Mortgage Arrears

sequindress

Please please can someone help me.
My husband and I separated 8 years ago, we had a joint mortgage. He was arrested without charge for violence towards me when I had a 1 year old and was heavily pregnant.
it took years to get a divorce because he wouldn’t engage and I didn’t know where he was.  It cost me £12k in fees.
I struggled to pay the mortgage and managed until the legal fees for the divorce mounted up.
I have 2 young girls, no income from him and he never paid a penny towards the mortgage.
The mortgage provider TSB have been terrible. Because I couldn’t get his signature to get a good deal after the fixed rate ended they increased my monthly payments by £700. They knew my situation but they have literally offered no help whatsoever.
After years of struggling and working 50+ hours a week with no support at all and two children as a single mum. I’m now being threatened with litigation and I can’t get another mortgage because of arrears.
I fought so hard, and it feels so unfair that the mortgage provider couldn’t help through no fault of my own. Even if they had just left the monthly payment as it was but to increase it by £700 a month when they knew the situation.
I don’t know what to do please help 

fatbelly

We need some more details

Balance outstanding?
Value of property?
Anything else secured on property?

Contractual monthly instalment?
How much do they say the arrears are?

Repayment mortgage?
How long remains on the mortgage term?

Hopefully all this data is in the solicicitors' letter

sequindress

Balance o/s £200k
valued at £360k
nothing else secured
monthly payments £1750
19 years left
Arrears approx £14k

fatbelly

Ok, so you have tons of equity and lots of time left, but maybe 9 months in arrears

The problem is affording £1750 per month?

Do you have other debts you are paying? If so, it is worth posting on debt-free wannabe.

How much per month could you comfortably afford?

sequindress

I am also behind with my gas and electric 

what is debt free wannabe please?

I could afford £1100 which was the initial monthly amount.

I totally understand I am in arrears and it’s not TSB’s fault but I just feel they are profiting off someone’s misfortune. 

FrugaiMacDugal

sequindress said:

what is debt free wannabe please?

It's another board on MSE where folks help each other in debt situations, here's a link.

Good luck.

silvercar

sequindress said:

Please please can someone help me.
My husband and I separated 8 years ago, we had a joint mortgage. He was arrested without charge for violence towards me when I had a 1 year old and was heavily pregnant.
it took years to get a divorce because he wouldn’t engage and I didn’t know where he was.  It cost me £12k in fees.
I struggled to pay the mortgage and managed until the legal fees for the divorce mounted up.
I have 2 young girls, no income from him and he never paid a penny towards the mortgage.
The mortgage provider TSB have been terrible. Because I couldn’t get his signature to get a good deal after the fixed rate ended they increased my monthly payments by £700. They knew my situation but they have literally offered no help whatsoever.
After years of struggling and working 50+ hours a week with no support at all and two children as a single mum. I’m now being threatened with litigation and I can’t get another mortgage because of arrears.
I fought so hard, and it feels so unfair that the mortgage provider couldn’t help through no fault of my own. Even if they had just left the monthly payment as it was but to increase it by £700 a month when they knew the situation.
I don’t know what to do please help 

Other than your whole situation, this bit strikes me as particularly unfair. A lot of lenders allow you to access your mortgage online, where moving to a new deal can often be done by clicking a couple of buttons by just one of the borrowers.

Presuming you tried this at the time and your lender just doesn’t support this, I would appeal to the lender quoting their obligation to ‘treat customers fairly’.

I hope you go after your ex for child support.

also hope you have reached a financial settlement alongside your divorce - there is a lot of equity in the property.

sequindress

I know I agree totally. They actually made my situation worse.
 I feel terrible today I’ve got no-one and I’m totally defeated.
I get £29 a month for 2 children from his benefits and I had to also fight for that. I was actually told by CMS we can’t leave him with financial difficulties! 

I think there definitely needs to be more education on joint mortgages because he’s literally ruined mine and my kids lives. I don’t know how many more times I can bounce back.
 I don’t know what to do 

ACG

silvercar said:

sequindress said:

Please please can someone help me.
My husband and I separated 8 years ago, we had a joint mortgage. He was arrested without charge for violence towards me when I had a 1 year old and was heavily pregnant.
it took years to get a divorce because he wouldn’t engage and I didn’t know where he was.  It cost me £12k in fees.
I struggled to pay the mortgage and managed until the legal fees for the divorce mounted up.
I have 2 young girls, no income from him and he never paid a penny towards the mortgage.
The mortgage provider TSB have been terrible. Because I couldn’t get his signature to get a good deal after the fixed rate ended they increased my monthly payments by £700. They knew my situation but they have literally offered no help whatsoever.
After years of struggling and working 50+ hours a week with no support at all and two children as a single mum. I’m now being threatened with litigation and I can’t get another mortgage because of arrears.
I fought so hard, and it feels so unfair that the mortgage provider couldn’t help through no fault of my own. Even if they had just left the monthly payment as it was but to increase it by £700 a month when they knew the situation.
I don’t know what to do please help 

Other than your whole situation, this bit strikes me as particularly unfair. A lot of lenders allow you to access your mortgage online, where moving to a new deal can often be done by clicking a couple of buttons by just one of the borrowers.

Presuming you tried this at the time and your lender just doesn’t support this, I would appeal to the lender quoting their obligation to ‘treat customers fairly’.

I hope you go after your ex for child support.

also hope you have reached a financial settlement alongside your divorce - there is a lot of equity in the property.

Ive just done a PT with TSB and it sends out a document to be signed by both applicants via email. 
But also whilst in arrears, I am not sure if they will accept a PT. 

ACG

sequindress said:

Please please can someone help me.
My husband and I separated 8 years ago, we had a joint mortgage. He was arrested without charge for violence towards me when I had a 1 year old and was heavily pregnant.
it took years to get a divorce because he wouldn’t engage and I didn’t know where he was.  It cost me £12k in fees.
I struggled to pay the mortgage and managed until the legal fees for the divorce mounted up.
I have 2 young girls, no income from him and he never paid a penny towards the mortgage.
The mortgage provider TSB have been terrible. Because I couldn’t get his signature to get a good deal after the fixed rate ended they increased my monthly payments by £700. They knew my situation but they have literally offered no help whatsoever.
After years of struggling and working 50+ hours a week with no support at all and two children as a single mum. I’m now being threatened with litigation and I can’t get another mortgage because of arrears.
I fought so hard, and it feels so unfair that the mortgage provider couldn’t help through no fault of my own. Even if they had just left the monthly payment as it was but to increase it by £700 a month when they knew the situation.
I don’t know what to do please help 

I dont want to argue because I do feel for you but they did not increase the repayment because of the situation. Your deal came to an end and it went to SVR as your ex would not allow the new product... Maybe he was hoping you would sell up and ties would be cut. 

Will your ex agree to a sale? Because at the minute your paying down a mortgage alone and he will be entitled to half the equity. Selling up, renting for 12 months and then starting afresh would probably not be the worst idea. 

sequindress

I understand where you are coming from but that didn’t help the situation and it was me and two innocent babies that suffered. I totally appreciate they legally haven’t done anything wrong but they have been happy to accept the payment from one person all this time.
They could have done more to help, this wasn’t down to anything I did. I was in a situation I had no control over because we couldn’t find him