Old Northern rock repossession mortgage debt advice

holly079782

Hello,

my brother had his home repossessed quite some time ago now (over 15 years ago).
the mortgage provider was northern rock and the debt has since been transferred to another finance company since northern rock went into liquidation.

however, all this time later, he still has an outstanding debt of over £40k and has been making minimal payments every month.

he currently has no valuable assets and is living in a rented house as he cannot get another mortgage.

i would really like to help him clear this debt, can anybody help?

Thank you 

Thrugelmir

Offer to make payments as well to speed up repayment.

holly079782

Thrugelmir thank you, but I have my own mortgage/bills to consider, so that is not an option unfortunately 

Slithery

What does the repossession agreement that your brother signed have to say about this matter?

It's quite possible that he's only been paying a minimal amount of interest and still owes the bank the original loan as well as decades worth of interest....

Why does he think that he doesn't still owe all of the money for a house that he didn't pay for?

holly079782

Hi Slithery, 

I haven’t got the agreement from him yet, he doesn’t even know that I’m asking on his behalf. But I can see that the stress of this debt hanging over him is affecting him. He is nearly 40 years old now with a young daughter and I know that he’d love to buy his own home, but can’t because of his financial difficulty. 

You’re probably correct in saying that he’s only been paying interest all this time, but as northern rock have gone into liquidation and it being such an old debt, I thought that maybe it could be legally written off? 

AndyDragon

Why would they write off a debt? Has he taken any advice from debt management? There are free support out there who could help. As well as potentially considering IVA or bankruptcy?

i hope he took advice during this period and at the least got the interest frozen else he has spent a long time to not move anywhere, and I’ve known people who have been there, many years paying to find out their balance hasn’t changed or actually got worse

whilst the latter is a large step, it also can remove a huge amount of stress. 15years is a long time to pay a debt especially where minimal payments may have not even dented the outstanding balanc

RAS

He needs to start here 

For free debt advice, contact either : Stepchange, National Debtline, CitizensAdviceBureaux.

Although this is fairly specialist stuff, and there have been several issues where NR mortgagees have been compensated, someone at one of the debt charities may know where to get that help.

I don't know what the situation is for those repossessed. I do know that when people went bankrupt or "handed back the keys"  around that time, they were always warned not to sign the document given to them by the mortgage provider which made them liable for any short-fall.

But it sounds like your brother signed that document? 

doodling

Hi,

It sounds like your friend is bankrupt, but that doesn't necessarily mean the bankruptcy is the right solution for him.

Your friend needs to contact one of the free debt advice charities (e.g. stepchange), posting on the https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/debt-free-wannabe board is an alternative first step.  You probably need to get your friend to do this as there will be questions about their circumstances you may not be able to answer.

GDB2222

doodling said:

Hi,

It sounds like your friend is bankrupt, but that doesn't necessarily mean the bankruptcy is the right solution for him.

Your friend needs to contact one of the free debt advice charities (e.g. stepchange), posting on the https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/debt-free-wannabe board is an alternative first step.  You probably need to get your friend to do this as there will be questions about their circumstances you may not be able to answer.

I agree. What people sometimes do not realise is that bankruptcy is the debtor’s friend. In your brother’s case, it would free him of this debt that he can’t repay. Of course, there are consequences, for example his credit worthiness will be zero, so it needs looking into very carefully.

theartfullodger

Declare himself bankrupt

sammyjammy

Its too late now but its what he should have done 15 years ago.  If you repost, or even better get your brother to on the Debt free wannabe board they can help further.