Mortgage and possible repossession

[stephen22]

Hi all

I am after some general advice. I have a client who is in arrears with her mortgage, she is coming close to £4500 arrears. She also has a secure loan of £11000 which she is arrears.
She suffers from a mental health condition and is on the ESA child benefit and gets a minimal amount of maintenance.
She has a 12 year old and 19year old and is unable to work through illness. She gets help with DWP for the mortgage
The problem is now she has buried her head in the sand and it is getting critical.
Can anyone point me in a direction I can get her some help, or how best to approach the mortgage company.
Her situation will change over the next few years, but is there anything that can help. She has £25000 equity on a property worth £175000.

[PlanB]

Re: Mortgage and possible repossession

Hi all

I am after some general advice. I have a client who is in arrears with her mortgage, she is coming close to £4500 arrears. She also has a secure loan of £11000 which she is arrears.
She suffers from a mental health condition and is on the ESA child benefit and gets a minimal amount of maintenance.
She has a 12 year old and 19year old and is unable to work through illness. She gets help with DWP for the mortgage
The problem is now she has buried her head in the sand and it is getting critical.
Can anyone point me in a direction I can get her some help, or how best to approach the mortgage company.
Her situation will change over the next few years, but is there anything that can help. She has £25000 equity on a property worth £175000.

If she's getting her mortgage paid by DWP she should be safe under Pre-Action Protocol for possession proceedings, but the standard rate paid by the DWP is often less than the monthly payment due and that's how arrears can start to add up. But a lender must only seek possession as a last resort and there are CPRs to spell it out:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pro...t_mha#IDA2F0HC

She could try several things such as change her mortgage to 'interest only' from repayment to reduce the amount due each month. She can ask the lender to capitalize the arrears i.e. add them to the original mortgage and spread it over the life of the loan so she no longer has "arrears". If the secured loan was used for home improvements (and some other cases may be relevant) she can apply to have the interest on that paid by the DWP too, see here:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_ad...age_interest#0

Who is the lender because some have been fined by the FSA for not treating customers in arrears fairly and I find that sending them a copy of the FSA Decision when you write to them helps to focus their minds :nod:

[stephen22]

Re: Mortgage and possible repossession

Hi

The lender is North Yorkshire Mortgages, the secured loan is Black Horse. She has a suspended possession order from the secured Loan. She has tried the interest only, but they refused as she could not manage the mortgage payments.....She can manage interest only.
The secured loan was for consolidation and was granted while she was on a part time wage and benefits...as was the mortgage..... Anyone could have seen the issues coming.

[IanM]

Re: Mortgage and possible repossession

Have a look at this link Stephen, see what stage your client is at according to NYM's own rules.

http://www.northyorkshiremortgageslt...ficulties.aspx

Issue a SAR to NYM and obtain all your clients paperwork to get a full picture of the case. Check that the arrears are actual arrears and not the arrears plus fees and charges combined that make the arrears look higher than what they actually are.

Before NYM can take possession on a suspended order they have to go back to court to obtain an eviction order, if they have combined the arrears and fees and charges they will be lying to the court to obtain the eviction order and will be in serious trouble if you point it out to the judge.

Hi

The lender is North Yorkshire Mortgages, the secured loan is Black Horse. She has a suspended possession order from the secured Loan. She has tried the interest only, but they refused as she could not manage the mortgage payments.....She can manage interest only.
The secured loan was for consolidation and was granted while she was on a part time wage and benefits...as was the mortgage..... Anyone could have seen the issues coming.

[stephen22]

Re: Mortgage and possible repossession

Can anyone please help where i can find the FSA decision on treating customers fairly


Who is the lender because some have been fined by the FSA for not treating customers in arrears fairly and I find that sending them a copy of the FSA Decision when you write to them helps to focus their minds :nod:[/QUOTE]

[PlanB]

Re: Mortgage and possible repossession

Hi

The lender is North Yorkshire Mortgages, the secured loan is Black Horse. She has a suspended possession order from the secured Loan. She has tried the interest only, but they refused as she could not manage the mortgage payments.....She can manage interest only.
The secured loan was for consolidation and was granted while she was on a part time wage and benefits...as was the mortgage..... Anyone could have seen the issues coming.

So everything is fine with the 1st mortgage (North Yorkshire) paid in full by the DWP, but it's the secured loan with Black Horse (Lloyds bank?) that's the problem. Have you seen the suspended possesion order and what are the terms written into it? Some say "no return to court unless x months in arrears", or "no eviction without permission from the court". There are all sorts of things that can be written into a suspended possession order to protect the defendant/borrower from eviction. If they're not there then she may be able to make an application to the court to vary the terms to her advantage or add new terms. She'll need representation for this to make it work and the CAB will often oblige. It's vital to know whether she attended the possession proceedings hearing and was able to file a defence etc. or whether a set-aside of the original order may be appropriate.

What's also most important is how the secured loan was taken out in the first place. Was it (possibly) missold by a broker if she was on benefits at the time. The term "irresponsible lending" could come into play if she clearly couldn't afford it (which is what you've implied). And since you say it was to "consolidate" other loans was one of those with Black Horse/Lloyds and could they be guilty of selling her a secured product to suit them (the bank) when she didn't need it or another more suitable product was available but the bank got commission for selling her this one. If so then the "Unfair Relationship" issue could be a goer.

