I have a 10 year old mortgage that was sold by Compas Finance Broker (which I paid extortionate fees added to the mortgage) that was with GE money and has now been sold to Kensington. I went through a divorce just over 5 years ago and the mortgage was in joint names, in March last year I rang GE and asked for a transfer of equity as I now have my fiance living with me and things move on, during the phone call I went through the income and expenditure and GE cleared me for the T.O.E and sent out the forms. Due to delay of completing the forms due to family health problems the mortgage has been sold on to Kensington, to persue this again I rang Kensington but was told that they didnt do T.O.E's, I had a little rant and dug out the introduction pack id received from them. In the pack it states under terms and conditions that 'there are no changes to your mortgage conditions arising from the transfer' and they also included a Tariff of Fees on kensington headed paper which clearly state 'Change in Circumstances - Transfer of equity £100.00 charge' I put in writting my request for a T.O.E and sent it to kensington to get their official stance. A week later I received a letter acknowledging my complaint ???? they sent out a leaflet that outlined their Complaints procedure that clearly stated that they only accept complaints in writing ???? no complaint had been sent, only a request for the T.O.E I sent back a letter pointing out that I hadnt sent a letter of complaint only a request for the |T.O.E, I received a response 'that they can confirm that the option to remove a borrower from the mortgage account is not available'. Now the problem is that GE went through the Income and expenditure and sent me the forms for the transfer but yet kensington state there there is no option on the mortgage to transfer.. Despite them sending me the list of fees that include transfer and no changes to the origional contract with GE. I have SAR'd GE and have proof that they went through the I&E and sent me the forms and the terms and conditions of the mortgage are very vague and brief. can this be considered a breach of contract?? Also I state that it was 10 years since the sale of the mortgage but can the broker fees been reclaimed so far back that Compas finance broker recommended we take out this mortgage and not recommending a particular mortgage for your consideration (long shot I know regarding the limitation act) Hadituptohere

Could someone give me some advice my mortgage is outstanding around 30k and I have positive equity in my home. I am reaching near pension age and currently claiming ESA. If I decide to take out equity release to soley pay off my mortgage would my benefits be stopped. I am in a catch 22 situation what to do and am worried sick. I am under going cancer treatment and dont need this on top. As I would get one payout of say 30k from the scheme to solely pay to keep my house over my head would they stop my benefits. Or is it if they spread the 30K in instalments and treated as income if I was gong to spend it on OTHER things would they only stopped it because of this. REALLY NEED GOOD SOUND ADVICE PLEASE! I AM WORRIED SICK

Please help! In May 2004, I took out a single mortgage with Northern Rock a 'Together Mortgage', totaling £112K. Northern Rock incentivised the ‘Together Mortgage’ with the availability to take out secured loans against your property, for buying household items etc. Northern Rock advanced me four secured loans on the property, totaling £21K, which increased the mortgage to £133K in 2006. Due to the collapse and reckless lending of Northern Rock, the property is now in negative equity, with the property being valued at £120K. With this the mortgage/loans were transferred to an organisation called NRAM, then Whistletree. These are the issues I have with NRAM and Whistletree: In 2005, due to moving in with my fiancé we decided to put the property up as a ‘buy to let’, Northern Rock charged an administration fee of £100, for consent to let. When NRAM, then Whistletree took over the mortgage I received letters informing me I had to pay a £750 fee (Annually) for consent to let. This fee is calculated by the balance of the mortgage. NRAM and Whistletree add the £750 fee to the mortgage, consequently increasing the debt. I have asked Whistletree for a breakdown on how they calculate this consent to let fee. They are unable to send any documentation explaining this. My mortgage term is currently 13 years with Whistletree, interest only £506 per month. A repayment plan would be £1,600 per month. With this, I have asked Whistletree if I can extend my mortgage years, so I can start a repayment mortgage instead of being interest only. I was informed that due to the property not being a residential property, this was not an option. The secured loans on the property have a high % rate and two are interest only. With this, I could take out a loan with a better interest rate and start reducing the debt. I asked Whistletree if I could pay all the loans off. I was informed there would be a penalty for doing this, and overpaying the loans would be an option. But overpayments would just cover the costs of the consent to let, so the debt would not be reduced. The property has been on for sale for over 10 years, with cash buyers offering £120K. This would leave me with a shortfall of £15K with fees, but the property is costing over £4K per year to keep, with maintenance, agency fees, insurance, and upkeep. This seems to be the only option I have, due to having no support or guidance from NRAM and Whistletree. I received an offer from a cash buyer who wanted to purchase the property. Whistletree informed me that this sale would take at least 12 weeks to process. The cash buyer wanted a quicker sale. Whistletree were unable to accommodate this and the sale fell through. With Northern Rock collapsing and the mortgage being bought by NRAM and Whistletree. I have had no help or guidance from either company. Because of the high consent to let fee my debt is increasing and I cannot see any way out of this situation. My question is: Can Whistletree legally refuse to extend my mortgage period? Currently employed full time and age 46. Can NRAM and Whistletree charge such a high consent to let fee without any explanation?

