hello, hoping someone can help and point me in the right direction. In hindsight I wish i had done some reaesrch beforehand and found this site 10 years ago as now i wouldnt be in the mess that i am in so in 2008 i was in desperate need of funds. I approached a broker who introduced me to lancashire mortgages. initially i went for a bog standard mortgage but due to my circumstances and being self employed it was turned down at the initial stages. they did however offer me a secured loan. i should have seen it then that it was a trap. i took out a secured loan in august 2008 for 26k adding in fees etc it came to 30k. my payments were set @ £310 per month for 300 months in the agreement. I was stupid and desperate and didnt fully understand what i was getting myself into Having re read the agreement now (as i recived a letter a few days ago, more below) it stated in a clause that i understood that this agreement was not to be regulated by CCA. had i done my due diligence and was not so desperate i would never in a day have signed something like that. The first year went fine. all payments made. then in 2010 my employment became erratic and i started to miss payments. the usual threatening letters and calls followed and they put the £35 charges on to the account more than a few times. i always made the arrears payments as soon as i could. over that year and a half i got in total 44 call charges of £35 each and 5 £150 for letters sent for initiating proceeding and 3 for sending letters advising possession proceeding starting @ £500 a pop. It was a bad time. However i paid all the arrears off etc (not the additional charges they popped on) Since then i have always paid on time. for the last 7-8 years i have never missed the agreed payments always in the hope that i can save and pay off the damn thing (I can hope cant i?) the other day i get a letter with a break down of my payments since 2008. I was horrified that i have paid near enough £30k since then (the total loan amount) and there is still 15 years left which means ill end up paying over 90k if i continue!!!! that wasnt the worst however, they have said that my plan isnt on schedule and i have to pay £12k by mid august (given literally 2 weeks notice), to give them a call to discuss options. I literally broke down. no outline as to what that £12k consisted of and no breakdown. letter just says that i had failed to keep to the agreement (well the agreement was to pay £310 a month for 300 months which is what i have been doing) . The agreement was to make 300 payments of £310 per month which i have been doing on a regular basis for 7-8 years now with no missed payments. the APR has always stayed the same with no change even the payment breakdown shows this. Yet the interest accrued was now at £380 per month. looking at the outstanding balance its at £38k!!!! i literally broke down and haven't managed to get out of bed until now I have read all the other posts and know that it changed they from blemain to together. I need to get out of this bad situation. I always knew that i would have to make the payments each month and id have to pay the initial loan amount which was inevitable with such leaches. I was bidding my time to pay as low redemption as possible. started off at 5% and now its only 1%. also with the hope that my fortunes would turn and i would have the funds to pay the leeches off in one go. However the outstanding balance is now £38k and they want an additional 12k and thats not even redemption figures. To top it all off they have registered themselves on my property with land registry. No where on my agreement does it say thats its regulated by the CCA in fact there is a small clause on the first page which states that i understood that it wouldnt be regulated by the CCA and stupidly without understanding the consequences i signed. I thought after april 2008 that the 25k limit was lifted for such agreements to be regulated by the CCA as its what i have read on other posts on the forum? and thus am i right in thinking that my £30k loan is regulated regardless of the tactic they used to insert that clause? is my agreement regulated? can they be adding the interest like they are without even once notifying me that its increased and to advise me to increase my payments? the interest rate has always been the same since day one.. never have they contacted me to say i need to increase payments(why would the i know).. So stuck... they are ripping me off left right and centre and i dont have the will to live. bleeding me dry like leeches. What can i do?? i have to call them in the morning to discuss options but i wont say much or agree to anything as surely this must be illegal or downright immoral. i must have some type of recourse? Can some one help? shed me some light? Thank you...

