Halifax not taken a payment for 3 years?!

pachalad

Hello everyone,
I'm hoping someone could give me advice relating to my mum's mortgage. It's with Halifax. It was originally an interest only and then switched to repayment about 8 years ago. She has no problem paying it off and can afford the monthly payments. This week she received a letter to say that her mortgage was in arrears (she's 81... We didn't even know she was still paying it off). She asked me to call Halifax, and the CSA was helpful, although not entirely knowledgeable about what happened next.

Apparently my mum hasnt made a payment to her mortgage since October 2017!!!!!! Not one payment. I asked the advisor about the dates a payment was last made - which coincidentally or or not, coincided with the death of my dad - who was also named on the mortgage. My sister recalls letting them know and providing the death certificate, but nothing else changed. The balance at the time was about 5k... It's still 5k!!! 
Going back to the call I had with Halifax, the CSA advised that the DD was cancelled but she doesn't know by who or when? We wouldn't have cancelled it, there was no reason to!
I'm a bit confused... I asked a few questions
Q1: why have they not requested payment until now? Surely after a few missed payments, the banks would be breathing down folks necks? 
A: Not sure. But you have crossed a threshold of missed payments and you need to pay that today £114)

So after 2.5years of no payments, a missed payment of £114 triggers Halifax into action???

Q2: Has she been charged at a higher rate and for how long?

A: Yeah, but only for a couple of days of this missed payment and it won't affect her credit file!..

What's going on here!? Am I missing something?  I plan on complaining to get to the bottom of all of this, but hoped someone might have a few pointers?

Thanks in advance. 

Jack_Cork

Complain about what? That someone cancelled the direct debit or the fact that after your father died nobody checked to see if the mortgage was paid off? 
I guess you owe the money and if they havent charged you an interest or late fee just pay it off

Jack_Cork

pachalad said:

Hello everyone,
I'm hoping someone could give me advice relating to my mum's mortgage. It's with Halifax. It was originally an interest only and then switched to repayment about 8 years ago. She has no problem paying it off and can afford the monthly payments. This week she received a letter to say that her mortgage was in arrears (she's 81... We didn't even know she was still paying it off). She asked me to call Halifax, and the CSA was helpful, although not entirely knowledgeable about what happened next.

Apparently my mum hasnt made a payment to her mortgage since October 2017!!!!!! Not one payment. I asked the advisor about the dates a payment was last made - which coincidentally or or not, coincided with the death of my dad - who was also named on the mortgage. My sister recalls letting them know and providing the death certificate, but nothing else changed. The balance at the time was about 5k... It's still 5k!!! 
Going back to the call I had with Halifax, the CSA advised that the DD was cancelled but she doesn't know by who or when? We wouldn't have cancelled it, there was no reason to!
I'm a bit confused... I asked a few questions
Q1: why have they not requested payment until now? Surely after a few missed payments, the banks would be breathing down folks necks? 
A: Not sure. But you have crossed a threshold of missed payments and you need to pay that today £114)

So after 2.5years of no payments, a missed payment of £114 triggers Halifax into action???

Q2: Has she been charged at a higher rate and for how long?

A: Yeah, but only for a couple of days of this missed payment and it won't affect her credit file!..

What's going on here!? Am I missing something?  I plan on complaining to get to the bottom of all of this, but hoped someone might have a few pointers?

Thanks in advance. 

If you want to complain to Halifax there is a thread on a similar vein here
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6150941/halifax-contacting-their-senior-management#latest

getmore4less

I would pull together the information, get out the paperwork.
Start with the details of the mortgage before the death of your father,
Amount, rate, payment(and which account) full term
There should have still been annual statements and other communications find those letters.
Who administered your fathers estate?
Did anyone pick up your mothers finances to help her out and make sure she was solvent and tidy up any payments name changes etc?
Things to consider
Was the DD from a joint account or a sole account that got closed
Did the mortgage get marked as bereavement as that can allow for no payments and sometime lender freeze interest.
lenders are used to estates taking some time to clear up.  
Halifax SVR is around 4% on a £5k loan that would £200 per year  has the balance gone up by around £500 in the 2.5 years?
If it was on a lower fixed rate that would be lower amount.

silvercar

It could be that the payments were coming from a bank account that was closed or frozen when your Dad died.
Given that the interest on a 5k mortgage would be a low amount, it hasn’t hit the radar until now.
I don’t really know what there is to complain about. Your Mum hasn’t been hassled, she has the money to pay it....
Now would be a good time to check that the deeds are in order and are no longer in your late father’s name. if they do need to be amended, either because they were in joint names and now should be in your mother’s name alone or some other transfer dictated by your father’s will, you could do this at the same time as removing the mortgage, it could save admin costs in the long run.
check the mortgage term, how long is left to run and what deal there is.