I hope someone, anyone can help me Background motorcyclist in front of me losses control, drops bike in middle off the road, im behind him and go straight over the top of him, result, both bikes totalled, he had busted back, I had minor injuries. He admits total liability to Aviva (his insurers), my bike is 7 weeks old and cost 10k new, insurers offer me 7.5k.. in the meantime my loan bike from my insurance company goes bust, I get pulled by ANPR for no insurance, luckily because BLD have stickers all over the bike I get off with it, that is first issue against insurers...... Next, I believe as the first registered keeper pf a less than 12 month old bike I should have a new bike because of this non fault accident, I have claimed against my own company with a view that they will then claim on the third party, I am been told this is not how it works(by my insurance) at present the other rider who caused the crash has been paid out for his bike, but because mine is a new bike and I only got offered 7.5l and have refused the whole claim is in deadlock. The point I am making with my insurers is that they were quick enough to tell me when I took out the insurance that my bike was not covered while on my driveway ( I stated it would be in a garage) but they failed to inform me that my bike was not covered by a "new for old" policy... any help/advice on this would be real helpful, any questions please ask Thanks Steve

Hi All, I had a business back in 2007 and when it went pear shaped a lot of people helped me out on the basis that I would pay them back when I could. Sadly things have not gone well. Bad to worse really. I have been unable to repay significantly anyone that helped me. That apart, no one except one creditor seems to be worried about it. This guy wants a charging order on my house. I cannot at the moment make any sensible offer of payment and I am concerned that the charging order is the first step to an order for sale. Now there's not that much equity in my home. I could voluntarily grant my eh.. non-combative creditors a second charge collectively in the amount of the equity in the house. My question really is... can this guy get a charging order once there's no equity or can he make other trouble for me if he can't get the charge? Thanks, Bob.

Hi Guys. I'd be grateful for some advise please. I split with my ex partner and the house was sold. Prior to completion I was advised by my solicitor that there was a Charging Order on the house for my ex-partners HFC credit card bill for £1330, and that this money must be deducted from the equity. I didn'teven know that my 'x' had the credit card and suspect that it dates back prior to our relationship or almost definitely prior to us buying the house seven years ago. I also suspect that he never bothered even going to court to try and sort out the problem (whenever the court case was?) - and I certainly couldn't fight for my own rights as I didn't know anything at all about it. Unfortunately, we still have some large outstanding utility bills on the house and now that the money for the charging order has been deducted, without my consent, involvement or even knowledge of the outstanding credit card bill, there will be insufficient funds to clear all of our debts. My 'x' is knowingly playing a very selfish game as he is quite aware that the electricity bill is solely in my name. Furthermore, I am at a greater loss as my 'x' is refusing to pay his half of the expenses that I incurred, which had previously been agreed, like Council Tax payments, plus decorating and doing up the house, which achieved a considerably higher selling price (which he has benefited from). As if this isn't enough, in the early stages of our break up, he stole my dog, and has since said that the only way he will give the dog back is if I pay for 'everything'. If I had the money - I would! - I love my dog and miss him so much that it has made me ill! - But, unfortunately, I haven't go the money and even if I did, he still wouldn't play straight. Somehow now, I have got to find a way of paying for the utility bills, which due to his Charging Order for his credit card bill, we will not have sufficient funds to pay. If he paid back to me half of the money taken for the Charging Order and also his half of the bills that I have paid out as mentioned above, it wouldn't be such a problem. But he is ignoring my solicitor letters and we are getting nowhere, and now the utility companies are chasing me. Lets face it, he's had it easy. He's had his house done up and sold for him, had his credit card bill paid and also has my dog. The legal system doesn't seem to have any substance for people who are just trying to do the right thing and it seems that people who don't care about others, the law, or anything for that matter seem to get away with it! So, sorry to ramble on! I'm wondering now if any one knows if there is any way that I can get my half of the money back from 'his' Charging Order - as it wasn't my debt - and there are other bills (which are in my name) that still must be paid. I will then be able to pay off the remaining bills. I know that he just wont bother, and I don't want them hanging over me for the rest of my life. I'd also be grateful for any advice any one has about getting my dog back - Officially. ( I've had enough offers off friends to go and get him back for me - but I want to have him back officially). Thank you to any one who takes the trouble to read this and has the knowledge and wisdom to offer me any advice. It will be greatly appreciated.

