brought to my attention that she had got into mortgage arrears as she had not been paying. She also ran up a £3000 debt with the bank, to which the account was in joint names. The mortgage was with the same bank which she incurred the debt. The house has since been repossessed, however it is in negative equity. Together with the £3000 debt, between us we are in around £30,000 of debt, which none has been repaid.
I have since moved on with my new partner, and we would like to get a mortgage together. However because of the above debt, i will have bad credit and i have not gone bankrupt. My partner is already a home owner so we would have a good deposit to put down. Would i have to go bankrupt or is there other options that i could consider? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

Dave_Ham

Approximately when did the repossession happen?

Senior_Paper_Monitor

You would appear to be (under current criteria) an absolute minimum of 5 years away from being acceptable on any mortgage 'on a good day', even you do all the appropriate credit repair stuff.


In the mean time ensure you do not become 'financially associated' with your new partner.

mr_man1

The house got repossessed around last September.
As for credit repair what do you mean? Do you mean I will have to pay the debt off as I know my ex will not pay any and also I cannot afford to pay that amount off.

Thrugelmir

mr_man1 wrote: »

also I cannot afford to pay that amount off.

You cannot walk away from the mortgage debt without making any attempt to make any repayment at all.

The mortgage company will however most likely treat you as individuals so the base point at which they'll start negotiating is 50% of the shortfall.

Dave_Ham

You are virtually unmortgageable and more to the point, why on Earth would your new partner want you on the mortgage given the black cloud that will be following you looking for payment (or security) on the outstanding debt.

As a joint debt, they will chase whichever one of you can or will pay/communicate and will certainly not bust it up 50-50

mr_man1

Surely if i was to go bankrupt though then the debt is 'written off'. I thought that was the whole point of bankruptcy, because you havent got the funds to repay the debt. Therefore, you are able to start afresh once you have served the bankruptcy term? Please correct me if i am wrong?
My new partner is in full understanding that the debt was actually incurred because 1. I bought the house during peak time and now because of the recession it has lost value 2. The ex wife had got into mortgage arrears 3. The ex wife had ran up extra debt with the bank. Yes as silly as it sounds to keep my name on things when we had split, there are children involved. Obviously if there is a way that myself and my partner could get a mortgage it is a much better option for us.

Dave_Ham

I was not judging your situation, merely quickly giving some additional information.

If you go bankrupt, it stays with you and certainly you are incredibly unlikely to achieve mortgage finance within 6 years of the bankruptcy.

Once discharged, potentially you could achieve mortgage finance but not on highstreet rates, not easily and at least 25% deposit would typically be required.

mr_man1

Me and my partner don't mind renting for a while till things settle down, I was just after the best way to deal with it. I know I can't go out tomorrow and expect to get a mortgage, I was hoping that after time that I could get one. Also I'm 34 so will I be to old to get a mortgage when I'm clear of the debt?

Thrugelmir

mr_man1 wrote: »

Yes as silly as it sounds to keep my name on things when we had split, there are children involved.

There's no blame attached. Situations such as this are very difficult to resolve.

However a lender is running a business so doesn't have the time to investigate every individual situation. Therefore has to have a very hard and clinical approach. So nothing personal.

Keep saving. There's plenty of years left in which to obtain a mortgage and buy a property.