CMI Mortgage over charges error - caused arrears and repossession action - Urgent Help please

Proactive52

Hi
I am hoping someone can help me as my Lender Birmingham Midshires (part of Bank of Scotland) is taking me to court for the 3rd time for Repossession due to Arrears left on my mortgage following an 'over calculation error in CMI interest charges' in 2016 which then said I was approx £32,000 in arrears!!

In 2018 they reimbursed approx £23,000 which left the rest as showing as arrears!  I have been fighting with Birmingham Midshires since they first put these charges on my mortgage account in 2016 - when the monthly payment went from approx £345 to £2,100 - I have complained on numerous occasions, they don't fully investigate then send me letters saying they do not uphold my complaint.

Apologies as I am at my wits end trying to deal with them due to the above CMI error but also because I have been kept a Mortgage Prisoner by them as well.

The mortgage was taken out in 1990 in joint names with my now ex-husband, he has paid nothing to the Mortgage since 1997 - we Divorced in 2000, it took 8 years to get him in court - in 2008 the property was transferred to my sole name and Birmingham Midshires were asked to remove my Ex-husband from the Mortgage or transfer to the mortgage into my sole name at a fixed rate as I was being held a Mortgage Prisoner on an SVR - they declined to remove him or transfer the mortgage to a new product so I have been left paying a SVR for 22 years and as my ex-husband has not been removed - which I have repeatedly requested since 2008 - which means following a very acrimonious divorce he is still aware of all activity on the mortgage account and I have had to see him in court 3 times due to their continued claims for Repossession - leaving me very distressed having to face him 22 years after our divorce.  As I said he has paid nothing since 1997.

I am 62yrs and am in a nightmare situation due to their negligence in dealing with the matter of the 'Arrears', keeping me on an SVR for 22 years and keeping my ex-husband on the mortgage - I cannot obtain a mortgage with another lender due to the 'Arrears' showing, unless I pay these bogus Arrears, which I refuse to do as I don't owe them.I have raised the CMI matter with the FCA but yet to hear anything.

I also raised a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman regarding all of the above - who accepted my complaints but informed me they couldn't take the matter further due to the Mortgage Account still being in joint names, therefore required my ex-husbands signature also to continue with the complaint - he refused to sign and I don't know what to do next and due in Court again on 7 Nov - I have asked the Court to adjourn this Court Hearing as I am having to Defend myself as not entitled to Legal Aid and cannot afford a solicitor, as I have recently received a 3rd Witness Statement from their solicitors and yet another large bundle which I need to respond to with a 2nd Witness Statement from myself - their statements are rubbish and I think they are doing this to try to over whelm me but I will not give in to their bullying tactics, I have been in constant contact with them over these matters since 2008!

I have tried to get Pro-Bono help with no success.  I would be grateful for any help someone can give me as I am a strong believer in justice and Lenders should acknowledge when they make a mistake and put it right - Birmingham Midshires has pushed me from pillar to post, collections, end of term, complaints etc.  I have been told by account managers that they can see the error and will rectify only to do nothing - end of term are chasing me as my mortgage ended in 2016 - when they added these 'Arrears' - but have had to 'rollover' my mortgage as unable to 'End' my mortgage due to these 'Arrears' on the account - hence keep trying to take me to Court for Repossession!!!

Sorry for the long read - Please can someone help me - I am also currently the Full-Time Carer for my daughter, who is now chronically disabled with a Long Covid condition.
Thank you

silvercar

Sorry for your situation.

It looks like that as part of the divorce, the property was put into your sole name. The lender was requested to transfer the mortgage also to your sole name but declined to do so. Either because you didn’t earn enough by their calculations for it to be affordable or because there were arrears at the time. Either way it isn’t that rare for a mortgage to be in 2 names when the property is in a single name following a divorce. Usually it is the other party who are desperate to get their name off the mortgage to free them from financial association or to take out their own mortgage elsewhere. Whatever the reason the lender isn’t under any legal obligation to remove a joint mortgage holder - they prefer to be able to chase two people rather than one, and if your earnings don’t justify the mortgage size you have then that explains their reluctance.

Moving on to the arrears, I’m guessing the calculation is because they moved you automatically to their SVR after the fixed rate expired. Did you have arrears at the end of the fixed rate period? If so that would explain why they wouldn’t give you another deal. If no arrears, Why didn’t you request another fix or a discounted rate from the same lender? Did you request and they refuse? Any explanation?

looking at the calculation, is their calculation based on the SVR following on from the fix? Is it correct? What was their agreement to reduce the arrears from 32k to 23k based on? 

Now to look at where you are now. The mortgage ended in 2016, what was the original plan to repay? Was it a repayment mortgage or interest only? If IO, what was the plan for 2016. 

It seems that the lender has let the mortgage roll on from 2016 til now, probably in the hope you would sort something out with the reduced arrears as they say it, repay your loan and borrow elsewhere. 

What do you want to happen? To sell up or to remortgage? If the latter then it could be worth seeing a mortgage broker.

Are you claiming all the benefits you are entitled to? Is your daughter? There is SMI which may pay some of the interest on the mortgage.

I know I haven’t offered a clear solution, I’m just trying to understand the full history - particularly the lender’s calculation and actions.

Proactive52

Thank you.

Following my Divorce, 22 years is a long time to keep a joint holder on the mortgage - given he has made no payments and I clearly have made all of them - which is why I have continued to ask them repeatedly to either remove him, transfer the mortgage or arrange a new mortgage with just me - every year they say they can arrange something but never have.

I have a large amount of equity in my property - plus as I said I have paid all the mortgage payments so surely this isn't right that they can just insist on no options to change the mortgage?

The agreement to reduce the over charging of CMI and to reinstate and compensate - was due to a ruling by the FCA.

No the arrears are purely due to the way they calculated CMI interest in 2016 to 2018 - at which time the FCA said was it was wrong and told them they had to re-instate the mortgage accounts to the way they were before and compensate all consumers affected - they paid no compensation and only 'partly paid back' to mortgage account not the full amount they charged - thereby leaving the account as showing approx £9,000 in arrears - see below:

CMI Charged additional £13,575.24 for 2016 to 2017 and £20,425.47 for 2017 to 2018 - Total = £34,000.71
BMSL only reimbursed to account £24,345.26
Leaving outstanding amount of £9,655.45 which has not been reimbursed - therefore shows  this amount as outstanding on the account as Arrears. The original 1990 mortgage was on Repayment basis - fixed rate then changed in 20000 to SVR - following Divorce and transfer of property to me in 2008, I was informed at the time they would within 12 months Transfer the mortgage to me on a Fixed Rate at that time, provided I continued to pay the mortgage payments - which I did and have tried repeatedly to get them to do - I would of also been able to then extend the mortgage term due to end in 2016 to a longer term.  They kept refusing and then when they added the 'Arrears' in 2016 it technically put the account into arrears so refused to re-mortgage on the grounds of the mortgage being in arrears even tho it was there error!!!  Which also meant I couldn't obtain a mortgage elsewhere. I would therefore have re-mortgaged to a Fixed Rate and Extended the Term beyond 2016 when it was due to end - hope that makes sense - its complicated as this has been going on for so long! Regarding benefits, I have to work to pay mortgage, bills etc so no SMI and currently fighting with the DWP to get PIP and Mobility for my daughter - accidentally posted on this forum by mistake a post to see if anyone can help with that - posted update so hope it will get moved to correct forum - I'm a newbie and got confused! I am sincerely grateful for your reply and any help or suggestions, thank you again for taking time to respond.