Hi there I will try and keep a complicated story simple! I saw a car I was interested in the price was 21k. The car was 9 months old and had done less than 3,000 miles I took a reduced part exchange price for my car under pressure from the pushy salesman to get the deal done - (I would never have taken this price normally)this entailed rolling over 5k of negative equity into the new hire purchase agreement 3 months later a warning light comes on Take it to the garage and there is unrecorded accident damage - after much time and stress and reports my claim to have the car rejected is upheld by the finance company The independent report confirmed the car was not fit for purpose not safe to drive and a fire risk - you can imagine how scary it is that I have been driving around in this car with my family including two young children In any event I come to my question - the finance company has asked me to repay the negative equity I have argued that the agreement between them and I does not make reference to any negative equity - it defines the goods as the car and the cash price for the goods is the total amount including the negative equity - given the circumstances I think they should write it off - I would be grateful for any input - thanks in advance

I am not quite sure which section to post this in so admin can move it if it should belong somewhere else. I own a residential property with a small mortgage on it of around 18k. Myself and my partner wish to buy a new home for us to live in and let out the existing property. I have one default on my credit file which I am currently fighting to have removed (legal proceedings issued). After receiving a rejection from an online mortgage provider due to "adverse credit" I went to my local bank who I have banked with for over 20 years to explain the situation, I need two mortgage products, a buy-to-let for my existing property of around 25k to release 7k to go towards a deposit on the new home, a joint residential mortgage for my partner and I. The bank phoned me today and said that it was not possible for me to release equity from an existing property to be used as a deposit on a new home. I queried this saying that I never heard anything like this and asked if I could release equity for a deposit on another buy-to-let and they said YES. I really do not understand their stance and I would welcome advise from CAG members - is this standard practise or is someone at my bank clueless? I really do not see why they would allow equity release to go towards a BTL but not a new home. Also, because my mortgage on the existing home is so low at 18k, I NEED to take some equity out for a re-mortgage as most providers will not provide a mortgage for under 25k. I feel stuck at present - any advice most welcome.

Hi, In September 2014, I filed for Bankruptcy. Recently the Insolvency Practitioner arranged a House Valuation and has now sent me a letter requesting that I pay £26 k as this is the equty in the property. The house is in my sole name. I am working full time and have just enough money to keep my head above water although may be able ot find £50 or £100 per month by cutting down more if I have to although it is so tight My plan eventually was to try and sell the property a few years down the line for a smaller more affordable one. I am only paying interest only on the house and so will never own it as it stands. I have two teenage kids.My questions are as follows and I will try to keep this short: 1) Can I request a re-valuation? With all the issues worng with this property and comparing to others in my area, I fail to see how they have vauled it so high. 2) Can I make an offer below the £26k? And if so, what are they likley to take? For example, if I offered £1,000 would this be laughed at or will they take £5k or £10k, or any other amount? Like 50% for example? Anyone any thoughts on this at all? 3) What will happen if I can't offer anything? Will the house just then be re-possessed or will they just ask me to sell it? 4) If I do nothing how long is it before anything happens? They have given me 14 days to respond to their request. Thanks for your anticipated help JJ

