Help! Help! Help!

poppy10_2

Your mum should be paying something towards the mortgage on her property - not many pensioners live rent-free.

doodledo_2

Hi and welcome to the forum.

The lodger idea sounds like an ideal plan to me to bring some extra cash in.

Any chance of getting a second job?

Conor_3

gooner_pete wrote: »

In answer to your questions: my mum is a pensioner, so I can't very well ask her for money.

Pensioners are not poor and I'm sure your Mum wouldn't want to see you and your family come to harm just to keep a roof over her head.

One way around it is to charge her rent. If it's all done above board, she can apply to the council for housing benefit. As rents on houses in my area are typically around £450 a month for a 2 bed, even if the council don't give full HB, you should get £300 a month which is the mortgage on that taken care of. That way you get to be able to pay the mortgage on her home without it killing you and it doesn't cost her a bean.

Why are you paying rates on her house when she can claim Council Tax Benefit and get it all paid in full?

gooner_pete

Dear all,

thanks for all your much-needed advice, so here's an update.

I don't have to sell my house.

I was in a blind panic back when I first posted and went through so many different options in the months since.

First up was First Plus, who offered me a loan to take care of everything.

I was on the verge of signing up, but the bad rep they get on here and elsewhere made me hold fire.

However, things got so tough post-Christmas that I signed and sent the forms off.

I felt bad about this, and one night in work I went onto moneysupermarket.com and in desperation filled out their remortgage forms.

I got options, and one was Barclays/Woolwich - they offered me a remortgage which switched my interest only mortgage on my own house to a repayment, and offered me the money to clear all debts with a very manageable monthly payment.

I was over the moon!

Alas, when I went to complete the application the underwriters said that they had to subtract the mortgage on my mum's house from the overall figure and couldn't help.

Back to square one and totally deflated.

I rang First Plus and went ahead with their loan.

However, in the mean time, as one last roll of the dice, I went to The Mortgage Shop.

And here is the final irony: they went straight to my own bank here in Lisburn.

They offered the same remortgage at a fixed rate that Barclays/Woolwich offered, and the mortgage on my mum's house didn't matter.

If only I'd gone to them at the start of all this!

The remortgage has been approved and an offer is being issued now.

Cannot believe that when I wrote that original post the solution was there all along with my own bank.

Anyway, the moral of the story is, for anyone in a similar situation to mine at that time, DON'T PANIC.

When you panic you make silly decisions, like throwing yourself at the mercy of companies like First Plus and Freedom Finance.

Furthermore, I am now advertising for a lodger to bring in more money, and have got quite a few replies for the 250 quid a month I'm offering.

This forum and the advice I've received has been absolutely first class and has really helped me out of a hole.

I cannot thank you enough.

All the very best,
Paul

Merlot

Whilst I am pleased you are sorted, I should say that consolidation of debts to mortgages very rarely works, you will end up paying far more in interest over the years, and you turned unsecured debt into secured debt by remortgaging, I do hope you will be able to keep up the repayments.

At least you didn't use that awful company who uses Carol V on there adverts.

All the best.

Merlot.x.