Repossession?

homeworkgirl

I was advised to re-post this on here in the hope that someone can advise me. Thanks.

I am in arrears with my mortgage due to the sudden death of my long term partner last year. (Our life cover sadly expired without us realising.) I have written to them and phoned them several times to say I can no longer afford the monthly repayment of £500+ and have asked if they can switch me to interest only. They will not budge and keep sending me the same arrears letter every month with £30 charge. In the meantime for the past three months I have sent them £300 per month as a rough estimate of the interest only portion. I would like to know if anyone here works for a building society or similar and knows roughly how long it will take them to decide to start repossession proceedings. They have not mentioned this yet but I am sure it is only a matter of time. I am not able to apply to another lender because I am off sick and about to lose my job.

UK007BullDog

Sorry to hear of your loss.

So not married I take it? Have you sent them a certified copy of the death certificate?

1. Get in touch with a solicitor. You need to get the property in just your name.

2. you send them the certified death certificate with a letter stating you want to change your mortgage to interest only and want all fees and charges added to your mortgage by registered mail. Ask in your letter that they reply in writing.

3. Dont bother phoning, stuff like this needs to be done in writing and sent by registered mail. Dont tell them you are sick and off work.

UK007BullDog

What lender are you with now?

As your credit file is now messed up it would be best to stay with them unless they are subprime then looking about might be an option.

Tell them they have a duty of "Treating Customers Fairly".

Once you have lost your job, how do you expect to pay the mortgage and all other costs? Maybe selling is the best option!

homeworkgirl

Thanks Bulldog but I already have done all this shortly after he died and no we were not married. They keep saying I need to pay off the arrears before they will even consider letting me have interest only but the arrears have arisen because I have only been able to afford to pay the interest only if you see what I mean. Re not telling them I am off sick, I might have already done so, can't remember, but what would I gain by not telling them? Wouldn't they expect me to pay the full amount even more then?

homeworkgirl

I am with C & G, though most correspondence seems to come through Lloyds TSB lately, so you can see they are not a sub-prime company. I can't consider another lender whilst I am out of work obviously, though I hope this will be a temporary thing.

I really badly want to hold on to the house, particularly for the sake of my daughter who has already lost her Dad and would be really upset if we had to leave the family home too.

UK007BullDog

You dont want them to get jittery if they know you are sick. its none of their business. That is why I have mortgage and current accounts seperated at different banks. If one has everything with one bank they will know everything about oneself, which can backfire if they see no income coming in.h

Well I think you have a case here. I think they cannot just say no because of the arrears. Those can be added to the mortgage. How much is the mortgage and what is the property worth?

UK007BullDog

homeworkgirl wrote: »

I really badly want to hold on to the house, particularly for the sake of my daughter who has already lost her Dad and would be really upset if we had to leave the family home too.

Sometimes one has no choice. Sometimes no matter how hard it is one has to see that it just cannot be done. Could you downsize to something cheaper? Too bad that the life cover was allowed to lapse.

You dont want to be repossessed. If you sell it might take the weight of your shoulder as the mortgage would be gone and then you can concentrate on getting well again.

homeworkgirl

O/s mortgage is £60k and property worth approx £130k. Its so sickening to think of all that equity that I can't get my hands on. I can't believe that in this day and age there is not another answer apart from selling up. Is it not possible for a company to lend me the £60k and put a charge over the property?

UK007BullDog

It all depends on income, in your case you need to earn around £15,000 to £20,000 for the £60K. remember you still need to pay it back eventually. Your house could be worth millions, thats not of interest. All they want to know is that you can pay it back from your wages.

Your bank needs someone who will force them to change to I/O.

Have you got Building and contents? Does it have legal cover included?

susieh_2

Hi

Glad you moved your post here, I had a feeling you'd get help & support. Good luck.

Susieh

homeworkgirl

Hi, yes I do have B & C insurance, not sure if it has legal cover but think so, what am I looking for?

I did approach a local Financial Adviser who asked C & G to switch to I/O first of all, but they said no, since then I have been trying to persuade them myself. We have had mortgage with them for 3 years and it was never in arrears before and I think they are being a bit harsh here, its not like I am not offering anything, I am really struggling at the moment to pay them £300.