Hi Guys, Been reading about the Power of Attorney and bankruptcy. I have read that bankruptcy removes the POA on mortgage, can anyone tell me if the POA goes back after bankruptcy if house is kept. If this is correct then no lender can repossess my property when the house is discharged. Power of Attorney https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/powers-of-attorney-and-registered-land/practice-guide-9-powers-of-attorney-and-registered-land 2.1 General powers under section 10 of the Powers of Attorney Act 1971 2. Types of power of attorney 2.1 General powers under section 10 of the Powers of Attorney Act 1971 The Powers of Attorney Act 1971 provides a short form of general power of attorney that can be used by a sole beneficial owner of land. It operates to give the attorney authority to do anything that the donor can lawfully do by an attorney. However, powers in that form dated before 1 March 2000 are never suitable for dealing with land of which the donor is a joint proprietor. And those dated after 29 February 2000 may only be used by a joint proprietor if the donor has a beneficial interest in the land. The death, bankruptcy or mental incapacity of the donor will automatically revoke the power. The donor may also revoke it at any time. Terms & Conditions on my mortgage company Section 17. Attorney 17.1.4to enforce any right or claim which you have over the property. The Power of Attorney granted by the execution of the deed is therefore now “revoked”.

I have a mortgage shortfall on my credit file..... this has been on my file for approx. 3.5 years and I haven't had the chance to dispute this amount as yet. (I had a buyer that the mortgage company refused to sell to as I would not sign an "acknowledgement" of the "£64k" alleged debt). If they had accepted the buyer, then this debt would have been approx. £18k, but they decided to proceed with the repossession (negative equity/shortfall) and this resulted in this amount of outstanding balance of £64,000 They have written to me a handful of times over the last 3.5 years but no action via the court as yet. As I want to deal with my credit file, would it be wise to instigate communications with them so this amount can be defended & settled via the court?

My mother took out an equity release scheme with Aviva 13 years for 81k.... with an interest rate of 8.5% compound, and an early repayment clause linked to gilts. She has realised that if she maintains this, in another 10 years, she will effectively be destitute as the interest will take ALL of the equity in her home, her only asset. She therefore wishes to repay it early and Aviva are now seeking, in addition to the exorbitant interest accrued over the years a 62k early repayment/payment clause... therefore to settle this debt, she must now repay 294k or thereabouts. She did not have any IFA advice at the time, and we have approached/complained to Aviva already but to no joy. Can anyone now assist us as to how we should proceed.. ... this penalty clause is exorbitant... it is said to compensate Aviva for what they stand to lose, as they look at the scheme lasting 28 years. This however is not true because even after 28 years they seek a repayment fee of 50% of the original loan (if the gilts maintain the same degree of fall as they have today), in my mother's case 40k... . after charging interest that will have accrued to over 700k! Any help/advice will be gratefully received. thanks

I have recently given the keys back to the bank for my house as I couldn't pay the mortgage and the house hadn't sold after being on the market for a while. The house was a 50/50 shared ownership with a housing association. The house was valued at 90k prior to the v.repossession. I only owed 17k on the mortgage so if it had sold it would have given me 28k (50%) after paying the bank. The house is now being marketed for sale for 70k. if it sells for 70k,will I get half of the remaining cash or will the housing association be eligible for half of the the original valuation of the house (90k) ? Hope you can advise,shared equity mortgages are so confusing. Thankyou.

