order for possession help

[aisla]

Hi im new to the forum this is how it goes:

Friday (2days ago) I opened a letter entitled 'to the occupier' thinking it was junk mail. It was a letter from Bristol and West stating that due to a breach in mortgage terms they were applying for possession of the property. I promptly called the number and spoke to someone in litigations who put it to me that we had been paying monthly payments up to 3 weeks late, over numerous occasions for nearly 18 months. And that they had contact my partner of whom its a joint mortgage but he pays it (i pay the bills) in February to tell him they needed payment for the arrears at that time. He apparently agreed over the phone and put in writing that he could pay the normal mortgage fee plus £250 per month towards arrears. They claimed he had failed to keep to this agreement and thats why they were going for posession. I confronted him when he got home from work. He did face redundency nearly 2 years ago and took a job offer which reduced his salary, and then our fixed rate went to variable, adding 200 per month He was late paying as payments were due before his pay day, but they accrued many late payment fees. He admitted he had made the agreement in February but argued that he had stuck to the plan.
After studying statements, it turns ot they didnt not set up the direct debit as agreed and so he had to pay by card, acruing fees again.
It has been less than 6 months since the agreement was put into place without my knowledge. In those 5 months he has made 5 payments, 3 of which were all on time and had the full £250 if not more with it, and 2 payments were late, but paid within the month, but he couldnt meet the full 250, but always paid more than the basic mortgage payment.
When I contacted them they want payment in full of £4008 arrears by Monday after noon to cancel the court hearing.
Been to the local CABureau who say its just a scaremongering that they do to get you to pay. They also said that the mortage company have to explore all possible means of paying it back before applying for order of possession, does this mean I AM ENTITLED TO THE SAME OPPRTUNITY TO ARRANGE A PAYMENT PLAN that my partner was offered, seeing as I was never involved? Can I place an offer of replayment and stop the court?
We are able to stump up at least the minimum payments, plus £300 per month to pay it off. However the CAB advised im better off CAPITALISING as they said it adds the arrears to the mortgage amount (albeit with interest) and clears the 'debt' now meaning I can have my credit rating cleaned sooner, than if i spent 2 years paying it off monthly?
SO sorry for the long post, but I need advice before I ring the lender tomorrow with a propsal, in the hope of canceling the court proceedings.
I feel such an ididot for not knowing what had happened
many thanks in advance

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, I take it you haven't been served court papers yet? If that is the case you need to write to the lender making your offer of payment and asking that they amend the direct debit to take the increased payment. You can ring them first and tell them that you are putting the offer in writing. You also need to send an income and expenditure sheet with the letter showing what you can afford to pay - you can download one here: National Debtline England & Wales | Personal Budget Sheet
Do not offer more than you can comfortably afford towards the arrears, if you think you will struggle with £300 extra then offer less.

Send the letter by recorded delivery and keep the receipt with a copy of the letter you send. Hopefully they will see that you are serious about clearing the arrears and this will avoid court proceedings.

Who is your lender?

Kind Regards

Ell-enn

[aisla]

Bristol and West are the lenders, had I knwn earlier I could have easily paid the extra if id known he was struggling. But now im taking full control over payments as I have no loans, cards etc and a good credit rating before this. So your advise is to go straight for a re scheduled payment plan rather than capitalise as CAB advised? I think they advised this as Iv never had any problems with credit rating before and they saw this as a way of clearing 'debt' and allowing easier monthly payments, but thats why im here asking advice xxx
We have had no court papers she jsut said over the phone unless we pay full amount monday they will continue with issuing of court dates

[Ell-enn]

It's worth asking if they will capitalise if they won't agree to that then you will have to offer a payment plan.

