Mortgage Payment Holiday Ended

richard_k82

Obviously many people’s Mortgage Payment Holidays will already have come to an end. We took one as there was a lot of uncertainty over work and it was a case of take it or not, and if you didn’t and the worse happened, being in a worse position.

We have just received the letter with our new payment calculations, and our new monthly payment is £1.76 /month lower.

What are other people’s experiences?

dunstonh

If you have extended the term then the repayments will be little or no difference.  If you have retained the original term, the repayments will be higher.

richard_k82

the payment term stayed the same, i was expecting the monthly cost to go up slightly, was surprised to get the letter to say it had gone down!
oh well, its £20 a year to pay the mortgage off early!

HUMBUG

My brother lost his job just before Cov19 struck so couldn't pay his NatWest mortgage 75k (which needed to be paid off in 3  years) for about 1  year.  He then got a job which paid about a 1/3 of his previous salary and tried to pay off about 2k a month (which is all he could afford after giving them a breakdown of all his incoming income and outgoing bills). He's been trying for about a year to try and get an agreement to pay it all off in another few years but Nat West ignore all his proposals and continue to send him threatening letters every month . He's written to the CEO four times but she has also not bothered to respond and now they have handed the matter to their solicitors.  This has caused tremendous strain and anxiety for my brother and his wife with the continuing threats of house repossession if they cannot pay that 1 year mortgage arrears .  My brother has informed them that he and his wife will be getting some private pension soon plus (being 66  next year) he will not have to pay National Insurance. Therefore will be in a position to increase their monthly payments but they are still ignoring him . He has given them Stepchange as a contact to discuss with their solicitors and hopefully an arrangement can be agreed. My brothers house is worth over £1m in equity but it almost seems as if NatWest are using strong-arm tactics  (ie. County Court Judgement threats) to force him into an IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement).  That in itself is very costly with added fees for an 'insolvency practitioner'  plus IVA fees that  Nat West will levy over the IVA period.  It almost seems as if NatWest are using my brothers debt problems as an opportunity to make more money out of the equity of his house.

Has anyone else experienced these strong-arm tactics by NatWest Bank ? They don't seem to be a very caring bank at all!

Jeremy535897

With equity of this magnitude surely he can raise some money to pay off the arrears?

Thrugelmir

HUMBUG said:

My brothers house is worth over £1m in equity 

So your brother has options available to him. Downsizing for example. Mortgage lending is highly regulated. Affordability may well be considered an issue if interest rates were to rise. 

Little point in writing to the CEO. Not in their remit to personally handle a single customers problems. 

HUMBUG

Thrugelmir said:

HUMBUG said:

My brothers house is worth over £1m in equity 

So your brother has options available to him. Downsizing for example. Mortgage lending is highly regulated. Affordability may well be considered an issue if interest rates were to rise. 

Little point in writing to the CEO. Not in their remit to personally handle a single customers problems. 

Both him and his wife do not want to sell their house and are asking NatWest for a 17 month extension so that they can pay the debt off .  He has continually been asking them to consider a DMP but they ignore all his requests so that is why he escalated to the CEO, but she never responds .  He requested that she pass his proposal to a senior manager but again, no-one contacts him and all they do is send him repeat threatening letters every time he pays the monthly 2k he can afford.

I suspect they wish to repossess his property or force him to sell to pay them off  but that doesn't seem to line up with the recommendations in this 'House Of Commons' .pdf document section 3.2 (see the bolded bullet points further below).

I suspect my brother has a case for approaching the 'Financial Ombudsman Service'.

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN04769/SN04769.pdf

Lenders’ obligations: avoiding repossession

One of the key factors behind the relatively low number of repossessions arising from the financial crisis in 2008 was the exercise of forbearance by the main mortgage lenders. This was encouraged by the Labour Government at the time:

Agreement with major lenders to wait at least three months before initiating repossession proceedings, in order to explore all other alternatives. The Government has also welcomed the commitment by lenders to look at all possible options to prevent repossession, such as reducing payments and mortgage rescue schemes.

If an owner-occupier falls into mortgage arrears, before they seek possession of a property lenders must demonstrate they have adhered to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Mortgage Conduct of Business (MCOB13) rules to ensure repossession is used as a matter of last resort.

 As well as following the FCA rules, mortgage lenders should follow the procedures set out in the Pre-Action Protocol for Possession Claims based on Mortgage or Home Purchase Plan Arrears in Respect of Residential Property before bringing repossession cases to court. This Protocol came into force on 19 November 2008:

 …the Master of the Rolls has approved the Civil Justice Council’s protocol for mortgage possession cases, which complements existing regulation, and sets out clear standards that judges may expect of lenders bringing repossessions cases in the courts.

The new protocol makes clear that repossessions should be a last resort. Where possible lenders are expected to try to discuss and agree with borrowers alternatives to repossession. Where a case subsequently comes to court, lenders will be expected to be able to tell the court precisely what they have done to comply with the protocol.

The Protocol was released by the Civil Justice Council alongside this statement. It is “designed to encourage parties to exchange information at an early stage, to encourage early settlement of cases or where that cannot be avoided, more efficient case management. It does not alter parties’ existing rights and obligations.

