End of Mortgage Term - vulnerable customers - Halifax will only evict

Househead_2

Our interest only mortgage with Halifax term ended in April 2021 but we have been in contact with them continually before and during the Covid restrictions and have supplied them information they asked for. 

 I am still awaiting an assessment appt for PIP (Halifax told me to apply for PIP so i may contribute to the mortgage as I am not working and not on any benefits but have relied on my husbands earnings).    

We were told we were with the "vulnberable" customer team" in November 2021 due to our circumstances and were given deadline of 24 March to contact them again with my husband's self employment tax return details, which he did, this week.   We were previously told last year we may be able to make higher mortgage payments and pay off some of the amount in a lump sum.   We are not in any arrears.   We are in a debt management plan with a private company since 2007 recession when husband had little or no work.

It appears that my husband's £23,000.00 PA  income is not enough to get a mortgage with Halifax or extend it for a couple of years whilst we finish the refurbishments that have been halted due to Covid situation. 

The Halifax know that  I have had ongoing problems from colorectal cancer and now have a rare endocrine disease which causes stroke level hypertension and low potassium.  The Conn's disease being undiagnosed for years has resulted in pulmonary/cardiac damage which is debilitating for which I am being referred to Addenbrooke's , plus recent PTSD after witnessing my brother dying rapidly via a monitor in ITU from Covid pneumonia in September 2021, then my daughter, my self and my husband got Covid the day after my brother;s funeral in October.   Ive been in a perpetual state of shock as my husband was hospitalised with Covid - I feared he would die like my brother.   My hair has been falling out in handfuls ever since and I am on a waiting list for counselling

The devastating news is that within 3 months  we have gone from being "vulnnerable",  to Halifax telling us to go elsewhere to remortgage the £136,000 or sell up and downsize as they are going to foreclose and take  court action to evict us (houses in same street with no off st parking on market for £425,000 - we have off st parking for 2 cars and its a semi)     My ASD spectrum daughter is single and lives here with her 5 year old child who is also ASD and is settled in school.   My daughter is a radiography student in her second year of a 3 year degree and I have no guarantee of obtaining PIP as they turn you down first and you have to appeal.   I have only worked part time cleaning jobs since 1998 when my daughter was born and as I am 64 in June with ongoing health issues, I am not sure how employable i am as I have no "computer driving licence" as it has been referred to so I doubt i could return to office work as a secretary, as was my previous full time occupation.    I have two hernias and continence issues left over from a low anterior resection and other cancer surgeries,  so cannot do commercial cleaning anymore and I am carer for my five year old grandchild whilst my daughter is at Uni and on placement in hospitals, getting her ready for school and collecting her from school too as my daughter is on placement by 7am and finishes later than school collection time.

I am just so shocked how we can be vulnerable one month and suddenly as Covid is magically over,  not given any help or consideration despite the Halifax tv ads proclaiming how well they listen to and help people.   It begs belief.   

We cannot move far as hubby's work is in this area and to downsize as we had planned in our old age, we need a two bed property, but now we need a 3 bed which we will not find in this area as we will not get our property's full value as we still need to do refurbishments and I wanted this to be our last move to a two bed to retire .   

I do not know if complaining to financial ombudsman or CAB would be worth it ?   Hoping to get some joy from independent financial advisers next week but Halifax want to know by 24th March so we dont have long.

Mrs G

silvercar

Sorry for the situation you are now in.

Are you and your daughter receiving all the benefits you are entitled to?

There are some grants for students with dependents.  

What was the original plan for paying off the mortgage in 2021? I’m not sure that Halifax accepted selling up as a repayment plan, so was there another plan to repay?

Could you move to a cheaper area? Or rent? It may be that you need to consider a 2 bed and your daughter find her own place to live.

Thrugelmir

Househead_2 said:

I do not know if complaining to financial ombudsman or CAB would be worth it ? 

Unfortunately not. As from a legal perspective you are in breach of the contract you willingly entered into when accepting the mortgage advance. In this you agreed to the repayment of the debt on a given date.

Some years ago, under the direction of the FCA, all mortgage lenders were required to write to interest only mortgage lenders asking them to confirm how they intended to repay. No response, resulted in further letters being sent. Lenders in essence covered their backsides. Onus lay for you to take action. 

While it's inconvenient the reasons you gave:-

"We cannot move far as hubby's work is in this area and to downsize as we had planned in our old age, we need a two bed property, but now we need a 3 bed which we will not find in this area as we will not get our property's full value as we still need to do refurbishments and I wanted this to be our last move to a two bed to retire .  "

Simply have no bearing on the fact that the lender wants repayment of the debt as you agreed to do. 

MWT

Househead_2 said:

I am just so shocked how we can be vulnerable one month and suddenly as Covid is magically over,  not given any help or consideration despite the Halifax tv ads proclaiming how well they listen to and help people.   It begs belief.   

We cannot move far as hubby's work is in this area and to downsize as we had planned in our old age, we need a two bed property, but now we need a 3 bed which we will not find in this area as we will not get our property's full value as we still need to do refurbishments and I wanted this to be our last move to a two bed to retire .   

I do not know if complaining to financial ombudsman or CAB would be worth it ?   Hoping to get some joy from independent financial advisers next week but Halifax want to know by 24th March so we dont have long.

