Repossession, Heavy Debts - Damsel In Distress - Help & Support Needed

Malibu1

Hi,

I am new to this forum and a damsel in distress... Please be gentle with me..

My life has fallen apart and am currently trying to prevent repossession and deal with several aggressive debt collectors...

I am not sure if I have posted in relevant area of forum, but have multiple problems, including repossession and other debts and not sure if I should post a separate thread for each individual debt / problem?

I apologise in advance if any of my posts are unclear... I am so confused and really would appreciate any support, guidance & helpful advice.

Many Thanks
Malibu1 x

Kentish_Dave

Welcome to the forum. You’ll hopefully get lots of good advice here but the first step will need to be setting out clearly what the current situation is.

So, what’s happened to bring you to this point, and where exactly is that?

For example, why is the house being repossessed, how much are your arrears, what’s your total debt, what do you earn, and so on.

Get yourself a cup of tea, pull the information together, and we’ll done on taking the important step of asking for help.

sourcrates

Hi,

Repossession is a seperate issue to your other debts, have you contacted any advice agencies for help with this ?

National Debtline is the place to go for advice on this, link here :

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/

They can also help find solutions to your debt issues, but if they are unsecured debts, then the house repossession takes priority.

Debt collectors can easily be kept at bay, we can help with that, but as I said, the house is your priority here, so a little more clarity on the situation would not go amiss.

enthusiasticsaver

Repossession is the most urgent issue. Best advice is to approach your lender to see if they can help you in any way. Re the other debts contact stepchange or one of the other FREE charities or post an SOA (statement of account) on here. http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

Malibu1

Wow - Thank you so much for your replies...

I will try my best to give you the information requested, but if I forget anything, or if anything is unclear please do not hesitate to ask...

Mortgage Repossession:
- I paid approx £25,000 deposit & have paid over £20,000 in repayments
- Currently Approx £5,000 - £6,000 in arrears (due to ill health & unable to work from around Oct 2018)
- All efforts to communicate dismissed / Communication with lender completely broken down
- They went for repossession straight away when I fell into arrears & refused any attempt to resolve
- Repossession order granted in April 2019 (I was unable to attend hearing due to nervous breakdown)
- Further attempts to communicate with lender were met with threats
- The property was uninhabitable when I purchased & did not realise until after moving in
- Bad customer service since mortgage was taken out
- Possible unfair lender relationship claim / mis-sold / bullying, discrimination, harrassment etc
- Have had to borrow money secured against property at extortionate rates to make property habitable
- Nervous breakdown caused by their threats of repossession / eviction - Subsequent loss of earning etc
- Approx £120,000 - £150,000 equity in property
- Property currently on market for sale
- Extreme harrassment from main lender and also secured loans, who are also now attempting repossession
- Eviction Warrant granted to main mortgage lender in July 2019 - Successfully suspended in court using Norgan case law and other factors - But now threatening eviction again - As are other secured loans.

Unsecured Debts:
- Several unsecured debts
- Most have now been passed to DCA - Severe harrassment at home address by aggressive debt collectors
- Hundreds of letters / telephone calls & also home visits
- Including vehicle finance threatening to repossess car
- British Gas threatening warrant to force entry - Scared to leave my home
- Tried to agree payment plan with all creditors and most have refused

I have also had problems with claiming benefits - I am self-employed and currently have no income due to illness....

I apologise if any of this is jumbled and would really appreciate any assistance with court procedures, letters of complaint and general support & guidance.

Many Thanks
Malibu1 x

sourcrates

Well, you have a lot, going on here, and I mean a lot, I fear this is outside the normal remit of this forum, the repossesion for example, you need legal advice on, not opinion.

If you cannot make arrangements to pay the arrears then repossession is almost a certainty, the other secured lenders may follow suite, or allow the 1st charge owner to do it for them.

Without a better understanding of your finances, its hard to advise you, but, given the situation you describe, having no income, have you concidered allowing the repossesion to go ahead, or, have you given thought to going bankrupt, get rid of all your debt in one fell swoop ?

The latter would appeal to me given the stress you appear to be under just now.

Malibu1

Hi Sourcrates,

Thank you for your reply.

If I was to be evicted and made homeless then that would most likely result in bankruptcy - Which I would like to avoid...

I would also literally be on the streets with my pets, and that is something I am desperately trying to avoid...

I would also face considerable financial loss from losing my home and suffer from mental illness (amongst other things), which all of the above would exasperate...

Being made homeless is simply not an option for me and would really appreciate any guidance & support to prevent this happening...

Should I be making a separate thread for each individual creditor ?

Kentish_Dave

With that much equity a sale would be far better than a repossession, is it on the market?

If not, it sounds like it should be. You can have a fresh start if you sell it before it is repossessed.

sourcrates

Malibu1 wrote: »

Being made homeless is simply not an option for me and would really appreciate any guidance & support to prevent this happening...

Should I be making a separate thread for each individual creditor ?

No, you can continue on this thread, thats fine, the thing is, you have managed to obtain a "stay of execution" for now, but thats not going to last forever, if you have no income, sure as eggs is eggs, the creditors will get there way eventually, so you must face the possibility of been made homeless, that is the stark reality unfortunatly, the courts and the creditors will not wait forever.

Kentish Dave, has made a good point above, repossessed houses fetch no where near there market value at auction, much better to sell first if you can, should the house fetch its market value, would that be sufficiant to repay all the secured borrowing attached to it ?

PasturesNew

If it's for sale, but not sold, the price is too high.
If it's repossessed and sold at auction you'll get a lot lower than you'd like.
The best middle ground is to price it for a quick sale now, sell it under your own steam, come out of it with a chunk of your equity and your dignity.

Repossession isn't the end of the debt.... from the time they repossess it, all the bills are added on, the cost of the repossession, the auction house costs, other repossession costs.... so you'll even end up owing them more and getting back less.

If you can sell it yourself, for a lower amount, it's a lot less messy for you - and you are in control of things. You can say "I sold it for less than I'd have liked, but it's more than those scoundrels will have got at auction -AND- I've not had to then pay all the repo/auction costs on top of everything else and been out of control over such costs.

enthusiasticsaver

If you have already had an eviction notice granted against you I think it will only be a matter of time before the repossession goes ahead so I agree it is best you keep in control yourself. Realistically if you have no income there is no way you can keep the property so best price it for a quick sale and make arrangements for somewhere to live in the short term. Do you have family who can help as the pets will be a problem with private rented homes?

Re the unsecured debts I would write to them telling them you have no income and cannot pay. There is very little they can do and although they make a lot of threats they have no powers as such. The car would be better handed back. Why do you not qualify for benefits? Is it because technically you are self employed?

Whilst I appreciate you don't want to have your property repossessed or enter bankruptcy the fact that this has got so far indicates it is now a very real possibility especially as you are not in a position to make payments. Can you rehouse any of your pets with friends or family in the short term until you can sort something out? Ideally if the property sells quicker though that would be a better option so reduce the price.