Received my bumper pack from my SAR request and contains about 500 pages of stuff plus a CD, after going through this lot I now put the info onto the CISheet which shows total charges of £3806 plus £5013 of compound interest equalling £8820. Ocean Finance charged £1000 for setting this all up which I guess is their secret commission Plus there is another £2000 in legal fee's not added to the account but held in limbo and to be charged at the end of the loan term. My question is do we proceed like we used to when claiming back bank charges and is this the correct letter to use? Dear Sirs, ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXXXXX I am writing to ask you to refund the charges which you charged to my account in respect of late payment fees to the sum of £ XXXX. I now understand that such fees are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent consumer Regulations. In addition your charges appear to represent an unfair term of contract which is contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (SI. 1999/2083). My account falls within the ambit of Regulation 5 of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 as I am a consumer. Your charges constitute an unfair penalty under Schedule 2 of the said Regulations, which provide an indicative and non-exhaustive list of terms which may be regarded as unfair. Under paragraph 1(e) of schedule 2 this specifically includes terms which have the object of requiring any consumer who fails his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation. I would vigorously contend that this is the position regarding the fees which you deemed fit to apply to my account. I would like to bring your attention to the following statement by The Office of Fair Trading: "A term in a mortgage agreement which requires the borrower to pay more for breaching the contract terms than actual costs and losses caused to the lender by the breach (or a genuine pre-estimate of that) is likely to be regarded as an unfair penalty and to be unenforceable both at common law and (in a consumer mortgage) under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations. I believe that the charges you have levied of £XXXX far exceed any true cost to yourself as a result of our breaches and any genuine pre-estimate you could conceivably reach. If you disagree, then will you please demonstrate this by letting me have a full breakdown of the costs to which you have been put to as a result of our breaches, in order to reassure us that your charges really do reflect your costs. Thus I am asking that you refund the charges and other fees which have been levied on my account. If you do not respond, or you do not respond positively, within the time limits set out in your official complaints procedure I will enter a formal complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments. I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets. Yours faithfully, XXXX

Hi all, I have a mortgage that started with Lancashire mortgages, this was taken over byTogether a couple of years back. I had taken the mortgage out on a block of flats for £200k plus the £4k costs added by Lancashire mortgages. No accounts were required and just a copy of a valuation I had paid for was used. My story is that after a few missed payments due to financial difficulties and Lancashire Mortgages trying to repossess I found the money to repay the outrageous charges and get back on track. Today I received a letter telling me that I now owe £61,000 in outstanding fees, and the mortgage would not be paid as and when it should have. I have been paying £2200 per month for the last 11 years and still owe £203,722 to date. The charges include £500 per month arrears charge, issue of demands charges of £500 a time and the usual £35 per phone call and letters together with repossession charges added on top of the charges I had paid. I have been given one month to pay in full!! Could anyone help?? Many thanks for your time.

Am currently involved in situation with a loan from Together whereby they have served default notice and appointed LPA Receivers - who are trying to push towards auction of commercial property that loan is secured on, which obviously we do not want to do. Both the Lender and the LPA are not helpful in any way and the LPA is not acting on behalf of the Borrower given that the arrears is £1,600 and the figure the LPA-R wants is just short of £4k, and the Lender is charging another £2k for appointing him! Statement of account lists various charges such as 'Property Company Management Charges £xxx Professional Costs £xxx (this was followed 5 days later by exactly the same item - and amount!) I asked for an explanation of what these were for and proof of 'work' carried out when I know nothing has been done, Together stated that 'the charges are explained'. Eventually I have discovered that the LPA-R is actually the Property Management Company which is nice, and completely undisclosed by the Lender or the LPA-R who in theory is supposed to be working on the borrowers behalf. On the statement of account, for the 27 months the account has been running, the charges on the account actually total circa £6,500 - with the receivers costs on top, so a five figure sum. I was wondering if anybody else had encountered similar situation with regard to Together and their LPA-R of choice Waterfold, and if there was any advice as to how to deal with them and obviously challenge the 'plucked from thin air' fees?

Hi everyone, I'm new on the CAG Forum but was directed here by the good folks at MSE. I have long suffered at the hands of Blemain/Together. I foolishly applied for a second charge loan over a decade ago. It has been the (most expensive) bane of my life ever since. I recently received a letter from Together stating that my original loan has now past its term. It says, As you will be aware, your account with us has now reached the end of the original contractual term. As your monthly repayments have not been sufficient to fully repay the balance, the outstanding amount is now due. This may be due to late payments, payments being missed or the application of admin costs to the loan I am requesting SAR from them as I have a feeling that most of the outstanding balance is entirely made up of outrageous charges. I've also been advised to look into an "unfair relationship" with them but I'm a little unsure where to start. The outstanding amount is approx £11k! How can this even be possible when I have paid almost £100k over the past 10 years?!!! Is repossession an option at this stage? They have already attempted a repo a few years ago when I missed some payments. I went to court and duly arranged a repayment plan to clear the arrears. The account has been in good order ever since. Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with this shady bunch? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

A review of past fees and charges, and you are entitled to a refund. The amount is about a few hundred. I believe my relative had a massively unfair relationship with them. Curious if anyone else has got this letter recently and what it means...annd what you've done about it.