Hi all, Firstly, thanks for taking the time to read this thread. I'm not sure if I'm posting this in a sensible place, but googling the problem I'm posting about lead me to another similar post in this forum. If there's a more appropriate place to ask this question, then I request that a mod moves the thread. Thanks! I'm writing this on behalf of a friend of mine, in relation to a dispute over the sale of a property jointly owned and the division of any equity such a sale releases. The person in question purchased a property with her partner. They were NOT married. No legal documents were drawn up at the time to determine a specific ownership position for either party, but both their names are on both the mortgage and the deed. He provided the initial deposit for the mortgage, after which time they split all mortgage payments and associated sundry costs (service charges which include ground rent, buildings insurance and maintenance charges for the development) 50/50. After a few years of joint residence, due to irreconcilable differences, they went their separate ways. At that time, he simply moved out and cancelled his mortgage repayments. My friend had to increase her payments to cover the full cost of the mortgage. In the following months they attempted to reach an agreement for how to proceed, discussing both my friend buying her ex partner out, and sale of the house. However, no agreement could be reached on how to divide the equity, which they were advised by solicitors should also form the basis of any buy-out agreement. In other words, that to buy him out she should offer him the amount of equity he would get, as per their agreement, in the event of sale. Those negotiations ultimately broke down and communication ceased. Since that time, my friend has covered the full cost of the mortgage as well as any sundry costs, and her ex partner has presumably paid rent in order to live somewhere else. Several years have passed in the intervening time. This brings us to the present moment in time. My friend has approached her ex partner again with the objective of resolving the dispute once and for all. She has proposed that they sell the house, and they are currently engaged in discussion on how to divide the equity between them. However, I fear negotiations are destined to follow a similar trajectory as last time.... The crux of their disagreement centres around her ex partners desire to treat the deposit as a fixed cash sum which he should be repaid, as if it were a loan, before any discussion on how to divide equity, irrespective of the sale price of the property. In other words, if the equity released from sale only adds up to the equivalent cash value of the deposit (the value of the property has decreased since purchase) then he effectively believes he should get all that equity and she should effectively be left with nothing. If the property were in her name only, and he had provided her with the money to purchase the property, then I could understand this point of view. However, in reality, they have jointly invested in the property and must jointly bear the brunt of any reduction in value. Similarly, my view is that he must recognise that a deposit contribution is essentially equivalent to capital repayments made against the mortgage, and does not constitute a debt which would be repaid first (i.e. like the mortgage itself). My friend has sought legal advice which clarified the official legal position as being that both her and her ex are joint stakeholders in the property, irrespective of how much either has paid, and are consequently both legally entitled to 50% of any equity released on sale of the property. Similarly, she has been told that if they go to court, that will be the ruling, and that costs will likely exceed the equity in the property anyway. So, my friend feels in a difficult position. She has been strongly advised by solicitors not to accept less than 50% of the equity since that is her legal entitlement, but that leaves her and her ex partner at opposite ends of the negotiating table with seemingly no common ground. My friend has proposed ways of calculating an equity split, based on total contribution to the mortgage and property by each of them, but her ex partner is only prepared to talk about dividing equity AFTER he has received his deposit back first. My friend feels as though her ex partner just moved out and stopped paying when he decided he didn't want to live there any more, and now, as a consequence of her trying to do the responsible thing and take over mortgage repayments rather than allow them to default, she is stuck in a position where she can't sell without his consent, and he is unlikely to give it because - as she sees it - his demands regarding equity division are so unreasonable as to be unacceptable to her. Is there any legal remedy she can pursue to compel a sale? Is this likely to be any more or less expensive than going to court to split the equity? Is there any way they can agree to sell the house on the grounds that the equity will be held in trust by a third party until such time as they can agree a fair split? That latter option seems like the best idea to me. It has the disadvantage of fixing the equity in cash terms at the point of sale, but equally, it allows her to move on with her life and doesn't require her partner to accept an equity split he feels he can't, just to get the sale under way. Thanks very much for your time, if you've got this far! I appreciate it's a long and torturous tale Any help you can offer would be much appreciated! EDIT: Anyone know whether I can edit the title of the thread to fix that typo?

Hi, I am going through a divorce. My ex and I have a flat with a buy-to-let mortgage in joint names. There is some negative equity, about £15k. Mortgage payments are up to date, but a few have been a few days late over the last year or so. There are credit card debts - defaulted and now with debt collectors. We have decided that the flat should become wholly mine and want to apply to NRAM for an equity transfer. How likely are NRAM to agree to this? What are the criteria thay are likely to use when making the decision? Thank you, Sue

Hi, everyone, my case started in 2006 when i remortgaged with gmac. I had a well paid job and all was fine. Shortly after this i was made redundant and had to take a much lesser paid job. I also had a secured loan with gmac. I admit i buried my head in the sand trying to keep the family together but i knew that the inevitable would come one day. In nov 2010 i decided to hand back the keys to the property as all my children were up and gone and i knew the time had arrived. While all this was going on,gmac had handed over to paratus. In dec 2011 the house was sold well under the value of the mortgage. At this moment in time i am living between my sisters,daughters and parents houses as i can not afford to rent anywhere. I came to an arrangement with black horse and i am paying £50 per month to clear the secured loan but this is going to take years to clear (i probably wont be here). I sent a letter to capital securities offering £50 per month for 5 years in full and final settlement but they have refused stating that they will accept the offer for 6 months but then want i/ex updates and to increase the amount as time goes on. Again i will be paying the amount for more years than i will be here!!. I am thinking about making myself bankrupt but if anyone can give me some advice of any alternative i would appreciate it. Sorry for the long winded post.