I am sorry to hear about everything you've had to deal with that has resulted in the impossible decisions you have to make now.

Do talk to suitable advisors to see if they can help, but if there is still no viable repayment plan you can offer to your lender, don't let it get to repossession...

I fully understand that you do not want to move out of the area and do want to move to a 3 bed house, but what you want and what you need to do are likely to be incompatible unfortunately.

Your lender has already been exercising forbearance to give you time to find alternatives for the repayment of the loan, but in the end, selling the property yourselves is going to yield a better financial return than if you let it go to a repossession which will leave you also covering significant costs.

[Deleted User]

Have you explored equity release to repay Halifax?  Your health issues will result in more favourable terms
You can still pay interest only to protect your equity. 
They arebt income assessed and only limited by loan to value caps at certain ages

getmore4less

pulling out the financials........ and some questions.

Househead_2 said:

Our interest only mortgage with Halifax term ended in April 2021

We are not in any arrears.   

We are in a debt management plan with a private company since 2007 recession when husband had little or no work.

husband's £23,000.00 PA  income 

remortgage the £136,000  (houses in same street with no off st parking on market for £425,000 - we have off st parking for 2 cars and its a semi)   

daughter is single and lives here with her 5 year old child
My daughter is a radiography student in her second year of a 3 year degree

I am 64 in June 

Mrs G

£136k owed on ~£425k+   32% LTV 

what rate are you on?

£23k  income won't be enough that's  x6.

Age is against you for normal mortgage  if hubby also similar will make repayment unaffordable.

What are the other debt and how much is that costing? 

Are you paying extra for that or using a free service?
if paid something to review.

The issue with looking for another interest only regular mortgage is it just kicks the problem on a few years, then unless there is a massive increase in income it is not a solution ( eg 11y to 75yo even at 0% is still over £1000pm)


if you want to keep the place and daughter will be resident for some time maybe a long time, then I think the suggestion of investigating lifetime equity options is a decent one.

it may cost a bit more in interest to avoid the repo and diminishing equity but that may still be cheaper in the short term than moving which is not cheap.

If available that gives gets you into a more stable financial environment without the repo hanging over you.

if income does improve through more benefits better jobs and daughter starting to earn then you can review.
If you can get a product that allows capital payments you can decide if you want to reduce the mortgage or use the money to fund living. 

No idea if the DMP is an issue   time to reach out to a specialist in these kinds of products.

MWT

Deleted_User said:

Have you explored equity release to repay Halifax?  Your health issues will result in more favourable terms
You can still pay interest only to protect your equity. 
They arebt income assessed and only limited by loan to value caps at certain ages

It can't hurt to try this route, I didn't suggest it originally because of the comments about the need for refurbishments before they could achieve the full property value and it would also depend on the husbands age and health as well as they would most likely have to be joint applicants. Also the daughter would have to waive her right to occupy, but that would be true for any new mortgage.

One to explore, but it isn't a clear and certain route to a solution unfortunately.

Given the debt management plan and the current circumstances it may be worth talking to StepChange anyway, and their related organisation, StepChange Financial Solutions can provide the required advice for equity release products without any charges.

Sistergold

Really sorry to hear of your unfortunate circumstances. If I were you I would focus on the house I can afford rather than hang on to the house you feel you should have, as will mean you lose everything. Even a one bedroom house is better than no house but you say you can afford a 2 bed which is even better! Buy and make do. Watch tiny house living on YouTube and you will realise that infact you can live in a small place especially when you need to get out of a sticky financial situation. 

Don’t let Halifax sell the house for you(repossession) you will not get the best value for your house. 

Good luck. 

ACG

It sounds like you have had a rough few years if not longer and for that I have every bit of sympathy. 

But I will be really honest with you as I think it might be better in the long run... Halifax have a responsibility to try and help but that can only go on for so long. Its not their job to allow you to remain in your home indefinitely. You say you are not in arrears but you are, you are nearly 12 months in arrears, the balance should have been paid off around 12 months ago. 

Your suggestion to Halifax appears to be carry on as you have been, it seems that is not acceptable to them. You have had at least 15 years to prepare for this day and you have not done anything. There are clearly various reasons for that, but that does not detract from the fact you have had at least a decade if not 2 or 3 to get your balance down, leaving it all to the last few years has come back to bite you. Of course nobody was prepared for covid but you could replace covid with anything, a heart attack, stroke, cancer etc etc. 

On to the better news...
You have a lot of equity in your home, as JMA says it sounds like Equity release may be an option. Some of them do allow you to pay the interest each month so it may still mean you can pass on some inheritance to your daughter. But it is also not a requirement so if yo would prefer the interest to roll up it can do (just be prepared that it compounds so will go up quicker and quicker each month) but you will never be evicted, although your daughter would be if you and your husband go into care or die unless she can raise a mortgage.

You need to speak to a broker really, one who is also qualified in equity release would probably be beneficial as not all brokers are. Do this sooner rather than later as Halifax will no doubt be adding legal costs etc.

(Sorry aboutt he earlier paragraphs, I dont mean to sound heartless I just believe in ripping off the plaster and getting things said so everyone knows where they stand).