Interest only letter from C&G

andyfromotley

Always_Hopeful wrote: »

. I'm now leaving the forum due to your attitude, which is a pity, because I'm a huge fan of the website.

Blimey Always,

calm down a bit, this is an open internet forum. The remarks were hardly rude or personally attacking you. I know one sometimes needs a thick skin on forums but i don't even think you need that for this thread. Someone metaphorically raises an eyebrow at your choices and you have gone all Greta Garbo on us. Stick around and you'll get positive advice in the main, (as you have had on this thread in the main, including from me.

Andy

JimmyTheWig

Always_Hopeful wrote: »

Also, JimmyTheWig, regarding ' no real difference between repayments and overpayments', yes there is, unless I am being really stupid, in that overpayments bring down the debt, thus saving interest, which can then in turn go towards paying off the interest only.

You are mistaken here. A repayment mortgage also brings down the debt and thus saves interest. This is one of the problems with interest-only mortgages, the fact that they don't.

If you have done your sums right for the repayment mortgage and can't afford it then you can't afford to overpay to pay off the mortgage on time either.
If you have done your sums right for the overpayment route then you can stop panicing about the repayment mortgage as you can afford it.

Always_Hopeful wrote: »

I'm now leaving the forum due to your attitude, which is a pity, because I'm a huge fan of the website.

I agree that that's a shame, because I think we have established that you could do with some help in working this out. Either because your mortgage will be left unpaid at the end of the term or for reassurance that a repayment mortgage would be ok for you.

Obviously you don't have to get that help here if you don't want to.
You could pay for that help with a professional.
Or you could ask the bank for help who will ultimately be acting in their best interests rather than yours.
But they shouldn't be rude to you. So take your choice.

Fizzy11

Maybe Always Hopeful that's the problem. You came on here for help & advice & that's what you have been given. By not listening you are risking your financial future & maybe that's what happened when you got advice you didn't like in a bank.

These other people are here to help.

Always_Hopeful

I'm afraid some people posting have misunderstood the circumstances. Perhaps I didn't explain them in enough detail, or perhaps they have got the wrong end of the stick - either way very little of the 'advice' on here has been relevant to my position. I did not ask for advice about the amount outstanding, but about whether or not anyone knew if C&G could force us to move the IO amount onto repayment. (The repayment amount was taken out some time ago to fund extortionate roofing and decorating charges by our then freeholders).
I don't consider myself thin skinned, or unable to listen to advice if given fairly. I didn't come on here looking for sympathy, but nor did I expect condemnation. Far from being supportive some of the comments have been judgmental, which isn't helpful to me, and probably not too good for the karma of those making them.

Fizzy11

As far I'm aware the answer to your question is no. However having worked banks, building societies & brokers for 40 years I would recommend talking to them. You can use any expected inheritance to keep them at bay. Good luck.

silvercar

I did not ask for advice about the amount outstanding, but about whether or not anyone knew if C&G could force us to move the IO amount onto repayment.

The first time I was asked to fill in a form, people on here said the lender couldn't force me to do so. So I binned it, I was also unhappy with the wording of what I was expected to sign. The lender kept contacting me, saying they needed the form completed. I suppose I could have played hard ball and told them I had no intention of signing it, but the least hassle route seemed to be to sign it and not be bothered.

So this time I completed the form and I still had a follow up phone call.

So my reckoning is that the line of least resistance is to give them what they want. As long as your repayment strategy sounds plausible they should not cause you grief.

As lenders get busier with checking that borrowers on IO have a strategy, there is always a risk that they will try and persuade you onto a repayment mortgage. Whether they could force you, I doubt. I can't see a lender going to court to repossess (if you failed to agree to a repayment plan) on the grounds that you did keep up with repayments. After all we are continually told that your home is at risk if you don't. But then these are uncharted waters. There is a lender who managed to renege on base rate mortgages on the grounds that they didn't expect the interest rate to remain so low.