Have you seen her loan agreement with Black Horse? If it is a regulated agreement under the Comsumer Credit Act 1974 she may be able to make a complaint to the FOS if there have been any excessive charges. This will in the very least stall for time as it takes an average of a year for the FOS to investigate a case.

There are so many 'ifs' and 'buts' with this case so more information will help.

[PlanB]

Re: Mortgage and possible repossession

I have a client who is in arrears with her mortgage, she is coming close to £4500 arrears. She also has a secure loan of £11000 which she is arrears.
She suffers from a mental health condition and is on the ESA child benefit and gets a minimal amount of maintenance.
She has a 12 year old and 19year old and is unable to work through illness. She gets help with DWP for the mortgage.

I've just re-read your first post and noticed that your client is in receipt of maintenance presumably from an ex-husband or partner. Is the mortgage and/or secured loan in joint names as this could make a big difference as to how to manage the repossession situation? Is the house in her sole name?

[stephen22]

Re: Mortgage and possible repossession

Hi PlanB
\It is in her sole name and she gets minimal maintenance from her ex.......he was very shrewd in the divorce proceedings as she hates confrontation and would rather hide than deal

[stephen22]

Re: Mortgage and possible repossession

Hi Plan B

Thank you for that advice, will certainly be putting an SAR together. The DWP pays a certain amount of the mortgage leaving her to pay the rest. They have refused to let her go interest only, which she can afford. Naturally because the DWP only pays some, the shortfall because she could not afford the full payments has left the arrears mounting up.
At the time of taking the loan, she was part time and had a minimal wage for a single parent with a mortgage....
What we plan to do is to put a letter requesting a SAR and go from there. The fantastic posts on here have helped.

[PlanB]

Re: Mortgage and possible repossession

Hi PlanB
\It is in her sole name and she gets minimal maintenance from her ex.......he was very shrewd in the divorce proceedings as she hates confrontation and would rather hide than deal

I hate confrontation too but I also hate seeing decent people being evicted from their homes :rant: So unless she had a 'clean break' divorce (where she took the house or a lump sum instead of ongoing maintenance) she should go back to court to get more financial support from the father of her 12 year old. The 19 year old would have to make his own claim for maintenance from his father since he's over 18 . My daughter did that when she went to uni and it really spooked her Dad but she got the money she/we needed to survive :cheer2: If there are other related legal proceedings (maintenance application) in the pipeline a court will often stay the possession proceedings (eviction) until the outcome of the associated case is known as long as it doesn't prejudice the other side. If she's able to make payments towards the secured loan in the meantime that should help her situation.

[PlanB]

Re: Mortgage and possible repossession

Hi all

I am after some general advice. I have a client who is in arrears with her mortgage, she is coming close to £4500 arrears. She also has a secure loan of £11000 which she is arrears.

Stephen,

I'm suddenly feeling a little bit nervous because I can see that I have replied to your various threads in all innocence where you say you are seeking advice for a "client". Can you clarify your approach for me because anything I post on this site is informal and based on my personal experience.

[Celestine]

Re: Mortgage and possible repossession

From memory, I think Stephen works as an advisor for a mental health charity. I think he's learning fast that MH problems and financial problems do go hand in hand.
Stephen it might help if you PM me the name of your employer so I can be reassured.

[labman]

Re: Mortgage and possible repossession

I can confirm Stephen's position from what he has told me - Cel you're nearly right!

Stephen has suffered mental health problems himself, been through many of the associated problems and has very honourably decided to set up a not for profit charity of his own, with a leaning towards clients with mental health issues, but not exclusively I believe.

He is in the process of gaining formal qualifications, but does not, as yet, have these. When he gets stuck, or begins to feel out of his depth, he comes here to seek advice as he has found it useful to do so for a little while now (just before Christmas I think). He has his own CCL, I'm not sure which category it falls under, but I was given the name of his charity and checked it was above board as I had similar concerns when he first joined the site.

He is not employed in this role, it is done from the goodness of his heart. I assume he has public liability insurance in place, and any advice he gives will be from his charity, so there should be no repercussions elsewhere.

All 'advice' on this site is given on an informal basis, and should never be mistaken with professional advice. If I had known enough about this area, I would have posted very happily to help Stephen.

Below is a copy of a reply to a message I sent to Stephen before Christmas when I had concerns:

Hi

We are based in NW Kent, the name is The Silent Cry, we are registered and our charity number is 1132986...
We are local because we are only small, and facing all the beurocracy involved with trying to help people.
I decided to set it up after my experiences, but the debt side of it has become more prominent.
It is dreadful, cost me a career, and to be honest it is very rewarding.
I would love any help. We are small but getting more people on board.

We are hoping to grow and become better known, but time and money are always against.

We deal with things like PTSD, Personality Disorders and self harm, those areas often shunned.

Thank you in advance for any help

Steve

[Celestine]

Re: Mortgage and possible repossession

Good Luck Stephen x Good On You