Negotiating my way out of a mortgage...

The_Raven

Hi folks. This is my first post, so if I break any rules, keep me right!

I currently owe about £80,000 on my mortage, and pay around £673 per month on a variable rate, which has obviously been sitting at a low rate for ages.

I work in local government, and we are going through a reorganisation. There may be two options ahead for me.

1. An opportunity to take a voluntary redundancy package of about £37,000
2. Stay on, as there will be positions aplenty under the new regime at work

I'd love to get started my own business. I've been quietly working on getting it up and running over the past couple of years.

Let's set that aside. I've encountered several reports on reputable news sites where many mortgage companies are taking greatly reduced final payments, mostly - it seems from the reporting - to get the debt off the books. (I'm greatly paraphrasing/simplifying there)

Has anyone encountered this? I am wondering if this is something I can look at, should the opportunity for this voluntary redundancy comes up.

Now, I am great believer in paying my debts and have always been. However, I have a small pot of savings aside for a rainy day, a small but increasing customer base (something to fall back on in my new life), but I am just wondering - is this something I could do?

Let me put this simply - could I feasibly go to my mortgage lender, plead my story of woe, and potentially settle up with my redundancy...?

I'd like to post a couple of links where I've been reading about this, to give context, but as a new user, I can't.

I'm interested in opinions, and if anyone has encountered this...?

Thanks from a newbie, for any thoughts.

Peter

The_Raven

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