From 1 October 2009 the Mortgage Pre-Action Protocol was amended to extend the steps a lender is required to take before starting a possession claim for mortgage arrears, and to include a checklist for lenders to evidence their compliance. For example, the submission of a claim for Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI, see section 3.5) was included as an event which requires a lender to actively consider delaying issuing proceedings. The most recent version of the Protocol is dated January 2017.

 GOV.UK summarises the actions a mortgage lender must take before they can repossess a home, they must:

• tell the householder how much they owe
• consider a request from the householder to change the way they pay their mortgage
• respond to any offer of payment made by the householder
• give reasons for turning down an offer of payment within 10 days
• give the householder a reasonable amount of time to consider any proposal they make
• give the householder 15 days’ written warning if they plan to start court action
• tell the householder the date and time of a repossession hearing
• let the council know within 5 days of getting notification of the date of the court hearing, in case the householder needs to apply to the council as homeless

Thrugelmir

HUMBUG said:

Thrugelmir said:

HUMBUG said:

My brothers house is worth over £1m in equity 

So your brother has options available to him. Downsizing for example. Mortgage lending is highly regulated. Affordability may well be considered an issue if interest rates were to rise. 

Little point in writing to the CEO. Not in their remit to personally handle a single customers problems. 

Both him and his wife do not want to sell their house 

As they are contractually in default, ball is in the lenders court. 

HUMBUG

Thrugelmir said:

HUMBUG said:

Thrugelmir said:

HUMBUG said:

My brothers house is worth over £1m in equity 

So your brother has options available to him. Downsizing for example. Mortgage lending is highly regulated. Affordability may well be considered an issue if interest rates were to rise. 

Little point in writing to the CEO. Not in their remit to personally handle a single customers problems. 

Both him and his wife do not want to sell their house 

As they are contractually in default, ball is in the lenders court. 

Not according to that House Of Commons Document dated Nov 2021. 

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN04769/SN04769.pdf

"GOV.UK summarises the actions a mortgage lender must take before they can repossess a home, they must:"

Doesn't make sense why they would make homeless 2 old aged pensioners when they can quite easily make more money in interest payments by extending the period to pay off the loan by 17 months . 

Anyhow , their solicitor has talked to my brother , realised that no-one has bothered to reply to his proposal (ie. repeated for over a year every month in response to their threatening letters) and raised a complaint on his behalf. 

Sounds as if Nat West have some internal process problems or lack trained staff to deal with these situations (and I suspect they have literally hundreds , maybe thousands of similar cases to deal with). 

Thrugelmir

HUMBUG said:

Thrugelmir said:

HUMBUG said:

Thrugelmir said:

HUMBUG said:

My brothers house is worth over £1m in equity 

So your brother has options available to him. Downsizing for example. Mortgage lending is highly regulated. Affordability may well be considered an issue if interest rates were to rise. 

Little point in writing to the CEO. Not in their remit to personally handle a single customers problems. 

Both him and his wife do not want to sell their house 

As they are contractually in default, ball is in the lenders court. 

Sounds as if Nat West have some internal process problems or lack trained staff to deal with these situations (and I suspect they have literally hundreds , maybe thousands of similar cases to deal with). 

Best to stick to facts not assume.  The world is full of people who tell other how to do their jobs and run their businessess from their armchairs. 

The personal financial circumstances seem far more complex than just the mortgage in isolation. Blaming the mortgage lender isn't going to assist the cause. Nor gain any empathy. 

HUMBUG

Thrugelmir said:

HUMBUG said:

Thrugelmir said:

HUMBUG said:

Thrugelmir said:

HUMBUG said:

My brothers house is worth over £1m in equity 

So your brother has options available to him. Downsizing for example. Mortgage lending is highly regulated. Affordability may well be considered an issue if interest rates were to rise. 

Little point in writing to the CEO. Not in their remit to personally handle a single customers problems. 

Both him and his wife do not want to sell their house 

As they are contractually in default, ball is in the lenders court. 

Sounds as if Nat West have some internal process problems or lack trained staff to deal with these situations (and I suspect they have literally hundreds , maybe thousands of similar cases to deal with). 

Best to stick to facts not assume.  The world is full of people who tell other how to do their jobs and run their businessess from their armchairs. 

The personal financial circumstances seem far more complex than just the mortgage in isolation. Blaming the mortgage lender isn't going to assist the cause. Nor gain any empathy. 

The facts are that they have ignored my brothers proposal  (ie. not replied with one phone call or letter or email to discuss his specific proposal)  for every month of the year.

Who want's to gain empathy ?  Just plain communication please in response to his proposal without going around the threatening letter process circle for 12 months.

All they do is ask him to complete the incomings and outgoings every month , then just say you cannot pay off the arrears . The fact that they have ignored his request to extend the mortgage term by 17 months (ie. no official letters, emails, phone calls) where he can pay off the arrears seems to fall on deaf ears or they don't have an internal process to deal with it properly.  That's not me telling them how to run their business just pointing out what seems to be an obvious gap in their internal procedures.