Hi, I have just successfully completed an IVA and I now want to focus my attention on the secure loan that is attached to my property . This could not be included in the IVA due to the charge on my property. Details: 45k secure loan plus 140k mortgage equals 185k debt. House worth £160k 25k approximate negative equity. I want to be out of debt as quick as possible ie. get rid of the secure loan. I do not see a mortgage as debt as long as I have equity in my property. I would also like a bigger house for me and my family - have 3 kids now and had only 1 when we first moved into the house. I have never been in arrears and I am not struggling with payments. However there is no room for luxuries like a holiday aborad per year etc. I am considering selling up and renting a family members house. Do not at the moment even know if this is an option. I would just like some guidance / thoughts on options that may be open to me.

I entered a trust deed 4 years ago in August . I made all of the 36 monthly payments . i then have to but out the equity on my property to finish the trust deed. At the start in 2008 i was informed by my trustee that i could easily remortgage to raise the equity.However, due to the banking collapse this is not possible as no bank will allow a re- mortgage until you have been out the trust deed for one year . Banks will not give me a loan either . I continue to make monthly payments to reduce the equity but by nest august i will have only paid about 5000 of 22 000. To be honest i have no idea what to do now , i could lose my home , but i have made all the payments , i was badly advised and am caught in catch 22. Any advice would be appreciated

I live in my late parents’ house and I’m mortgage free. My parents took out an equity release loan on the house for around £15,000, repayable on the death of the surviving partner. Interest wasn’t charged but the final sum due takes a percentage (33%?) of the appreciated value of the property (plus the original £15,000). The last survivor died around four years ago. I have not informed the lender. I am 55 years old and self-employed. I cannot afford to pay off what may be due , and I’m worried. What is the position? Thank you in anticipation.

Hi All. I'm wanting to sell my house as I am moving overseas in the next 2 or 3 months but have a few problems with debt and negative equity. I have 3 charges on my property as well as my mortgage. Any offers I will get for my house will not cover the mortgage repayment and these charges as well. What are my options? Will the companies that have charging orders block the sale if they aren't going to receive what they are owed? Are they likely to accept a reduced amount as a full and final settlement offer before I sell?

I am trying to help my sister in law with her fianances since her husband died in June. Trying to tread carefully because she is in a very vunrable state. She has an Equity Loan with HFC and her payments are £600+ a month. Now she tells me that they did go to the omnibus when her husband was first diagnosed with rapid MS in 2008 but there was no PPI on the loan. She has been paying the above amount each month out of savings even though her husband became incapable of dealing with finances late 2008. I actually got to see the credit agreement and having dealt with welcolme finance the credit agreement didn't look like it was worth the paper it was written on. She also signed this credit agreement so the loan has transferred over to her. I have told her not to speak to them on the phone which landed on deaf ears as she did discuss with them her present situation applying for ESA (employment support ) they agreed to send an income and expenditure form and are moving her payments till later in the month. They also said they would give her till sometime in September to send this I&E form back (haven't seen that letter) so I don't know the exact date but they are still taking the full amount from her bank account. If i had delt with this how I wanted I would have got all payments stopped until she knows what her future finances are going to be. Now I would like advice how to deal with this would you recommend SAR that way I have a copy of everything and hopefully see if there was any PPI on the loan or not. I can see we are going to have real trouble with HFC because when we do get to the adjusted payment stage it's not going to be anywhere near what they will want her to pay. I want to make this as less painful as possible for her because of her circumstances but know to these corporations she is just a number and they have no feeling or sentiment to her predicament.

