Suspended Possession Order (Barclays)

NoaandIndie

I feel quite embarrassed sharing this but here we go.

Following a job loss and mental health crisis (which I am currently still in outpatient for) I am currently in arrears on my mortgage.

I had a plan in place with Barclays to make overpayments to clear this.

I started a new job in January and due to my start date missed the cut off for payroll. It meant that for one month I didn’t get paid, but the following month I received 2x months salary.

Stupidly, I didn’t keep Barclays notified but did transfer the missed instalment over (it was around 3 weeks later than usual). I have autism (not an excuse) and struggle with managing things like phone calls sometimes, so I guess I just put it off (again, very stupid).

I subsequently called Barclays to check they’d received my missed instalments and to also update my income/expenditure as my new job means I can pay more to the arrears.

They referred the new income/expenditure internally but advised due to the broken agreement they have to a “suspended possession order”.

From what I’ve read on Shelter this means “A suspended possession order is when a judge decides you can stay in your home if you keep to conditions or terms.”

I won’t have a problem keeping with the terms/overpayments going forward, affordability is all okay - but I’m just looking to understand:

• Will I need to provide any forms/documentation to the court or is this all provided by Barclays?

• Should I be attending court? Will this make any difference?

Thank you for your help :)

Brie

Don't feel embarrassed. There are lots of people here who ask for help and a lot of us who provide advice do so because it's happened to us in various forms as well. Me included. (credit cards, not mortgage but that came pretty close a few times)

You might want to consider getting a Debt and Mental Health Form signed by your medical professional. This can, in some cases, make businesses change the tact on how they are dealing with individuals. And if you are in England you cannot be charged to get this signed by your doctor under BMA rules.

There is also something called "Breathing Space" which is for when someone is in a crisis with debt which will give them 60 days to get things sorted out and by stopping all interest, collection and communication about debts during that time. Beyond that is a Mental Health Breathing Space which will do the same thing for the length of a mental health situation (being sectioned/hospitalised etc) and then 60 days after recovery.

The DMHF you can do yourself but to be official any Breathing Space has to be submitted by a recognised debt advice agency (StepChange, National Debtline, CAP - Christians Against Poverty, CMA - Community Money Advice).

Now I don't know anything about a suspended possession order but I do know Barclays and know that they are well regulated (i.e. they follow the rules) and bad publicity shy. So they'll want to help you as much as they can within the rules. I would definitely suggest you get a DMHF asap so you can provide that to them and to the court if necessary.

more info here - Debt and mental health | National Debtline

NoaandIndie

Thank you so much for your thoughtful and detailed reply, I really do appreciate it. I haven’t got anyone in my life I can discuss this with so it’s a huge help!

I hadn’t heard of the DMHF before but I will look into this now, as well as the Breathing Space.