repossession, but why? not being reasonable

little_miss_spender

When i read the FSA guildlines for its members it states that the lender should be reasonable and take the customers circumstances into account and the priority should be the customer and any offer of repayment of arrears should be considered, even if over the whole term of the mortgage.
Well thats roughly what it says in the lenders handbook written by the FSA for its members. My mortgage company is one of their members although they are sub- prime lenders ,and i am struggling to get them to agree to any payment proposals that i can afford i am only behind by 1 mortgage payment in total. It is being half paid by income support, so it leaves the remainder of the full payment to be paid by me, so they are saying I am two payments behing but in reality i am not because the alleged two payments only add up to one full months repayment amount.

They know my circumstances that following the death of my father i had a nervous collapse, i couldnt even speak i was so bad, i just locked myself in my room, I wouldnt answer the door or the telephone and that was 12 months ago and and i am still working through this but at the same time just 6 months ago, I fell ill again with something and I am having tests for cancer and other possibilities like MS, my husband had to give up his job to care for me and my 86 year old mother who lives with us, and our 3 children.

My husband has rang the lender and they say their company policy is that 3 months is the maximum to pay off arrears and wont discuss it any further, my husband said what about the FSA Guidlines about being fair and taking the repayments over a longer period. Their reply was that was their rules and as far asthey were concerned they were being very reasonable and fair.

I have written about 15 letters in the last 12 months one of which was a complaint which they promised to respond to in the next 20 days that was on the 20th of July and still noresponse. My other letters have not even been acknowledged. Now i get a default notice they are still adding interest and fees, which i asked them to freeze due to the circumstances which they have ignored. Now I get a letter telling me they are taking me to court and this will cost over £400.00.

I cant believe this it is not as if they are getting nothing at all they are getting over half the mortgage amount and i have told them i will restart my payments in october with money off the arrears and sent them a cheque as goodwill for a hundred pounds in the mean time to show my intention to pay. but they have ignored this too.

I am going out of my mind the last phone call my husband made the woman said (we have people owing us money in much worse situations than yours people with real illnesses like cancer) my husband couldnt believe it, (she then replied have you any proof she is having tests?) totally gobsmacked my husband replied that he just wished i was better,:mad: and put the phone down. Any advice on this would be good I could not go to court as i am not well enough and this whole thing is making me worse. we have been customers of this company for over 6 years and never missed a payment or been late ever in all that time and this is how we are treated.

wisbech_lad

Sorry to hear this. I think the best thing you can do is go and see the CAB about the mortgage and repo case (hope), and also the local council housing department to find out what their policy will be if you get repossessed, i.e will they house you and your mother as one household, or two. (prepare for the worst)

"Hope for the best, and prepare for the worst"

Conrad

The quickest way to sort this is as follows:

1) Write a letter to the Chairman IT MUST BE SENT SPECIAL DELIVERY - always keep a paper trail.

2) Give him personaly 7 days to bring about a full and final satisfactory outcome.

3) In the letter refuse to deal with anyone by phone - only written correspondance will now suffice

4) Quote the FSA's core principle which is known as 'TREATING CUSTOMERS FAIRLY' and remind him as follows: 'TCF is supposed to feature in every nook and cranny of your organisation, and to have been tested my senior management to ensure it' robustness'.

5) State you will go to the FSA and FSOS (Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme) if not resolved within 7 days - again use special delivery post to write to these organisations

6) Please ignore the advice to go to CAB - the whole purpose of the FSA is that it is a one stop shop for all matters financial

7) Provide proof of your illness - irrevocable proof not hearsay or anecdotal stuff


If the mortgage company call you decline to speak with them and politely remind them all correspondance must be in writing, so may people make the mistake of getting into verbal jousting and then find they have no proof of whats been said.

This will work

Good luck

little_miss_spender

( Really sorrythis post was incorrect)I got so confused because i am ill and i had put on two posts relating to my 1st mortgage and one about my second mortgage. My post above relates to my first mortgage which is the one above who havent yet taken me to court. It is SSPL who i have my second mortgage with who took me to court and i was behind more than one month with them, i am sorry to have confused everyone. At the time the site was experiencing problems and i never knew if my posts were geting posted etc. So I think the best thing i can do is to start again. i also wanted to apologise to Conrad but the virus thingy on the site wouldnt let me in and then to top it off i ended up ill in bed for the past 2 weeks.

I wished i had got your info sooner but such is life.. it went to court and the company i have my second mortgage with SSPL were given a suspended possession order, and according to my husband the judge couldnt have cared less.So that is where we are at and they have lumped a £1,000 costs and legal fees on to the end of the mortgage for good measure. Do i still write the letter you suggested Conrad??? or should i do something else now they have this order???? Your advice is very much appreciated thank you once again Little Miss Spender.:

So that is where i am up to with the second mortgage SPPL Loans also known as capstone mortgage services. I am currently paying an extra £20.00 per month off my arrears, which i tried to get them to agree to before it went to court. I had already started paying this and they had received two months payments on time before they took me to court. but they still got their suspended possession order and i still got the costs. (SEE NEW POST TO EXPLAIN FULLY THE WHOLE STORY) Thank you to everyone who has replied to my original post i really apreciate your advice thankyou again all of you L. M .S x

Spudwud

The long & short of it is that your mortgage company cannot take you to court for 1 missed payment, never mind evict you. They can stick 'administration charges' on your account for every month you're over the equivilant of 1months payment in arrears, so get your arrears under the equivilant of a monthly payment and they can't even do that.

dunstonh

I have never known a lender go for eviction with just 1 month arrears. Are you sure its just one month and not perhaps more?

silvercar

Check that the income support is getting credited to your mortgage account. Are the benefits people paying it directly or via you? You want to make sure that the lender is acknowledging the money to your account and its not just sitting in a black hole.

If there is slightly more to this story than you have said, there is more chance of good honest advice if you post the whole picture. Remember you are hidden behind your user name. Good on you for tackling this now.

Best of luck with your health tests, hope you have a full and speedy recovery.

Tootsie_Roll

dunstonh wrote: »

I have never known a lender go for eviction with just 1 month arrears. Are you sure its just one month and not perhaps more?

Speaking (or should that be writing) as a former mortgage collections manager for one of the largest lenders I can concur that it simply wouldn't go to court for one payment - there must be more to this than we know at present.

AGB863

I can say that we have had clients who have had mortgages with sub prime lenders and they have done exactly that, gone to court with one missed payment.

Dan_Collins_2

I believe a few lenders have a 1 month arrears clause, I think the woolwich can repo after 1 month.

However I think with out knowing more I would say call the FSA. They will take this seriously and no need to mess about writing to anybody. The FSA will contact the lender direct. Who is the lender by the way?

Spudwud

AGB863 wrote: »

I can say that we have had clients who have had mortgages with sub prime lenders and they have done exactly that, gone to court with one missed payment.

I worked for Kensington for 3.5yrs and if we didn't take people to court for 1months payment, I doubt anyone would, and if they did, they were running a huge risk of being thrown out with costs awarded against them.