Hi, I have a secured loan that I got via Ocean Finance which turned out to be Blemain (now Together). Amount £15k Term 180 Months Taken out Jan 2007 End of term Feb 2022 I have always paid , no issues or missed. Only change by me was a monthly payment date due to change of employer and salary into account. I phoned the other month to change this again to a suitable date and was told I had to pay off arrears from previous change of date years ago??!! They adjusted my monthly payment to cover the shortfall about £2.53 per month difference? I didn't change the date this time either and stuck with it as per years gone by. That is it no other issues at all. Happily ticking along I think great just 4 years to go, however I had my statement today from them and it says in bold my current monthly payments will not cover the loan at end of term I have paid exactly what was set out by the loan provider from start, its a 15 year loan end of surely. I have paid £219.35 for 128 months and £221.98 for last 4 months and my balance is still £9105.11 which seems a lot as I only have 48 months left to go. Never have I been contacted by them. What is going on ? Any help as this has knocked me for six.

They used to be Blemain, now are 'Together'. I am always behind with my mortgage. I am on a very low self employed income and it is erratic. So always end up having to pay three or four months arrears when they threaten me with an eviction. They have an court order due to persistent late payments. My circumstances have changed since I lived at the house...my gf who is also on the Deeds split up. She pays the mortgage, I pay the second mortgage with Together which is about £500 a month. I can never do one of those things with income and outgoings because is so erratic and I dont even live there. But I pay it every few months when I can so she doesn't lose her home, and at some point maybe we can sell it. But, because of all the charges and extra interest etc the amount I owe after paying it for about 10 years is about £10k more than I borrowed! Yet am Paying £6k a year! Total amount is about £60k and its a high interest rate because that is all I could get at the time. So virtually everything I earn bar about £100 a week pays that. And as I only get money erratically and then £2-3k every three months or so on average, I can never get in front just keep paying off the arrears and my living and some debts. So I am very depressed about it and cant see a way forward, except that one day we may be able to sell it. But there is no equity in it atm, and I am losing £6k a year really while the market is stagnant and yet actually reducing nothing its gone up over £10k. Problems started when the banks called my business o/d and loan in as then I had no way of budgeting to cope with the erratic income. I am effectively homeless, and cant even get tax credits because of my circumstances, and living between a few sets of friends and a new girlfriend. She has a tiny flat so I cant store anything there, and cant stay at all when her son is there...no room to swing a cat. All my stuff is with friends in my 'rooms' there, and I have nowhere to sit and do my books which are a few years behind and no doubt I am being chased for that too on money I haven't earned but fines for late books. I am in a total mess and cant see what to do. What can I do? Are these charges even legal? I am told they are not? I want to sort this out first as it will be one thing off my mind if I can stop them doing that. Then I have to face the HMRC and explain why I haven't done my books for several years afterwards.

hi all took out a loan with Blemain on 25/09/07 ,is due to finish 25/09/2017 £11k loan ,interest charge £11,316.77 plus brokers fee £1375 and acceptance fee £310 all together £24,001,77 agreement states 120 monthly payments of £200.02 interest rate 14.40% variable totals £24,002,40 have never missed a monthly payment , only receive a yearly statement , going on their calculations there will be a shortfall of at least £5,000 ,have received the occasional letter that they will charge the account for not issueing them with a copy of buildings insurance straight away, admin fee is always £30.00 and insurance charge is a contingency one , which they never say the cost and does NOT appear on the yearly statement, all that appears on the yearly statement is interest charge 14.40% , They do however state they charge interest on what they consider to be late charges ,insurance charge being one of them ,mmmmmmmmmm £5,000 of extra charges over the loan period, me thinks they make rules up as they go along so in short guys last payment this month , there will be at least a £5,000 shortfall , so what do i do, the debits should stop anyway ,but they will contact me about the ridiculous shortfall , who do i contact about this ,am getting in a right state about this kindest regards Robert

Would very much appreciate some guidance in putting together an appeal for county court. Mainly in terms of putting paperwork together. All. help would be greatly appreciated. Martin

