Ownhome/People for Places/Co-op - Help

sontoon

Evening All,

I'm hoping someone can help.

5 years ago we were successful in being able to purchase our first home on the Ownhome Scheme and although very stressful at the time are really happy to say we have had the keys to our house 5years tomorrow.

One of the stipulations of the scheme was to have a mortgage with the Co-op. We started with a 3 year tracker and at the end of that changed to a 2 year fixed. This is about to come to an end. We hadn't heard from the Co-op and so tonight have rung the Co-op to move deals.

I couldn't and still can't believe what we have been told tonight. The Co-op have basically said they can't renew our deal and we will defer to the variable rate and that is all they can do for us as they no longer have any dealings with People for Places.

If we want to sell our home and buy another they can offer us a mortgage with their current deals but that's it.

Has anyone moved mortgage providers who are on that scheme, if so what lenders are available please? And also anyone who is with the Co-op through the Ownhome Scheme might be worth a call to the Co-op....

Any advise is gratefully received

Thanks

dimbo61

Is this a shared ownership type of purchase ?
What is the SVR you go onto ?
Can you remortgage to a high street lender ? Equity in the property ?
Savings, income etc

sontoon

Thank you for your reply dimbo.
It is a shared equity scheme not shared ownership. When we come to pay back the equity loan we pay back the percentage of the value of the house.
We would like to know the lenders that are available to us to remortgage with. We have approx 50k's worth of equity which is ours. We don't currently have any savings as we have done a lot of work to the property with what would've been our savings.
The SVR will be 4.74% which I know is still not too bad a rate but would prefer to be on one of the fixed rate percentages of around the 3% as would everyone if they have the chance.
Income is approx 55k pa jointly
Looking for a lender who will be able to assist. I have contacted both HSBC and Santander who we hold accounts with and neither of them can assist :-(

dimbo61

You need to find a whole of market mortgage broker

Discworlder

I am also aware of this problem. When I spoke to The Co-op earlier this year they said they could no longer offer us a new mortgage product/deal as they no longer deal with shared equity properties! I was shocked as they were the only mortgage lender who actually did the Ownhome deal in the first place!
I think you should contact the equity loan provider 'Places for People' as they have a mortgage advisor who should be able to help or at least clarify your options. When I spoke to him some time ago he did say that there is a VERY small pool of lenders who will now deal with equity loan properties.
It does appear that most of us may be stuck on variable rates until our mortgage term ends or until we sell up! Good luck!

P.S. dont forget to feedback any revelations to the rest of us!

Pablo_Diablo

I was wondering if you found a new mortgage provider in the end? I am in the same position - about to come out of my fix with Co-Op, and when I spoke to them they were quite open and said they want my mortgage off their books - in fact they would wave any fees or penalties to go before the end of my fixed term if I found another deal! Really pleased to be treated so well after 5 years of unblemished payment history with them. Anyway, I am looking around but struggling to find a lender .. Natwest and Nationwide may be able to help, but I am waiting for appointments with them. Any other pointers?

dermonte

Omg I am glad we picked 10 years fixed then. We have been with coop for 6 years now and 4 years to go. Paid 20% of the places of people equity. So 20% left to pay. Hopefully we will pay that and move the provider probably. We absoulutely love our house not planning of selling until we retire in 20-30 years time.

Garywill21

Hi, just wondered if anyone is still live on this thread.

This little bombshell have just landed on my lap and to be honest my heads a bit sore.
I've got ownhome marketing material that states 'i can pick any co-op mortgage I fancy' and I won't incur any fees or premiums for being an own home customer' .Co-op say they don't support the scheme, and my options are to go on thier SVR of about 4.7% or the only other place I can realistically go is TSB for 2 years with about £1800 in fees.
Although my LTV ratio on what I own should be plenty, I can't qualify for open market mortgages because of the shared equity malarkey.
So the own home info of no fees and access to plenty of mortgages seems wrong. The way I figure it I've signed up to a 25 year ownhome investment with incorrect info.
Anyone I speak to from places for people or co-op seem basically to listen give me a shrug and blame the other.
Surely the scheme won't work unless there's a mortgage partner, and how come they are able to walk away. It's a government scheme and I feel it's been mismanaged.
Has anybody ever referred this to the ombudsmen. I've made my complaints and have been rebuffed, but to be honest I do feel as if I'm being conned, but it's all a bit Oceans 11 and I can't quite figure out who's dousing the conning!

silvercar

I've got ownhome marketing material that states 'i can pick any co-op mortgage I fancy' and I won't incur any fees or premiums for being an own home customer'

Was this when you bought the property? Or did the promise that you can pick any deal refer to when it comes time to remortgage?

If you feel co-op are treating you unfairly, you complain to them. After that you can take your complaint to the ombudsman, though i fear your complaint is directed to the scheme rather than the co-op.

You can't force a new lender to take on a shared equity scheme if it doesn't want to deal with them.

Garywill21

Thanks for responding Silvercar.
The marketing material states that when my deal ends I can pick a range of 'award winning'flexible and fixed term mortgages from the Co-op for a new deal.
And yes, my beef does seem to be with the product. But this is where it gets a bit murky, the product was a partnership between places for people and the Co-op bank.
If I got food poisoning from a tin of beans and complained to Heinz, I assume they wouldn't be able to say 'sorry mate, you'll have to take that up with the tin of beans'.
This seems to be both places for people and co-op stance.
It's particularly galling as I appear to be in the process of being tricked onto co-ops SVR by a product launched by the Co-op, which specifies that this won't happen.

Snafkin

Hi Garywill21,

How did you get on with remortgaging? We've been on a 10 year fix which is coming up for renewal. Do you have any advice?

Thanks!

Snafkin