Big help required!!!

Rosey321

Thanks for your response, fiveyearplan.

Based on what you have said, it seems that I should consider myself lucky for getting the response that I did - and the fact that GE Money were OK with you is promising too, so I will certainly take your advice and send them a couple of duplicates by recorded mail.

Can I ask (tell me if I'm being too nosey!) what happened in the other cases where you was turned down. Where they completely inflexible? Did you need to recommence making minimum payments as usual.
Just thinking what to do if GE do definitely decide to turn us down.

Thanks again

fiveyearplan

Barclaycard finally came to a managable agreement with me and the rest are still hassling me with numerous phone calls and threatening letters etc. MBNA seem to be the worst (or more persistent depending how you look at it!). I have a failing business that I have been trying to keep afloat for too long which is why I'm in this mess and don't really see any alternative than bankruptcy.

Rosey321

Sorry to read of your situation and I wish you all the best. I know the great people who contribute to this forum will help all the way.

Similarly, I appreciate you taking the time out to advise me!

Rosey321

Hi

It's been a few months since I posted here so I thought time for an update.

Thankfully, we haven't increased our debt any further - we are still hanging on by the skin of our teeth! We have missed one mortgage payment (we robbed Peter to pay Paul one month over Xmas) but the Halifax have agreed to capitalise this debt as long as we pay up on time for the next six months.

Since the last update, the payment plans are still ongoing - GE Money have been good an agreed to a plan on two cards as well.

I have started car sharing which is saving well over £100 a month on petrol - this is also opening possibilities for selling a car - I could probably fetch 5k for mine.

We have cancelled the Homecare insurance (£20) and also our life insurance (£50 - not sure if you'll all agree with that course of action!!)
Otherwise, general cuts here and there - just set up an Ebay sellers account to try and generate more funds etc etc.

On the house front though I have a question:
We have just accepted an offer on our house. However, we are in negative equity at the moment as detailed at the top of the post. We are planning going into rented. Our ideal plan would be for this move to go through, the rent being £200 less than our mortgage, the council tax would be £40 a month less, the house would be in the same road as my wife's work which would eliminate her petrol costs too and even open up the possibility of selling the second car too.
All sounds like a positive step? My worry is the secured loan companies and their vision and likelihood of releasing the deeds.

The main mortgage provider would be paid off of course leaving about 15k over in equity which would of course then go to the second charge (Firstplus)
I have been in contact with Firstplus's shortfall department and they actually seem quite willing that they might be able to turn the debt into an unsecured loan on accepting a bit of a payment from us and they are sending out a form in the post.

My main worry therefore is our third charge (Welcome). I haven't been in touch with them yet. I thought I'd get advice first because it sounds like they might be more awkward than most.
Effectively, they stand to get nothing from the deal so would they dig their heels in? As it stands, they actually have no 'security' on their loan, so would it matter if they did change it to an unsecure basis.
Do we have any grounds in this instance for them effectively mis-selling us a product because let's face it, they knew full well when they gave us the loan that we was already in a large negative equity situation with a poor credit rating (all this I know our fault too for taking the loan but surely they must bear a great deal of the responsibility). Thankfully, we have not missed a single payment with Welcome in the year since we took out the loan so hopefully this might work in our favour?

Anyway, all in all - this seems a great opportunity to reduce our outgoings and slowly help us clamber out of trouble. The worry though is that effectively, the secure loans could trap us in our current house paying higher outgoings.

Any advice? How important is it to get a good solicitor at this point? Would any other financial gurus or advisors know good loopholes if any problems arise?

Thanks,

loopylu36

Dear Rosey

I have jus read your thread from start to finish and just want to say that you are real inspiration for those out there in a similar position to you. You have clearly worked really hard to try to things around - so well done:beer: . Many people would have chosen bankruptcy in your position.

You are still clearly in some difficulty tho and i think the main problem will be the secured loan wih Welcome. If they refuse to turn this into an unsecured the sale of your house cannot go through. Your solicitor will have to "undertake" to the buyer's solicitors to provide them with an END (notification of discharge) relating to all the charges on the property. Clearly without the funds to repay the loan (plural if Firstplus don'tplay ball either) the lenders will not provide the notification of discharge.