Ell-enn

[Bona]

Please dont worry if they issue possession proceedings there will be a hearing and only then can they get possession as ell-en says contact them but keep a copy everything that you send if there is a hearing you will have a chance to put your case and get any order suspended so you can make payments , what the mortgage company wants is for you to borrow or agree to a high repayment plan you mustnt you kneed to work it out so you dont leave yourself to tight also get a statement from them some of these charges may be penalties and illegal This site can help you so you can keep your property pay back any arreas and not leave yourself in a worse potition . you are in a good position as you have found out know and can work things out you only have to read some threads where people have been in a worse situation but still come through
Good luck and keep posting

Best wishes

Bona

[aisla]

rang them today. they said they are prepared to accept the offer we can make per month(this is comfortably) of £300 extra however capitalising was not an option. Just a quick questions, how long before my credit rating will be cleaned?

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

Hi there,
I believe your credit rating will be cleared when the debt is or at least it will show as satisfied. I know mty mortgage comapny wont capitalise until 6 consecutive payments have been made on time.

Olivesxx

[aisla]

they said they couldnt offer it anyway as it would not be adviseable as you can only capitalise any amount once during the duration of the mortgage and said that if i capitalise my arrears now, then i can never capitalise ever again. not sure if its true or not so decided to go with the repayments, i have sent the letter recorded delivery stating that i personally was unawar we were even in arrears until 3 days ago, but now that i am aware, i am taking control of the payments, and i can contribute also.
Just want my clean rating back....oh and he is still in the dog house!!!

[Bona]

Dontleave him there two long

[aisla]

he is lucky if he ever comes out, something we will talk about when its over, i found out this week we had the defence papers last week and the hearing is a week tomorrow is it too late, to do them now?

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, I can help you with the defence papers - you would need to hand them into court in person though as it's a bit near the hearing. What date is on the court papers - usually you have 4 - 6 weeks notice - if you only got them last week it's fairly short notice.

I will be on line this evening if you want to make a start on completing the forms. Q.27 is the important part and we need to make sure that you put forward a good statement there.

Kind Regards

Ell-enn

[aisla]

they have sent court papers to each of us so should we fill both in individually or should we just do the one between us?

[Ell-enn]

Just do one between you - write the 2nd name under one in the box (defendant) on one of the forms and then combine income and expenditure on that part of the form.

I will help you with the statement for Q 27. that is the most important part of the form.

Will be online tomorrow to help.

Kind Regards

Ell-enn

[aisla]

filled out all of the forms except Q27,
Should we be honest and say that i was never aware of the arrears as he never told me? and both of us have taken a pay drop since taking out the mortgage? im not really sure how to word it.
but basically, he fel behind with arrears after taking a lower paid job and me losing pay due to a car crash. he made an agreemnt to repay, and although paid more than basic mortgage amounts each month, some were a week or so late. and so they say that he failed to meet the agreement, but the statements we have prove a payment was made every month and always more than basic amount, just a few days late.
How should i word it that now im involved it will be sorted as i can contribute towards payments etc?

[aisla]

all forms filled out and hand delivered yestrday.
THIS MORNING IN THE POST we recieved a letter from Halifax (OH's account) regarding our claim for fees, we were hoping to pay off motgage arrears with it so we sent out a financial difficulties form etc, had a letter today saying they are happy to refund £6893 (which would cover the arrears and some..) however its under the condition the money be used to pay off hid overdraft and credit card...this is exacly the amount.
He has been paying thse off regualrly and on time, never building up arrers or missing any payments. so is there a way we can ge the money without this ocndition applied to it???

[aisla]

forms filled and hand delivered yesterday.
recieved a letter from halifax this morning willing to refund bank charges of £6893, excellent, only they have applied conditions to us accepting it, the the money be firstly used to pay off overdraft and credit card, that leaves no money at all, and we have never failed to male a payment for these and have no arrers with them, so how can we get the refund of charges without the conditions so that we can pay off the mortgage arrears? i have posted in the halifax section of the forums

[sillygirl1]

Tell Halifax they can't pay themselves like this, they charged you unlawful fees which have to be refunded to you - otherwise a 7 day notice of legal action will follow. The overdraft which was made up of these unlawful fees should be written off by them as by refunding YOU the fees have never existed. Tell them you want the cheque PRONTO and if not received by end of next week 7 days notice will follow.