Mortgage lender threatening repossession

MothballsWallet

A friend of mine's having some problems with his mortgage lender (I don't know if I can name the company for reasons that I'll explain in a moment).

He left a job to do a training course (which he's passed) which lasted for 6 months. He's now started working for the company who he had to sit the training course for.

He's received a letter from his lender saying that they want to take him to court because of missed payments and this may end up with them winning a court order to repossess.

He's contacted them already on a number of occasions, and has lodged complaints with them because he feels he has been given bad advice about his options, especially with regards to when he had complaints outstanding with the company.

What I've told him to do is to call them on Monday and talk to them about making reduced payments until he gets back into earning again when he can restore his original payments.

I also said to him that should they not be reasonable, then he can quite happily wait until they take him to court because he has tried to work out new payment arrangements with them (and there are a number of times where he called them, was told that someone would call him back, but no one ever did and then he received more letters).

The judge would then make the decisions based on their testimony and my friend's financial status, probably also working out a repayment plan. My friend would at least get to tell his side of the story.

Is there any other advice that I can give him, assuming I haven't steered him wrong already?

redmike123

I don't think that its going to be quite as simple as you might like.

Your friend hasn't kept his mortgage payments up to date. He may have any number of excuses, but the bald fact is that he had missed payments on a mortgage agreement.

You are quite right to recommend that he talks to his Lender, if possible I would suggest that he arranges to go in to their offices to see them and get this formally sorted

Mortgage lenders are not nice cuddly warm people, they are hard nosed lenders who will have your friend out of his home and on to the street without a moments hesitation if they are unable to come to a satisfactory( for them) agreement.

thebyp

I'm a little unclear why he hasn't been paying.

MothballsWallet

Bump! Sorry for the delay.

What happened was that he arranged a payment holiday with his lender, they gave him 1 month.

What he's been doing is training to be one of these domestic energy assessors (DEAs) for the home information packs (HIPs). Now, he should have started on July 1st, but Government moved the start date because they didn't have enough qualified inspectors, then there was a delay with his certificate because the training provider he used got into problems with City & Guilds.

He's now working and talking to them. I've told him to let it go to court and let a judge decide based on all the facts of the case as both he and the lender will then be bound by the judge's decision rather than just that of the lender.

Incidentally, I'm still wondering why he was given such a short payment holiday: when I went to my lender (Nationwide) earlier this year, they gave me a 6 month break. I guess it depends on your lender.

dmg24

For how many months did he not pay? Did he contact his lender during the time that he did not pay?

silvercar

If your friend can show the judge that he is now in a position to keep up repayments and make a start paying back the arrears the judge will probably grant a suspended repossession order. Your friend will then be OK, provided he keeps to the agreement.

I don't know that you should be encouraging your friend to go to court. It may be better to get the lender to withdraw the court case. If in the future he had difficulty, a first court appearance is more likely to be treated sympathetically than a returning visit.

dunstonh

Ignoring the lender and going to court will not sit well with the judge. They like to see that the court is used as a last resort. If one side is seen to be evasive and non-responsive then the judge could take that into consideration.