Feeling Bullied & Harassed by my Mortgage Lender

ManyWays

Business Debtline will give you advice about mortgage arrears, as any good debt adviser will. See https://businessdebtline.org/guides/mortgage-arrears-ew/ - when did you last speak to them?

sourcrates

Doesn't matter what board this is posted on, the only thing you can do about added charges is make a complaint, and that`s what I`d advise you do.

Have you asked for a breakdown of costs previously?

The late payment fee when I had a mortgage was £50 per month, plus they added interest to the arrears, plus a non DD fee every month, plus legal costs, so that can soon mount up.

enthusiasticsaver

I should put in a letter of complaint given you have been trying to keep to the arrangement.  It may be it is just a computer generated charge and they have the power to  overturn.  

Have you explored restructuring the mortgage (increasing the term) to reduce the monthly repayments? 

sourcrates

Arrianna said:

I set up an agreement in September 2024 as per Halifax’s solicitor instructions and have paid this every month to date, including my mortgage payments in-fact I have been paying a little extra, so I’m baffled to the persistence harassment. I have never been told that it has to be paid off before the end of the term of my mortgage, their letters alway say I have missed a payment which I haven’t since the agreement has been in place…even the court had no objections to the amount I am paying! 

These appear to be computer generated standard missed payment letters.

Let me explain.

Whilst you are in arrears, no matter what informal agreement you have reached with the Halifax Bank to repay your missed payments, you are still behind with your contractual mortgage repayments, and will be until all the arrears on the account have been repaid and you are back up to date.

The missed payment letters will continue to be generated by their computer until all arrears have been repaid.

These letters must be sent under the terms and conditions of your mortgage agreement, they are basically nothing more than for information purposes only, and certainly should not be taken as any form of harassment.

The advice to complain about the charges added to the debt, still stands.

enthusiasticsaver

I agree with @sourcrates in that the best way to deal with this is to contest the fees on the basis you are meeting the contractual monthly mortgage payment and the agreed arrangement set up through court and ask for the £1166 to be refunded. Document all payments you have made and any confirmation of the arrangement made.

The letters are just computer generated because you are still in arrears even though you have an arrangement in place.  The arrears will not be cleared from the sound of it until the mortgage is completely repaid so you will still get these until the mortgage is gone.  The only way to avoid it is to restructure the mortgage so more of your monthly payment goes on clearing arrears and less towards the monthly repayments. It doesn't mean you will not be repaying the mortgage within 2 years just that the arrears will be cleared sooner and technically the mortgage is up to date. Speak to a Halifax mortgage arrears counsellor.  I used to be one many moons ago and they used to deal with this sensitively although I appreciate times may have changed. Also I guess because you have already gone through court they may insist on you dealing direct with the solicitor which is causing the conflict. The letters come from Halifax but the arrangement was made through the legal system. That does not impact on the fact that if you are keeping to the arrangement they should not be charging fees. 

sourcrates

You still mis-understand.

You have mortgage arrears yes.? 

So you have missed your contractual obligation, I’m not talking about your informal agreement with the bank, I’m talking about your original contract agreement to pay your mortgage.

I never said they were bank charges, they are legal fees for being in arrears.

They can’t take you to court again for the same debt, I believe you are mis-reading the situation.