Santander Repossession

Markas

Good morning,

I had my house repossessed by Satander a month or so back over arrears of about £1000 on a property worth about £200,000 with a mortgage of about £30,000. I was away and had been away for 18 months, some 250 miles away, looking after my Mum who had been diagnosed with dementia and had burnt herself. I quickly took over care and it was 24/7. I was, and still am, suffering from depression, stress and anxiety. I packed a couple of shirts and ran out the door to help my Mum as soon as I heard. I thought -obviously wrongly - that the DWP was covering the mortgage. From long distance I tried to upkeep my house to sell, getting a maintenance company in, cleaners, etc. But truth but told everything with my Mum became immersive and I tried to kill myself in April.

Last month I found out from Taylor Rose that they had the balance of money on account from me after Santander had repossessed. I phoned Taylor Rose but they would not discuss things with me because I needed ID to prove who I was. They suggested going back to Santander. I did. The Customer Resolutions Manager. When they told me they had sold all my furniture, I also told them they had sold all my ID. There was a locked document box containing my birth certificate, mortgage papers, utility bills, passport, etc. As I sad, I just ran out of the door to help my Mum and that became my life. I never planned to be 18 months or longer.

Santander sent me copies of the paperwork of which, of course, I had no knowledge because it went to my house. They said they had no other way of contacting me. I sent them a copy of emails they had sent and said this could have all been stopped if I had known by them sending an email 'We are trying to contact you'.

They closed correspondence. Two issues: what else would a document box contain but important documents? So not only my present is compromised so is my future. Fraud is a great possibility because they did not pause and exhaust reasonable options. The second is Taylor Rose will not release £170,000 because I have no ID!

I would appreciate some thoughts.

IAmWales

I'm sorry to hear of your family situation, but you ignored the bank for eighteen months, what did you expect to happen?

When a person seemingly disappears and the bank repossesses, the goods from the house will be sold. The bank are obliged to get the best price possible for the sale, and throwing away your belongings would not be doing this. Regarding fraud, the great likelihood is that whoever bought the items would have binned anything that they could not sell on. People don't generally go to auctions/ house sales for paperwork, they go to buy items they can sell on at profit.

Have you informed the DWP that you have moved? You need to tell them immediately, and explain why you have not done so earlier. You'll also need to declare the £170K capital.

You'll need to get some new ID. Get yourself on the electoral role, make sure you're registered for council tax purposes, and if your mum cannot manage them get the utility bills put in your name. You can get a copy of your birth certificate.

What ID is acceptable to Taylor Rose?

Markas

As above. I'm worried where the documents have ended up! Santander obviously cannot produce them. I suppose the frustrating thing for me is that they have done this when - as I understand this and I will stand corrected - they have to excuse all 'reasonable efforts' to contact me. When obviously they didn't. They will not acknowledge they had my email - they kept sending post to the house - and when their agents moved my belongings they would have had 18 months' worth of post to move as well. That, a desk drawer containing my birth certificate and my document box points to something important that should not be just 'sold on'. Maybe it's just me but Satander now refuse to 'assist' me with Taylor Rose in getting that £170,000 because to do so would admit liability in the selling of the documents.

How can I get access to what is my money?

Is Santander culpable in the careless disregard for the documents?

Do I embarrass Satander? This could have been avoided with a quick email. How do I embarrass Satander?

Thrugelmir

Markas wrote: »

they kept sending post to the house

This has obviously been a very difficult time for you. It wouldn't be right for me to get into a debate as to why you did or didn't do anything. However the bank acted properly. You managed to find time to organise cleaners, maintenance people etc. Why not the post? A postal redirection notice only takes 5 minutes to complete. You'll struggle to convince anyone on this point.

As for ID. Obtain copies. Little point in expending energy looking for someone to blame. Sometimes you just to accept life as it is and move forwards from there. The money isn't going anywhere . No need to panic.

IAmWales

Do I embarrass Satander? This could have been avoided with a quick email. How do I embarrass Satander?

If you're talking about going to the media I think that is a very bad idea. People will look at the whole story and it's more likely they'll be critical of yourself, something which you clearly don't need at the moment.

Markas

Thank you for all your replies. Your views are all valid. However, I did not think there was a problem with the mortgage as I thought my benefits were paying it. Indeed, I received a letter from the DWP the day before the infamous Taylor Rose letter that said they were checking if Satander needed any more money for the mortgage. I did not know I was going to be here (with Mum) 18 months, nor that it was so debilitating for the carer, as I only bought a couple of shirts etc. It was her burn that was my major worry. All utilities were being paid. I should have informed the bank but I didn't think there was a risk. Santander knew my mental history and they had the local Rethink office as my contact as she had acted as advocate for me before. They did not even contact her. They had phone number, fax and email. They had sent me messages previously by email.

Bow they refuse to talk to me (or Customer Resolutions that is). I have been polite. I have been insistent. But if there is no other option, I would like the money to help my Mum further. Taylor Rose said refer to Satander, Santander will not talk to me.

Yes, I am frustrated and angry. My future looks compromised for the sake of them looking into my file and contacting me or my advocate.

iammumtoone

I am sorry this has happened to you.

I would not worry about your lost documents, the bank would have used a professional company with a reputation to uphold to sell off your goods, they would have disposed of them properly.

It will time time and effort but you will be able to get copies of all your lost documentation.

It might be worth asking the bank if they can give the name of the company they use to clear houses, speaking to them might put your mind at rest.

csgohan4

time to get replacement passport asap, and redirect all your bank stuff to your new address.

haras_nosirrah

Benefits would only pay a certain amount of your mortgage. They don't cover the whole payment. I don't understand if you had time to arrange cleaners, sort out utilities etc you didn't think to either get your post redirected or phone the bank to check your mortgage was up to date after all that time.

What is done is done and it is not the banks responsibility to check up on you. As far as they were concerned they contacted you and you didn't respond, they took you to court and you didn't show. You weren't paying the full mortgage for 18 months and had completely disappeared off the grid. Eventually they exercised their rights and took the house back to get their money back.

you need to focus on the future as you can't undo the past. They may have made mistakes but you made more - a simple phone call to check if the mortgage was being paid, redirecting your post etc would have meant none of this happened. I get your mum was ill but you can't just disappear for 18 months and expect things to continue in your absence with no imput from you. Did the cleaners not tell you there was a lot of post? It is strange to prioritize keeping an empty house clean and maintained but not checking that the actual mortgage is being paid.

That is by the by though - focus on the future and undoing this mess. Get your self new id, get your money from the company and move on from this experience. I am not sure complaining to santander will do much good - you disappeared, you weren't paying the mortgage, they tried and failed to contact you and eventually sold the property.

BLOW_FLY

I'm calling this out as a wind up early.

Tenants, the rabid wolf dog and spying LL anyone?

OP, if you're savvy enough to have a £200k house with only a £30k mortgage why on earth would you allow it to be repossessed for £1k of arrears.....?

If your Mum was that badly burned surely she would have been in hospital, no?

Running out of your house with 'a few shirts' and not coming or attempting to come back for 18 months, sorry I just don't buy it.

BF

Thrugelmir

More likely an edited version of the story.