I took out a Blemain finance loan back in 2005 for £16.913.00 , secured against my property (it was actually a refinancing of a previous loan with First National Home Finance) . I sold my property in Jan 2012, both the mortgage and the Blemain loan were paid off. The interest on the loan was 12.2% The final redemption payment to Blemain was for £23,253.36 in Jan 2016 and this was paid in full. I got the SAR from them i have a break down off all the charges. Through out the loan I did have money problems, looking at the breakdown of my account there is quite a number of late payments. There's just a few things I could do with help on:- Over the period of the loan I've been charged for: Letters = £30 - £35 Visit = £100 telephone charge = £30 - £35 Monthly charge - arrears = £33 - £46 Dishonoured Receipt = £30 - £35 Default Notice = £50 Buildings Insurance = £85 - £184 Buildings Insurance Block policy Charge = £16 legal costs = £282 application to suspend legal action = £13 settlement figure fee sent to 3rd Party= £30 Court preperation fee = £53 court hearing fee = £13 land registry copies =£4 online issue fee = £100 Issue warrant for possession = £18 collections instruction = £176.25 Legal fees to HMCS = £150 Post - Legal monthly Charge 2 = £130 - £215 I did get close to getting the house repossessed twice, which is why i had to sell it quickly and under the market value. Some of the above were charged multiple of times, others just a few, All in all the total charges come to £5,865.50 plus there was a Broker fee at the start for £1,500 (this is not included in the £5,865.50) 1) I can't remember who I approach to get the loan, It could have been Blemain directly. £1500 seems an awful lot, do I need to speak to Blemain about that as it seems excessive. 2) Which of the above charges can I try to claim back for? bearing in mind they did attempt to take me to court a few times fir monies owed, this was during the time I was trying to sell my house as i couldn't afford to live. 3) I have downloaded the CIsheet (compoundinterest calculator) and entered all the charges. Bearing in mind the loan interest rate was 12.2% APR what % do I put in the interest rate (Apr) column, is it the APR of the loan which was 12.2%? I take it the sheet automatically works out the 8£ compound interest rate in the final column. 4) Is there a letter template to try to claim back these unfair charges from Blemain Any advice would be grateful Regards

I have used this forum a couple of times for myself but this time am enquiring for a friend who has MS and leukemia and is highly anxious at present. She had been on ESA until March, having been forced out of her teaching job in quite harrowing and underhand fashion a couple of years ago. She was put onto JSA and has been supplying bank statements to the Benefits Office here. She had been paying her rent out of rapidly dwindling savings until her savings fell under the limit preventing a housing benefit claim very recently. Despite her condition she has in the year that I've known her continued to apply for work in teaching, and is registered with at least three agencies. She has had interviews and trials which have come ot nothing. It does seem the MS is the likely reason. My friend has run herself into the ground pursuing these jobs and is clearly upset at not winning them. She is a genuine and ethically-minded person. It's clear that stress is affecting her symptoms, and this week's events have really been out of order. She has just had a 'compliance meeting' this week which has not gone at all well. The person carrying out the interview is from the 'Fraud and Error' department. The DWP employee does not seem to have been very sensitive in the way he handled things, and my friend brought the meeting to a halt and said she wanted a witness present. She then rang me. I've never heard her in the condition she was in. Despite her condition she is a tough thing and represents herself well normally, with proper assertiveness and self-respect. I scarcely manage the same myself. I got the the Benefits Office about half an hour later and the meeting was resumed. We had asked ot record the meeting. The employee said he wasn't sure that could be done and would have to get advice, and we ended up settling for my being present as a witness - my friend is burying he rmother in the next week or so and doesn't want things dragged out with all that's going on. My friend and I both referred to the misconduct we have expeienced in the last year, which is from the housing department of the council and the DWP alike, in both our cases. My friend's Maximus assessment for example was carried out by someone who was then sacked, and I've seen the lie-strewn report he wrote on my friend, a not-quite-separate matter that will be attended to. A statement was typed in by the employee and my friend asked me to read it, as she was getting befuddled both with the stress and as part of the MS. She signed the statement. It was a pretty awkward meeting. The fella didn't really seem to know what he was doing, and I would hope he feels bad for the distress he caused my friend. We would like some things cleared up. This DWP employee used the phrase 'deprivation of capital' in reference to my friend's having gifted her son with money. He did not explicitly say that the gifting would be viewed as such but it was muddily expressed, and we're wondering how arbitrary the notion of 'deprivation of capital' is. My friend is a single mother in her 50s with one son, who has mental health troubles and seemingly something on the autistic spectrum, and has been neglected by professionals. After her divorce from a man who wasn't the boy's father she has been very supportive of her son including financially. I think anyone would be the same and that my friend's gifting him money should not be viewed with cynicism. Ordinarily as far as I know - and I think I read this this week in relation to something else - there is no limit to money being gifted. The amount since my friend has been claiming JSA I would think is all that is relevent too. In no way has the gifting been a dodge of any kind, but is of a compassionate basis that it would be shocking to have to explain. The other question is asked because my friend is worried about being treated as a fraud case. We think we've established that either all or almost all of the period she claimed JSA, her savings fell under the threshold. But she also submitted all those bank statements, and from March till now nothing was said. (Weirdly today she has been asked for the bank statements again by this man, who is sitting in the building where the DWP's copies are held - why can't he just access these?) So if there was any period, say for a few weeks or so, where she recieved JSA but had over the threshold amount, this can't become a fraud case can it? She declared everything. She was in receipt of the lowest JSA amount and was looking for work. At worst this is an employee's error isn't it? She was put on JSA when the ESA ended. I understand there are two different sets of criteria for JSA but presumably my friend has fallen inisde one of them to have been put on JSA. Sorry I haven't been able to make this shorter, but it would mean a lot to my friend and me also if we could get good response on this. I'll see the friend tomorrow and would like some good, calming news if possible. Many thanks.

