Remortgage: Settling Debts - Solicitor requirements

LawAbiding

Hi,

We are going through a remortgage at the moment and have decided to settle some debts and free some equity for house renovations.

The mortgage lender have put the special conditions in the offer that the debts outlined must be settled by the legal advisor.

The solicitor has stated that he must receive the settlement letters from the creditors directly, and I cannot request the settlement letters and pass these onto him.

However, a couple of the creditors are refusing to deal with any 3rd party, even after I provided a letter of authority to the creditor.

Now the mortgage offer does specifically state "The legal adviser must ensure that the following debt is repaid on or prior to completion" for each condition for each debt. Each debt is listed with a account number

But it doesnt say, that the Solicitor must correspond with the creditor directly.

I am being naive to think, why can't they just accept the letters I can obtain within hours, rather then taking weeks by post?

This has been going on for approx 4-5 weeks now, back and forth.

Any feedback welcomed!

user1977

Probably not unreasonable that the solicitor gets some sort of direct confirmation from the lenders of the balance required - if these had been secured loans then that's what would happen. Otherwise you could be passing on something you've doctored, the loans aren't repaid in full, and the lender sues the solicitors.

I suppose you could try asking the new lender if they are actually more relaxed than the solicitor is, and can instruct them accordingly?

simon_or

That doesn't make sense to me. I've had the same condition a few years ago when I was consolidating debt on to a remortgage. What the solicitor did was hold back the amount needed to pay off the debt and make the payments themselves using the bank details and references given by the credit card providers. They charged me £100-150 or so to do this.

LawAbiding

user1977 said:

Probably not unreasonable that the solicitor gets some sort of direct confirmation from the lenders of the balance required - if these had been secured loans then that's what would happen. Otherwise you could be passing on something you've doctored, the loans aren't repaid in full, and the lender sues the solicitors.

I suppose you could try asking the new lender if they are actually more relaxed than the solicitor is, and can instruct them accordingly?

Yeah I may contact the MA, thanks for the reasoning behind not coming from me!

LawAbiding

simon_or said:

That doesn't make sense to me. I've had the same condition a few years ago when I was consolidating debt on to a remortgage. What the solicitor did was hold back the amount needed to pay off the debt and make the payments themselves using the bank details and references given by the credit card providers. They charged me £100-150 or so to do this.

This is exactly what needs to happen, however the credit card provider is refusing to provide these details to the Solicitor directly. They happy to send it to me but not the solicitor.

The credit cards are Aqua, Fluid and Marbles, all come under NewDay, and all of them have the same stance.

simon_or

LawAbiding said:

simon_or said:

That doesn't make sense to me. I've had the same condition a few years ago when I was consolidating debt on to a remortgage. What the solicitor did was hold back the amount needed to pay off the debt and make the payments themselves using the bank details and references given by the credit card providers. They charged me £100-150 or so to do this.

This is exactly what needs to happen, however the credit card provider is refusing to provide these details to the Solicitor directly. They happy to send it to me but not the solicitor.

The credit cards are Aqua, Fluid and Marbles, all come under NewDay, and all of them have the same stance.

I don't know about the others but Aqua definitely has their bank details and instructions for payment on their website. The 16 digit reference to be used is printed on your credit card statement, hopefully you have a hard copy to hand if the solicitor won't take a pdf.

Surely the above is enough for your solicitor to make the payment using information straight from the horse's mouth.

LawAbiding

simon_or said:

LawAbiding said:

simon_or said:

That doesn't make sense to me. I've had the same condition a few years ago when I was consolidating debt on to a remortgage. What the solicitor did was hold back the amount needed to pay off the debt and make the payments themselves using the bank details and references given by the credit card providers. They charged me £100-150 or so to do this.

This is exactly what needs to happen, however the credit card provider is refusing to provide these details to the Solicitor directly. They happy to send it to me but not the solicitor.

The credit cards are Aqua, Fluid and Marbles, all come under NewDay, and all of them have the same stance.

I don't know about the others but Aqua definitely has their bank details and instructions for payment on their website. The 16 digit reference to be used is printed on your credit card statement, hopefully you have a hard copy to hand if the solicitor won't take a pdf.

Surely the above is enough for your solicitor to make the payment using information straight from the horse's mouth.

Thanks for the advice, I have offered and provided statements, but PDF or hard copy and both been refused by the solicitor, again citing it must come from the lender to them directly.

I have emailed the solicitor today and questioned it all, the mortgage offer does say the legal must ensure, however it also makes it clear that myself and my wife is responsibile to provide evidence if the conditions have been met when/if requested by the lender.

If the solicitor feels he is liable etc, then I will be suggesting that document is put in place that both me and my wife sign moving that laibility away from him over to us.

user1977

LawAbiding said:

simon_or said:

LawAbiding said:

simon_or said:

That doesn't make sense to me. I've had the same condition a few years ago when I was consolidating debt on to a remortgage. What the solicitor did was hold back the amount needed to pay off the debt and make the payments themselves using the bank details and references given by the credit card providers. They charged me £100-150 or so to do this.

This is exactly what needs to happen, however the credit card provider is refusing to provide these details to the Solicitor directly. They happy to send it to me but not the solicitor.

The credit cards are Aqua, Fluid and Marbles, all come under NewDay, and all of them have the same stance.

I don't know about the others but Aqua definitely has their bank details and instructions for payment on their website. The 16 digit reference to be used is printed on your credit card statement, hopefully you have a hard copy to hand if the solicitor won't take a pdf.

Surely the above is enough for your solicitor to make the payment using information straight from the horse's mouth.

If the solicitor feels he is liable etc, then I will be suggesting that document is put in place that both me and my wife sign moving that laibility away from him over to us.

That won't really work - the whole point of the lender asking the solicitor to do these things is because the lender doesn't trust you to do them! Any instruction would need to come from the lender.

simon_or

OP, if you have a good hands-on broker, perhaps it's worth asking them to speak to the solicitor, lender and understand what can be done to resolve this impasse which (to my mind) seems fairly surmountable if the solicitor applied a bit of common sense.

Strictly speaking, it's not usually a broker's job but mine has been incredibly helpful in the past when issues cropped up at conveyancing.

LawAbiding

simon_or said:

OP, if you have a good hands-on broker, perhaps it's worth asking them to speak to the solicitor, lender and understand what can be done to resolve this impasse which (to my mind) seems fairly surmountable if the solicitor applied a bit of common sense.

Strictly speaking, it's not usually a broker's job but mine has been incredibly helpful in the past when issues cropped up at conveyancing.

Thanks, I will be doing this. My broker is awesome, so should be ok.

Solicitor has come back saying "better", they deal with the lenders directly, build a relationship and to manage any disputes with settlement.

I have gone back stating, you have said better, this means to me its not a requirement if so, then I am happy to take the liability as I have no reason to commit fraud.

Hes responded that he's taken my comments and will respond to me accordingly tomorrow.