Hi, Please can someone help me, I really cannot cope anymore and if I don't get help soon I think I'll have a nervous breakdown but I don't know which way to go or who to turn to for advice. Here's a quick idea of my situation. I'm married with 3 kids, both myself and husband work, my job is not very well paid though as I have no qualifications to get a decent paid job. My husband and I have unsecured debts of £41K between us. We also have a mortgage for £118K and a secured loan on top of that which was for £46K. Total debts around £200K. We are paying all our unsecured debts off very slowly. The interest is frozen on them but as it's such a huge amount the balance isn't going down very quickly. Just this alone stresses me out, I know it's being paid but I can't see any end to it and that makes me feel ill. I don't want to live the rest of my life in so much debt. My other worry is the mortgage of £118K and secured loan of £46K that we took out for refurb in 2005. The loan was for double glazing, loft conversion and drive. The secured loan is basically like a second mortgage and it is crippling us. So far I have paid them £38K in repayments over the 7 years but my balance is still £43K. I've basicall paid £35K in interest. I can't ever see this going down or being paid off ??? I just don't understand why the balance won't go down. I had my house valued yesterday, I was hoping that we could sell, pay off mortgage and secured loan and then either one fo these two options: a) be mortgage and secured loan free and rent somewhere saving us a few hundred pounds per month and not having to worry about property maintenance (things like heating, plumbing, roof tiles etc) b) pay off secured loan and buy a small 1 bed flat as rental property to keep us on property ladder and rent somewhere for our family to live. The risk here being that we would need to ensure the flat was rented 12/12 to cover mortgage payments and also costs to maintain a rental investment. c) see if any lender would be foolish enough to give us a higher mortgage to pay of secured loan and buy another house (I really can't stay in this house anymore so would definately need to move instead of remortgaging this one - I am too unhappy here. The area is getting rougher and rougher. We have prostitutes and drug addicts using the woodland area to do their deeds and there is nowhere safe for my kids to play, there aren't een any other children around for them to play with anymore) I was devastated to be told that my house is worth £145K so I can't even sell up and pay off the mortgage and secured loan! I really don't know what to do. I just feel like I want to let them take the lot from me and go bankrupt becasue I see no toher way out! Please someone can you advise me how I can get out of this mess? If I didn't have the secured loan I could pay more off my unsecured debts to lower them. The secured loan is hundreds of puonds a month of pure interest! at least my unsecured creditors have all frozen interest so my balance does go down (although it is slow at moment) I know I need to take responsibility for my debt but I feel like debt is ruining my life and I just wish I had been more aware of how quickly interest and charges can accumulate. I really feel like there is no way out of this mess. Any advice would be greatly appreciated thank you.

I had fully comprehensive insurance on my car when I had a supposed 'no fault' accident in July 2010 in which my it was written off after hitting several things including a BT telegraph pole. I say 'no fault' because the driver who caused it did not stop. My passenger and I were lucky not to be hurt. The telegraph pole was broken near the base but as far as we could tell, the lines were intact. It was just leaning over at about 30 degrees from vertical. The details of accident were reported by phone. I was never given a claim form to complete, though I did mention in all correspondence that the car had hit the telegraph pole. The insurance company only agreed to pay the full value of my car after I complained to the FSA about the way the claim had been handled. Some months later, in November, I had a letter from BT Openworld requesting that I pay damages of about £2500 (I don't seem to be permitted to state exact figures, see further on) for repair to the telegraph pole. I referred them to my insurer who contacted me to confirm that I had hit the telegraph pole which I did. Yesterday (14th January), I had a letter from BT to state that my insurer had refused to settle the claim and that I had 14 days in which to pay the money before they would instigate legal proceedings against me. We passed the scene of the accident about two hours later and the telegraph pole was back in service. The claim from BT Openworld seemed to suggest that it had taken about 50 man hours to fix. It stated working rates regarding which it said they would prosecute if they were divulged, so I'd better say no more. Suffice to say that I think that the costs are GROSSLY exaggerated. Without going into details, I have a lot of **** on my plate at the moment and this feels like it is going to tip me over the edge. Can somebody please offer some advice?

I've inherited my mother's house in her will but it has 10000 debt attached, 5000 secured against the house. I want to keep the house but can't pay the debts off. Are there any good firms that will buy equity in it, or what should I do? Cheers for help in advance