Shared ownership - need to reduce payments

lilaccat1981

My husband and I bought our shared ownership property in 2002 with a mortgage of £45k - in 2012 I bought out his share and paid off our joint debts with an additional mortgage of £11.5k. 12 years are now left on both mortgages balance is about £40k I think. Mortgages are with Nationwide.


I am currently pregnant and will be going on maternity leave very soon - I am looking at ways of reducing outgoings during my time off. My initial plan was to increase the mortgage to consolidate other debts thus reducing the overall household outgoings - at the very last step Nationwide refused as additional borrowing is apparently not allowed on shared ownership properties.


2 months ago I called Nationwide and asked about a payment holiday - they confirmed I could on my larger mortgage but not the smaller one - never mind I thought it will all help. I called last night to formally apply and have been told that again can't do it with shared ownership!


I have made a complaint against Nationwide for getting my hopes up and misadvising etc - I have had the response today that they are sorry etc etc but nothing can be done - will give me £40 goodwill payment - that certainly wont pay a years worth of mortgage payments!


Do you think these is any benefit in taking the complaint further to the ombudsman?


Failing that do you know if I can move the mortgage to another provide and increase the borrowing in the process? I know there are not many shared ownership mortgage providers so I guess I would need an advisor - how could I find a good one?


Thanks for any help you can give - I am desperate!

libf

lilaccat1981 wrote: »

Do you think these is any benefit in taking the complaint further to the ombudsman?


Failing that do you know if I can move the mortgage to another provide and increase the borrowing in the process? I know there are not many shared ownership mortgage providers so I guess I would need an advisor - how could I find a good one?

Nationwide do not have to lend you more money, and you should have done your own research on shared ownership and consolidation/payment holidays before you applied, so I don't think you'll get anything more than the £40.

How is changing provider going to help reduce your payments? Is the interest rate on your current mortgages high? It may well cost money to change provider so depending on your interest rates this might not help...

Does your husband work? Can he get a second job? Can you loan money from family? Would renting be cheaper if you sold up?

lilaccat1981

Thanks for the reply


As I said the idea behind moving the mortgage would be to secure additional borrowing - this would enable other debts to be paid off thus reducing total outgoings.


My husband is off sick and cannot work - I think renting would cost the same about £500 pcm. Selling isn't exactly a solution which is going to help in the short term anyway!

cakeforbrains

Come over to the Debt Free Wannabe board. People there may be able to help you save money.

libf

lilaccat1981 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply


As I said the idea behind moving the mortgage would be to secure additional borrowing - this would enable other debts to be paid off thus reducing total outgoings.


My husband is off sick and cannot work - I think renting would cost the same about £500 pcm. Selling isn't exactly a solution which is going to help in the short term anyway!

Selling would allow you to clear your debts (if you have sufficient equity), and re-mortgaging doesn't seem to be an option, so...

Without figures (value of share, value of debts to consolidate, rates on debts and mortgages) it's impossible to say if any other lender would let you consolidate, but unlikely on a shared ownership property.