HELP: (Un)Intelligent Finance!

brumbino

In a nutshell...

My soon to be ex-wife and I split up and I bought her out of the house. I was advised by IF that to remove her off the mortgage and let the Land Registry know would cost me £400 and take six weeks tops. I said okay and asked for the paper work.

When it arrived I had a queation and phoned IF up. Who told you that? they asked. You need to close the morgage and re-open a new one. We'll send you a redemption statement and the re-mortgage paperwork.

I received the information and was horrified to see £3500(ish) in penalties for early redemption. I called to find out why. Who told you you had to remortgage? It's £400 and it'll take about six weeks. We'll send you the paper work.

I get the paper work and have a question so phone IF up. Who told you it was £400? You need to close the morgage and re-open a new one. We'll send you a redemption statement and the re-mortgage paperwork.

Paperwork comes I have a question...

Can you see where this is going? It gets worse.

In December (thirty six weeks after my request, after much complaining, I have to remortgage without penalty and it's all in my own name and the Land Registry has removed her from the deeds. IF include my new mortgage number and the fact I am on the agreement on my own.

I moved the mortgage onto interest only and had written permission to let the property out.

My ex- was able to buy her new house now that her lenders conditions that she had no mortgage elsewhere were met and I moved 80 miles away and bought a new place with a mortgage. The letter from IF allowing me to rent out the old place was included in the application.

I had a mortgage statement on June 6.

Wrong agreement number, joint mortgage.

Called to enquire why and discovered that:

1.0 They have no record of me having taken out a singular re-mortgage with them.
2.0 They have no record of giving me permission to rent the property out.

This has lead to following potentially happening.

1.0 My ex- defaults on her mortgage of £60k
2.0 I default on my mortgage on my new house (£130k)
3.0 I default on the IF house mortgage (£100k)
4.0 As my ex- is still on the mortgage she is entitled to the additional value (£20k)

i.e. I find myself liable for £310k and facing potential legal problems relating to fraud.

I have raised a complaint with IF and the Financial Ombudsman but IF are hiding behind the "we know nothing" or "whoever did xxx did not have the authority to do so" lines.

I have sought legal advice and was warned that IF would just drag any case out until I had run out of money.

I am wracked with worry tbh...anyone anywhere have an idea what I can do?

To add insult to injury, I was made redundant in March so if I started work today, I couldn't get a remortgage if I wanted

MyUserNamesTaken

You can represent yourself in court, you know (saving your vast amounts of money). You've got all the paperwork to show all of the above, I assume? Plus, you've got Land Registry showing the change of ownership to just your name. Personally, I'd get all the paperwork together, along with a copy of what's on LR's records (you can get this online for a nominal fee), photocopy the lot and send it in to IF's legal department. Get your ex to do the same.


Incidentally, you wouldn't be liable for any debts your ex has taken out in her own name. You can prove you've split up and her mortgage application was in her sole name. If IF is saying you only have the one mortgage with them (the joint one), then they can't hold you liable for the one you took out in your own name, as they say it doesn't exist (and vice versa). Has IF sent you any letters stating that you're in arrears on your old mortgage, or have they taken the payments you've been making on the new mortgage off the old mortgage?