Anulment is supossed to return you back!!! i need to know im not the only one going through this!

HEnnH

Background of where we are up to:

My husband owed HMRC - awful, yes, but we knew we had to pay them somehow. It was non-payment due to hitting some really hard times owning a fishing trawler, and he was the skipper, boat has long since been sold thankfully.

Fast forward to HMRC coming knocking, threatening bankruptcy, and we were already in the midst of remortgaging to pay the debt as he was newly employed with a great job, and we had lined up his credit file ready. We had lots of equity (house valued at just over £1.1 million), and our mortgage was £119,000, so we thought to remortgage for an extra £35,000 to pay HMRC,  better rate mortgage as he's now employed, and all previous old CCJs had gone from his record.

Our property is not straightforward; it has land and a small tent campsite with it. My father (aged 84) is on the deeds too as we took don't the mnortage long ago when he retired. At the time of applying, there was an old CCJ with 5 months until it fell off my husbands , but with HMRC hounding, we had no choice but to apply. It took months of trying, but just as an adverse lender said yes in principle (we thought okay, short term with higher interest as once anulled, we will remortgage again for a lower rate), HMRC had already adjourned the hearing twice and slammed him with bankruptcy in November 2023. 

Obviously, we didn't want to lose our family home; 8 of us live here, my dad, myself my husband and my four children of varying ages plus my daughters partner! We had no other assets, so we went for an annulment. Once bankrupt, we obviously lost our NatWest joint account, went through the receiver interview, and declared we would be applying for annulment. The debts were £83 from NatWest, which was from our joint account; we moved our money from there into my personal account and mistakenly went £83 into the tiny overdraft! NatWest wouldn't let me pay it once closed as he was bankrupt, two small credit cards, and HMRC. The OR accepted and said as long as we move quickly with an annulment, she would not pass the house (our only asset) to a trustee.

I would like to also add that this process was worrying enough, but we received bankruptcy consultant letters through the post that said they could advise, and we tried a few solicitors, so we went with ISIS bankruptcy (the name should have warned me). He walked us through the process of the interview and basics of what happens, explained that he would use a solicitor that he uses all the time to submit proper paperwork, and his fee was £3300 all in; we paid a £500 deposit. Next, we borrowed from my sister-in-law, dad, and we were still short of £25k, so the consultant suggested business angels, which gives us 4 months to pay back and a fee of £5k. Solicitor costs were £5000 (we were initially told £1000). All in with fees, we're having to find £75k to secure the annulment.

Now, I'm no fool, however, I had no experience with this and no idea how this all works. I had to chase the consultant with questions about money, fees, process, and timeline. I read the guidance for OR's on the government website, which was helpful. On March 14th, we got the annulment stamped at court. The solicitor has paid the debts, overpaid the credit cards by over £500 each, which neither will pay back to my husband. On his credit file, the bankruptcy has disappeared as promised; however, NatWest and Vanquis slapped a default on his credit file in November once he was declared bankrupt. Now, he is in no position to get a decent mortgage with two fresh defaults, paid or not. I have asked the solicitor and the consultant, and they have basically shrugged their shoulders and said he will have to go for an adverse mortgage and just pay, even if we can get one. Now, I'm angry! My sister-in-law and dad lent us money knowing we were going to remortgage after annulment once clear. We have waited 6 years to have his file clear to be able to remortgage already as we pay 8.9%, £1150 per month as he had a CCJ before, and we can only have a mortgage of 19 years due to his age.

I need help. We have literally been watching our credit ratings for 6 years so closely, we have been careful, living within budget. I have been dealing with this since April 2023, and I'm at a brick wall. I have to repay the £70k to family and flipping business angels (business angels charge £1k per month fee after 4 months).

My questions are:

1. Is this all normal for an annulment process?
2. Should those defaults have been logged, and can they be removed?
3. Do I bother fighting anymore and just sell my family home of my dad's (he will kill me) of 50 plus years?
4. Is there anyone out there that can help other than counseling for my mental health at this point?
5. I'm the only one fighting; my husband, although understands all this, is useless at bills, tech, and paperwork. Neither he nor my dad understand that you just have to pay all these fees and how the mortgage system works. My old Dad just keeps repeating all that equity in the property should make it a fair mortgage, he just does not get it.

sourcrates

I think you might benefit from calling National Debtline and asking them their advice.

silvercar

I’d pop over to the mortgage board and ask there.

Long story short, you need a mortgage on a very low LTV but with 2 satisfied recent CCJs and an annulled bankruptcy. People there will be able to tell you how easy that would be to find. 

HEnnH

sourcrates said:

I think you might benefit from calling National Debtline and asking them their advice.

silvercar said:

I’d pop over to the mortgage board and ask there.

Long story short, you need a mortgage on a very low LTV but with 2 satisfied recent CCJs and an annulled bankruptcy. People there will be able to tell you how easy that would be to find. 

Thanks both - the defaults should never have been there, they are not CCJ's. there were no missed payments,