Hi everyone, not been on the forum for a long time, mainly due to the help and advice I received at the time! I have a quick question, but first a bit of history. 6 years ago my wife was made redundant. She was earning a great salary at the time, so we were hit quite hard. Had to make arrangements with all creditors, most of whom hit us with defaults from every angle!! We have a Together mortgage with NRAM. The secured element has always been kept up to date, but 3 years ago we made an arrangement to make reduced payments. Should have been paying £140, but been paying £40. They agreed 0% interest too. Well, life has moved on and thankfully now the defaults have started to disappear from the CRA files, and by this time next year they will all have gone. Hallelujah!! Unfortunately (if thats the right word?), NRAM didn't default us on the unsecured loan, so it shows as LATE PAYMENT on the CRA file, with arrears of £4000. I want to pay them more now, but I'm not sure of how to do it in the most cost effective way, but as importantly, I want to get the CRA file cleared up. We're currently paying £40. We should have been paying £140. I can only afford to pay £140 now, so not in a position to clear the arrears & can't imagine we will ever be. My ideas were:- Divide the total outstanding balance by the remaining term of the mortgage = £80 a month. I pay this every month, they amend the CRA file to show no arrears. Obviously they'd have to keep the interest rate at 0% for this to work. I know thats a big ask, but they'd be getting double what they are now. The alternative is I stop paying, they default me, I provide a budget planner to show I can only pay £85 a month, interest is frozen and the default disappears in 6 years. If they won't agree to my idea above, this is probably preferrable for me... Alternatively (and probably more realistically), they agree to capitalise the arrears and I repay the new balance at the original interest rate over the remaining term of the mortgage. This would be about £125 a month. I'd be happy with that too. One thing that's strange is that I'm CERTAIN we took the unsecured loan out over the same period as the mortgage, but it seems to have 10 years less to run now??!! Maybe the old grey matter isn't what it once was! Anyone any thoughts on this situation? Are they likely to agree to my 0% suggestion? Might they go for the capitalisation of arrears idea? One final word for anyone going through what we've experienced over the last few years. Don't Worry! A few years ago we thought our world was ending, sleepless nights, arguments, and lots of letters to various DCA's, solicitors etc. .. 6 years flies by, life goes on, and there IS light at the end of the tunnel. Once thing we have learned is that credit is evil, and creditors are not nice. If we haven't got the cash, we don't have it. A lesson our grandparents tried to teach us, but we knew better didn't we?

Hi, I have one of the infamous NRAM Together mortgages with the separate unsecured loan, now a few years back following a relationship breakup I was struggling to pay the mortgage on my own so came to an agreement to pay the full mortgage amount but drop the unsecured element to a token payment of a couple of pounds a month. Now fast forward to today I'm still paying the token amount but NRAM haven't ever defaulted the unsecured loan and just report it to the CRA as sustained arrears, I've been working hard to clean up my Credit record following mess from the split and this is the only thing left, is there anything I can do to request NRAM to default it so it will eventually drop off, otherwise it will be harming my Credit forever which seems very unfair?