Thrugelmir

Always_Hopeful wrote: »

but about whether or not anyone knew if C&G could force us to move the IO amount onto repayment. (The repayment amount was taken out some time ago to fund extortionate roofing and decorating charges by our then freeholders).

No they can't. Lenders are under regulatory guidance from the FCA to write to all borrowers and ascertain the borrowers plans. As lenders are under a duty of care to assist borrowers. Therefore it is better to start a dialogue now with your lender or consider a switch to another lender. In order that the repayment of the debt can be made affordable over an extended term. Rather than stick ones head in the sand and leave it until it's too late. There'll be little sympathy for those that do I suspect.

There are some 4 million interest only mortgages outstanding currently. With the peak starting after 2020. So you are far from being alone. Although not a problem at the moment. There are concerns that it may in the future. Hence the efforts made to get people to start tackling the issue now.

addedvaluebob

Alwayshopeful. I am afraid you have been judged and found wanting in your financial dealings by some of the posters on here it happens all too often on open forums like this. As one or two other posters have pointed out this is an open forum and unfortunately replies that are judgemental/incorrect/misleading are not vetted in any form.


If your are still reading then just write back with an outline of your plans for the next six years which should move you to the bottom of the pile. This is just another a**e covering exercise by the banks etc who promoted bad lending to get the business on the books. Yes people should have perhaps thought more about what they were borrowing but the big institutions failed in any form of duty of care to their customers and are still mopping up many years later. As for some of the judgemental comments.....

Unfortunately you did take a gamble when you took out an endowment mortgage because I'm guessing you took it out to help reduce your monthly payments and as you stated to give you a little present at the end of it.

If 'I'm guessing' isn't a judgement then what is it?

I'm sorry but I do not believe that you were never offered a standard repayment mortgage.

More likely the blinkers went on when the broker mentioned lower monthly payments and a little left over at the end for a holiday.

'I do not believe.....more likely' Were you there at the time, were you a bank employee. Of course not

I don't think your interest only mortgage was mis-sold. You had a repayment vehicle but cashed that it and used the money for something else.

'I don't think your mortgage was mis-sold'. How in gods green earth would you know anything about the time or circumstances of the sale to be able to make such a decision.

There will undoubtedly come a time in the next few years when the lenders will start to increase demands for evidence of a repayment strategy, but if you are addressing this in whatever form then don't let these letters worry you

JimmyTheWig

Always_Hopeful wrote: »

I'm afraid some people posting have misunderstood the circumstances. Perhaps I didn't explain them in enough detail, or perhaps they have got the wrong end of the stick - either way very little of the 'advice' on here has been relevant to my position. I did not ask for advice about the amount outstanding, but about whether or not anyone knew if C&G could force us to move the IO amount onto repayment.

Maybe we're just too helpful.

Listen, if someone came on here and said "Hi, does anyone know the best place to buy Galaxy, because the doctor says I'm eating too much Cadbury's?" do you think it would be reasonable to simply tell them about the special offers on Galaxy? Or do you think they should be told that the chances are they should be cutting down on chocolate in general and switching to Galaxy is unlikely to help?
Personally, I think the latter.

So if you come on here with a query about your mortgage, and we can see that your figures don't match what you believe, then I believe we have a moral duty (or at least a moral right) to point this out to you.
How bad would we feel if you come back in 6 years and are faced with losing your house if we didn't say something when we could have?

Whether you take on board what has been said or not is up to you. I don't understand why you wouldn't, though.

silvercar

How bad would we feel if you come back in 6 years and are faced with losing your house if we didn't say something when we could have?

I agree with everything jimmy said except for the quoted sentence.

I feel no moral obligations to anyone that posts on here asking advise from random ramblers online. Everyone has a duty to themselves, and needs to bare in mind that they are taking opinions from people who may know very little.

Taking that sentence to its logical conclusion, would create an obligation to respond to every post you have read that you feel is misguided. Don't think anyone has time for that.