How bad could this potentially get?

Gleeful

Tixy wrote: »

It is an open forum, but the DFW section of the forum has slightly different rules to other sections of the forum, including not posting judgemental comments and asking people to be sensitive to others. People posting in this section are often very stressed and feeling desperate about their financial situation.
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Sorry, I didn't realise.

Katem wrote: »

Yeah you're right, this is an open forum and anyone can answer a thread posted. I'm sorry if you thought my comment regarding your username being apt was uncalled for.

However, not everybody who is finding themselves in difficult circumstances has done it frivolously and without thought. Sometimes we can be victims of circumstance. Maybe you need to take this into account. Your post came across to me as smug and slightly spiteful, with an air of "you've made your bed". I completely accept that and am prepared for it all to hit the fan. However, your apology is accepted, let's move on. Although I'd like to know where I can get this lifestyle that only costs £800 a month, I'll sign up now

Good luck with everything - hope it all works out for you. I won't post again as I appreciate I wasn't constructive and I don't think I have anything further to add, whereas others on here have an amazing collective knowledge on these matters. Apologies again for upsetting you

maggiecon

Katem wrote: »

. As he was doing some consultancy the MPPI on our mortgage wouldn't pay out for redundancy as he started doing the consultancy almost straight away after he was made redundant. They then told us that he was self-employed (true) and the MPPI wouldn't be valid so we cancelled it (not much point in paying for something which wouldn't pay out). We do have life insurance and critical illness cover.

you could maybe review the wording of your MPPI for your mortgage, you took it out in good faith and although your partner lost his job and took on some consultancy work your insurance should not become void. I would ask at CAB for some advice on this. Not sure myself how it works but I think if they are saying the policy is void you should be entitled to the money you paid for it back.

Katem

leicestersq wrote: »

Katem,

I am getting confused.

In one post you say " We have a large mortgage and quite a bit of living expenses plus three children."

In another " I think it's about as cheap as it could possibly be with a family of 4 adults and a child."

I think that you need to post a SOA so that we can see what the facts are. It seems unlikely you could live on your income alone without state help. Those savings might could against you too.

Perhaps the facts, written down clearly, would help us to help you.

When I say living expenses, I mean essential things like gas/lecky etc. Which are as cheap as I can get it for our house (without actually walking around in the dark and not cooking). Other living expenses which I can't change like bus fares for the kids (£20 a week during school time, too far to walk), tv licence, home/car insurance etc.

My bills (mortgage, fuel, insurance, phone, internet, insurance, council tax etc) come to about 2700 per month. I am sure it's as pared back as it can be, with the exception of a pension, which I am going to pay as long as I possibly can, but could save on that if absolutely necessary. I also have a life insurance policy I'm prepared to change to having no critical illness cover if really necessary but I feel twitchy about doing that. All utilities are in credit and I want them to stay that way. Partner does have some work at the moment but it is drying up.

All I really wanted to know was what would happen after our savings were used - would we be able to private rent (which has been answered), would the B/S have to go to court to chuck us out etc?

Gleeful, don't worry about it. I'm big enough and ugly enough to take it on the chin. I'll get over it Thanks for the good wishes.

-taff

You would eventually be evicted if you stopped paying your mortgage.
If you private rented, they would need financial infomration from you if you go through an agency which, without a regular income, you'd be unlikely to get.
If you rented privately, you'd eventually be evicted if you didn't pay and if you used up all of your money and were evicted, the coucil would have an obligation to house you in emergency accomodation which could be anywhere and in any state.

^That's just answering your questions BTW - not a judgement

Try the old style savings board for more food ideas, especially about cooking with mimium electricity etc. Insualted food pots spring to mind, as well as slow cookers, batch cooking, meal planning etc.

Katem

Great thank you -taff would the mortgage company have to go to court to get us evicted or can they say we need to get out after, for example two months of non-payment?

I'm just trying to buy a bit of time tbh. I don't want to move (at all) but if we have to, I'd like to leave it until my older kids have finished school and at uni so they are being as disrupted as little as possible in crucial exam years. We couldn't possibly afford to live where we do and cut expenses as rents are high around here and house prices have gone up substantially since we bought, so would have to move schools. Not a great idea in GCSE and A level year.

milliemonster

I am not experienced in eviction from non payment of a mortgage but from what I've read it certainly isn't after 2 months of non payment, although in theory mortgage companies can start the process after a couple of months of non payment in reality they seem to take months to get around to it and it can be 12 months or so before you would need to leave, so that does buy you some time.

However, could you look at renting your current house out and renting yourselves something cheaper in the meantime til your husband gets back on his feet?

BTW, to Gleeful, the first post on this board does say this board is for help and not judgment. And while many years ago good advice was to buy a home based on one income (it was advised to me when me and my hubby first bought our home 17 years ago) back then house prices were generally only a max of 3 times 1 income anyway and the reason for it was most women gave up work after starting a family. We live in the real world now where the average mortgage is more than 5 times the average income so totally unrealistic for anyone to buy a house based on one normal average income.

Can you put up an SOA?

leicestersq

"My bills (mortgage, fuel, insurance, phone, internet, insurance, council tax etc) come to about 2700 per month."

OK. What about income and savings, and realistic potential changes to your income levels?

I suspect that you have around £10k+ savings from what you have said and income well below they £2700 a month you are spending. I am not sure if you can meet your day to day non-mortgage expenses.

I dont think that planning to stay in a house and not pay your mortgage is a good idea if you were thinking of that. Far better to plan a route to something that is sustainable based on realistic assumptions of what your future income will be.

GwylimT

It would be helpful if you did an SOA, posters could offer more realistic advice, such as where you can save.

Until your husband secures employment are you looking for a second job to top up the wage you will earn in September?

moxter

If you have a year's savings, with your own job starting in September, with some belt tightening in the next few months could you not at least give your other half the chance and time to get a new job? It's a very unsettling and scary situation to be in of course, but there's no need to be at panic stations YET. The fact that you've got some savings to fall back on is ideal - that's what savings are for.

If you could set yourself a target of reducing non-essential spending by, say, 40% and essential spending by, say, 10% in the interim, you could probably squeeze another couple of months of mortgage payments out which will give you some more breathing space still.

Obviously as you say the last thing you want is to take drastic steps like move - but it sounds on the information you've given that you're not needing to take drastic steps just yet.

Only you can know reaslistically what your other half's chances of picking up a new job are - and what compromises you're prepared to make regarding type of work/salary/etc.

chella

Tixy wrote: »

I am sure that Katem probably wishes that her circumstances were different but don't think others posting about how they feel they've managed to avoid this particular situation happening to them is very helpful to this thread.

spot on!


good luck katem, a worrying time for your family I wish you well. loads of ideas on the old style boards for being frugal , look on the shopping and groceries board as well.(although small in the grand scheme of your worries, it all helps ) x