Mortgages 2 Has Started Court Proceedings to Repossess My Home

[entseo]

I was unable to pay the mortgage for about 10 months, but then I got a new contract and was able to set up a standing order which was larger than the staturory amount. I decided to pay this larger amount in order to gradually reduce the size of the shortfall in a way that I could sensibly afford.

Prior to my first default I was actually overpaying over a number of years, so that my 10 months gap was actually only 4.6 months on the balance sheet (this is acknowledged by the lender).

I have already given Mortgages 2 my assurance, several times, that I will be able to overpay them every month over the full term of the mortgage. Despite this they have started legal proceedings to repossess my home.

The really odd thing is that they started their proceedings against me after I had set up my standing order to pay them more than I needed to!

They have now had 3 uninterrupted monthly payments and still have not stopped proceedings. They are using Moore Blatch and the court case is in early July.

Mortgages 2 are no longer in the mortgage lending business, and are obviously keen to recover all of those pesky mortgages and get their hands on the money for whatever new venture they have up their corporate sleeves.

My defence is based on exactly what I have told you here. But what can happen? Will a judge really allow me to be made homeless when I'm regularly paying a larger sum than I need to? This is crazy!

Please advise.

[entseo]

Can anyone advise me on this?

[Captain Haddock]

Sounds like they're using the old bank trick of foreclosing the mortgage so that they can get their hands on the resale cash.

During the 10-month payment hiatus, did they serve default on you in any form?

I don't think you're going to lose your home but hang on for someone knowledgeable on here popping up. Hang in there....

[entseo]

No, during the 10 month hiatus they didn't serve any kind of default notice, nor threaten to.

The reason was this was because they couldn't - because prior to that I was overpaying them extra every month (when the BofE base rates went down to 0.25% I just continued paying the old, higher repayment sum), so by the start of the 10 month default I was actually 6 months ahead of my statutory payments!

And now they do this to me! So much for me trying to do the right thing.

[Captain Haddock]

'..because prior to that I was overpaying them extra every month (when the BofE base rates went down to 0.25% I just continued paying the old, higher repayment sum)'

I don't think it works like that. A long time ago I made two separate payments on a Hire Purchase agreement then skipped one month, thinking I'd still be up to date on payments and not in arrears. Wrong! I soon got hit with a late payment charge.

It is that fact that you have to make the minimum payment on a given day each month that counts. But your case seems a bit odd if it went to ten months and no default notice. That might go in your favour in front of a court.

Anyone else chime in?

[aaronboii99]

When was the claim issued? What are their Particulars? Have you submitted your defence? Do you have a copy of the agreement to hand that we could have a look at?

Have a look at MCOB 13 - https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/hand.../?view=chapter - specifically 13.3.2A (6).