This is another example of lender's being shortsighted. Welcome are not going to get their money back by it being secured against the house, and as you are making such a huge effort to sort yourselves out, I really feel that some of these lenders need to be more accomodating. I have a (unsecured)loan with NR which currently will take me another 20 years to repay. I am about to start a DMP and expect NR to be difficult and to take a charge on the house. However, on the DMP they will actually get all their money back in 5 years (if they stop interst but they've had more than enough of that already!) so what is the point of them playig hardball?

I wish you lots of luck x

Rosey321

Thank you very much.
Personally, I would like to say that there are so many people who contribute to these forums who are my inspiration - with great ideas and positivity that gives that glimour of hope that maybe, this horrible situation can be overturned.
My other inspiration in life is my family - my wife is at the end of her tether, and much of my drive revolves around making her happy again, as well as giving my daughter the future security that anyone would wish for their child.
We'd love to give our daughter a sibling too - but we've put that on hold for a good two years now hoping for a financial miracle. I know a solution won't be quick, but would be nice to hope that one day we might be financially able on this front.

On the Welcome side, let's hope there is someone there with a common sense perspective - although I guess company policy might come into play.
My in-laws have volunteered before to let us transfer that loan onto their property if that was possible. We tried to raise this question with Firstplus once but they said it was not worth their while and there would be a problem with who is on the deeds of the house etc. Hope there might be some area of exploration here with Welcome? Surely, that would give them more actual security than they have with us now - they would get diddly-squat currently if they tried any repo tricks etc! Worth an ask do you think?

It would be so frustrating if nothing possible - that an opportunity for us to really try and help get ourselves out of a hole and save ourselves a lot might be stifled by red tape.

loopylu36

Rosey321 wrote: »

Thank you very much.
Personally, I would like to say that there are so many people who contribute to these forums who are my inspiration - with great ideas and positivity that gives that glimour of hope that maybe, this horrible situation can be overturned.
My other inspiration in life is my family - my wife is at the end of her tether, and much of my drive revolves around making her happy again, as well as giving my daughter the future security that anyone would wish for their child.
We'd love to give our daughter a sibling too - but we've put that on hold for a good two years now hoping for a financial miracle. I know a solution won't be quick, but would be nice to hope that one day we might be financially able on this front.

On the Welcome side, let's hope there is someone there with a common sense perspective - although I guess company policy might come into play.
My in-laws have volunteered before to let us transfer that loan onto their property if that was possible. We tried to raise this question with Firstplus once but they said it was not worth their while and there would be a problem with who is on the deeds of the house etc. Hope there might be some area of exploration here with Welcome? Surely, that would give them more actual security than they have with us now - they would get diddly-squat currently if they tried any repo tricks etc! Worth an ask do you think?

It would be so frustrating if nothing possible - that an opportunity for us to really try and help get ourselves out of a hole and save ourselves a lot might be stifled by red tape.

If your in-laws want to help you out the best way would be for them to take a loan (secured or unsecured) and then lend/give the money to you so that you can pay your loan of. I can understand the lender not wanting to "transfer" it. Or maybe they have enough cash that they could simply loan you the money themselves?

If you were repossessed, then although this would allow the sale of the house (by the lender not you) you would still be liable for any shortfall in the repayment of the secured debts.

Rosey321

loopylu36 wrote: »

If you were repossessed, then although this would allow the sale of the house (by the lender not you) you would still be liable for any shortfall in the repayment of the secured debts.

How would this repayment happen? Would they then have to accept a repayment plan on an unsecured basis?

It's hard to know what to do for the best. We have a buyer (first-time). We have seen a flat that we really like to rent. Effectively, a move could happen within a month if there was no debt or red-tape to take into account! Unfortunately, we obviously can't make an offer on the rented property because of the timings involved. We have worked out that this move if it could happen would save us about £400 as opposed to being trapped here because a secure loan company wouldn't release the deeds.

Not meaning to sound irresponsible with this suggestion (slightly based on the quote above) - what would happen if we did accept a flat now, moved in and just stopped paying the mortgages and secured debt on this place? Wouldn't that have the same end result in that the house would be sold, albeit by repossession means, but would ensure we did move. Would we be made bankrupt by the loan companies? Not an ideal plan at all - not one that I would favour by any means. Just thought I would throw it in the mix. I know repo sales tend to generate less cash as well (although the offer we have accepted is 10k under the asking price anyway)

Hope someone can help. We would love to get out of this by responsible means - we are just seeing many avenues closing at the moment!

Thanks