Repossession?

homeworkgirl

susieh wrote: »

Hi

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

Susieh

Thank you Susie.

Trollfever

I am off sick and about to lose my job.

I suggest that you go and speak to your local CAB.

UK007BullDog

Look at the contents of your cover or call them up and ask them.

I think they are being harsh too. Also check with your local CAB they have letters available you could write or will be able to direct you to a person who might do it for free.

You just have to make sure you keep your job. Because once you lose your job you will not be able to get enough support to pay the mortgage and then the same thing will happen again. And then they will take the house.

So you also need to sit down and look the reality in the eye. Not knowing your medical condition you might not be able to work for a while. Selling the property and renting and living off the equity could give you the breather you need, as long as you live frugal you could survive for 5 years without working or you could then go part time.

The long term risk is that if you are on interest only for a very long time you might not be able to pay the mortgage off before retirement, so again you might have to sell or work past retirement.

How old are you and your daughter?

homeworkgirl

I did speak to CAB on the phone Troll, they said my employer has the right to dismiss me on medical grounds.

homeworkgirl

You just have to make sure you keep your job. Becuase once you lose your job you will not be able to get enough support to pay the mortgage and then the same thing will happen again. And then they will take the house.

Unfortunately this is something I cannot stop Bulldog. However, if I have been advised correctly, i should still be able to afford the interest only payment on the mortgage if I go on to benefits for a short period.

UK007BullDog

OK, so we really need you to be able to get onto interest only. So for this you need someone who can be quite agressive with the BS.

Check your homecover to see if you have free legals and if not go back to CAB and pester them. Also write to FOS and FSA for help. The bank are not treating you fairly at all.

homeworkgirl

UK007BullDog wrote: »

OK, so we really need you to be able to get onto interest only. So for this you need someone who can be quite agressive with the BS.

Check your homecover to see if you have free legals and if not go back to CAB and pester them. Also write to FOS and FSA for help. The bank are not treating you fairly at all.

Who are FOS and FSA please?

The BS said if I pay off the current arrears (approx £1200) they just MIGHT consider I/O but I am just not in a position to be able to do that. The FA suggested that they capitalised the arrears but they would not do that either!

silvercar

Financial Ombudsman Service and Financial Services Adminstrator.

I would write and put in a complaint to your lender. Tell them that you need to go I/O due to your circumstances and they are not treating you fairly. Ask that they allow this or write you a letter of deadlock which you will use to pursue the matter with the FOS.

HelpWhereIcan

Time for a reality check.

No lender is obliged to accept an interest only payment and Treating Customers Fairly only goes so far when C&G could argue that the mortgage is no longer affordable.

C&G have to protect their interests and, as you rightly point out, it may be only a matter of time until they start possession proceedings. Lenders are likely to start enforcing their right to repossess earlier and earlier following a ruling against Nat West http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1036333_15year_debt_written_off

In many respects, the courts are your best friends at the moment. CAB etc can do nothing to force your lender to behave 'more reasonably.' The FOS Ombudsman process will take so long that you will probably be looking at a court date before they come to a decision. One which may be no different to the one a court would give and which would provide you with less protection.

If you have dependant children, ill health and/or may face difficulty in finding an alternative accomodation (e.g. due to a lack of income), a court will be loath to grant immediate possession unless they have no choice.

Providing that you have evidence of your attempts to make an arrangement with C&G and have maintained a level of payments, the courts will - more than likely - grant a possession order, but suspend it... if they can.

A suspended order will force the C&G to accept a certain level of payment with no recourse to possesion unless you break the agreement. At which point they have to go back to court to have the order enforced and you will have another chance to "put your case".

A condition of that suspended order will possibly be that you repay the arrears. Is there no-one that you could borrow the £1200 to clear the arrears from? At all? Sometimes family or friends are more likely to be able/willing to help than people give them credit for.. especially in a case like yours.

It is possible that the court would order an interest only payment plus a certain amount towards the arrears, but it is easier for them if the arrears are repaid.

If they grant a repayment towards arrears they would normally expect the arrears to be repaid within 6 - 12 months. In your case this would mean a payment towards the arrears of between £100 and £200 per month on top of the interest only payment. It may be different due to your ill health. This is the sort of thing to discuss with CAB and any free legal advice you may have through your home or motor insurance.

Based on a statement of income & expenditure, the court is likely to order an affordable payment as part of your suspended order. But this will not be less than the interest only payment.

What interest rate are you paying now? £300 pm is interest only at approx 6% - make sure yu have your sums correct.

Based on C&G's standard variable rate, an interest only payment is likely to be in the order of £375 per month. Will you be able to maintain that in the future? If not, you have to consider selling the house before it is sold from under you. Whether that is now or in x years time when your current deal finishes.

On the positive side, if a suspended possession order is ganted, you may have time to re-establish yourself financially knowing that the house is safe as long as you keep to the agreement.

Check to make sure that you claim everything you are entitled to eg http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/Partners/Allowancesandbenefits/Dev_010056.xml.html - these can all help long term affordability to be re-established.

UK007BullDog wrote: »

You dont want them to get jittery if they know you are sick. its none of their business.

I would tend to disagree with this. Keeping a lender fully informed is important and can help to establish your integrity. It may help their decision to capitalise the arrears if they know that you genuinely do not have the income to make the arrears up within a year.

Lenders and the courts try to diffrentiate between those who can't pay and those who won't. Give the evidence they need to show you are one of those who can't.

You seem to have done things 'correctly' so far. This means you should not fear the court process... as long as the mortgage will be affordable on an ongoing basis in whatever form the court orders.

Get yourself informed
http://www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk/pdfs/mortgage_cantpay.pdf

keep working on the lender (hard as I know that is). Deal with them only in writing an keep copies of everything - letters, payments etc as you have been.

You and your daughter have been through enough already. Make the right decision about the house for the right reason.

You may be happier elsewhere. I don't presume to know your partner. But as a husband and father; I know that I would prefer my wife & kids to live elsewhere, be happy and have happy memories of this house rather than fight to keep it, building up sad memories along the way.

Sorry if some of this sounds harsh and is not want you want to hear, but you need options not false hopes.

You know yourself and your daughter better than anyone. Best of luck and my thoughts are with you.

silvercar

Excellent post by HelpWhereIcan, the only thing I would add is that there is a court precedence for arrears payments.

Noridge vs. C&G (hope I've spelt that right) allowed for the arrears to be paid back over the whole term of the mortgage.

Of course, agreeing a repayment plan with the court only works if you can afford the repayments. If you can't you are just delaying the inevitable.