Hi, I need a bit of advice. I have obtained a secured loan against a property for the purpose of sorting out my credit score and also primarily for home improvements. They have requested balances of all my creditors and a lot of them defaulted in 2010 as the recession knocked me. I sent them these balances and then someone on here mentioned to CCA all the creditors. The loan completed and I ended up with 20k+ worth of cheques and the balance in my account. I phoned them and asked if they will amend the cheques which they agreed to. Then when I wanted to do it they resisted and I had to go through the complaint process form them to listen to the call. (took months) I then returned the cheques(voided) with letters from the creditors stating that they don’t have agreements. They then phoned and said they will re issue all these cheques for the original amounts, as there are no letters from the creditors stating balance as 0. I have now been paying interest on 20k worth of paper sitting in my cupboard for about 4 months. There is nothing on the agreement that say I would pay creditors. Even the letter I gave said I am looking to repay debts plus home improvements. They are now trying to force me under duress to pay unsecured and unenforceable debts secured against my property which I don’t want as that does not give me any room to negotiate. (They class them self as a responsible lender!) Where does this leave me as I think I have the following options: 1. Financial ombudsman 2. Keep the cheques again and negotiate final settlement with the creditors which should very low as they unenforceable (and I paid 6 years off already) Then pay the creditors out of my own funds and wait for the letter to be state that the account is settled. Then send the cheque made out to them and ask them to cash it and please refund me as the account is settled. Then I am going to sue Blemain for the time I wasted and interest I had to pay on money that has not left their account through the small claims court. Anyway these are just ideas and any advice will be appreciated. I will actually pay for a lawyer that wants to give them as much hell as possible! Thanks a lot

Hi, I am wanting some advice on how to deal with Concentrix (the privatised part of the HMRC) with regards to a accusation that my mum is living with someone. Background Information: I am a full time carer for my mum and so live in the same household along with my adult brother and 2 under 10 year old sisters. My mum has a boyfriend who lives and works 200 miles away from us and visits most weekends and holidays, but he does in no way financially support us. I have lasting financial power of attorney for my mother. This accusation is likely another aggressive action from my mum's ex who has made accusation to everyone from the Police to the DWP, Child Support and now HMRC. We have been asked to provide ALL bank statements, bills, coucil tax etc... since April 2015. I will be sending them a copy of the power of attourney so I am able to speak to this new company on the phone etc... I have been repeatedly told to write a cover letter explaining things but I have dyslexia and my confidence with such things is not good. Any advice on this or how to stop these accusations happening again would be welcomed. Thanks!

More than 40,000 British borrowers are in line to get thousands of pounds in compensation after the High Court ruled against former bank Northern Rock in a test case over the wording in past loan documents. The court judgment said about £258m could be paid out in compensation by taxpayers, as the government now owns the part of the bank that made the loans. The amount is more than Northern Rock’s highest estimates. The payments will go to 41,000 former Northern Rock customers - at an average of £6,300 each - and are likely to prompt other banks and the regulator to double-check whether any past loans were incorrectly worded. The High Court ruling released on Wednesday was against Northern Rock Asset Management (NRAM), the "bad bank" of Northern Rock that was nationalised in 2008. NRAM effectively brought the legal claim against itself to test whether documents issued to customers under previous "Together" mortgages were incorrect and if it owed compensation. NRAM is considering whether to appeal the ruling. Subject to that appeal, it is expected to offer compensation to the affected customers without them needing to apply through the courts. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/11285163/Former-Northern-Rock-customers-set-for-258m-payback-after-court-ruling.html Full ruling here: http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/judgments/nram-plc-v-mcadam-hartley/

Hi I currently have a together mortgage with NRAM, got this back in 2006. I took this mortgage on with my now ex girlfriend. For the last 4 years I've been trying to get her off the mortgage and she is happy for this to be done. I have 3 defaults on credit cards, which are due to expire in 2016, when I asked NRAM to do a change of parties, they want to do a affordability check, which then stalls due to the defaults. They won't even go any further with the application as soon as they hear the word default. I have paid the mortgage without any missed payments for the last 4 years and find it frustrating, that NRAM simply can't remove my ex who doesn't work and hasn't contributed in those last 4 years. Surely they should look at the payment history on the mortgage to see there aren't any issues. I know the affordability checks are to stop people overspending, but they aren't supposed to use this with existing customers. Has anyone been in a similar position with NRAM and actually managed to get their ex removed from the mortgage? Thanks in advance Chris

Hi all, this is my first post. I had a compliance officer visit today to look into my claim to see if I am living as part of a couple. I would like some advice on a few things. I claim ESA (transferred from longterm IB last January) income based and get DLA middle care and lower rate mobility with that being reviewed as I have gotten worse over the last year (it was awarded for 5 years in May last year). I do not live alone, I live with my carer and this has been since 2011. My carer gets income support for looking after me and obviously carers allowance. We both get separate housing benefit and council tax reduction. we are joint tennents. At no point in our time living in the same house have we mislead any agency by claiming to be living at other addresses etc. We started living together because I was unable to continue living alone (I suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and depression) as I was suicidal. My carer could no longer cope with her parents so she needed to move out. At the time there was talk of changing the housing rules to anyone under 35 only being entitled to a bedsit or shared house. We decided that better the devil you know and we moved in together (we had been friends for 7 years prior to the date we started living together. We had a similar check in September 2012, and were found to not be a couple. Bascially the compliance officer said it is up to a decision maker if we are a couple or not regardless of whether we are in fact a couple or not. He also said that we should have had a follow up check 13 weeks after the first and that if we are found to be a couple we would have had an over payment and the amount would be back dated to the date we should have been re assessed even though it is the DWP who did not arrange this. I want to know, would we be responsible for an overpayment where we have not mislead or given inaccurate or incomplete information and also if we were found to be a couple (which from what the compliance officer said is almost agiven) would that mean we would have to either move into separate houses or else move into a single bedroom property and share a room, which if we were a couple obviously wouldn't be a problem but as we are not it doesn't seem fair. I know all of this is what if at the moment but it has got me worried and as stated I suffer from depression and was hospitalised last January under section 4 of the mental health act due to being suicidal, its only just a year later and again the DWP is making me ill. Thank you for taking the time to read this and any help would be appreciated.

Hi Given the recent press releases from NRAM re the incorrect statements on their mortgages and unsecured elements would there be any case to revisit a repossession that has taken place between 2008-2014. The error relates to the unsecured element but any refund of interest may wipe out any arrears that led to the repossession. If anyone has any thoughts would be great. Thanks

My Northern Rock/NRAM mortgage has been reviewed. Letter 1 says they have overcharged me, and have knocked £940 off the unsecured part of the Together Loan. Letter 2 says I have underpaid the unsecured part of my Together Loan, and they want £153.15. 1) I have never missed a payment. 2) WTF?

Hi All, Thanks for having me on here, quite a long one this I'm afraid, I'm after some advice as to what my options are.... Firstly i purchased a house in 2005 with an ex partner, we used a independent mortgage advisor who managed to secure us a northern rock together mortgage, the house price at the time was £104k, all was well, we were on a repayment mortgage, all going fine, then we hit turbulence in the relationship! in 2007 we split and i decided with the house market still increasing it would be a good idea to buy her out, the house was valued at 130K and she wanted a settlement inure of circa 10k to move out. so i approached northern rock who were happy for me to take the mortgage on alone and i ended up into the house for 125k. a year on and things changed in terms of my financial position and i was really struggling to keep up with the burden, i ended up approaching northern rock and asking them for a payment holiday, which they turned to me and said i couldn't had as i had been late on one of the payments ( one out of 4 years) things started to spiral from there on, i incurred a lot of fines for late payments et and it got to the point along with other debt where i had to enter into an IVA. that was going well for 24 months then things took another turn for the worse and i ended up not being able to afford the IVA payments. In the long run i ended up having to move out of the house and effectively gave the keys back to Northern rock When i left the house was valued around 110k and i know for a cheap sale it went for a price of circa 75k. Since the time i have not been back in touch with them to see where i stand and what is happening, very silly i know but the only way i knew was to bury my head in the sand. I'm now looking to resolve the issue and wondered what the best way to approach was and if northern rock could at all be held slightly responsible for in my eyes reckless lending, at the time it all seemed rosy and i was under the impression it was the norm to get so deep into a property, but they looked at my earnings and it was really on the tight side of what i could afford. Any help and advice on what to do next would be greatly appreciated, i know there are a few other debts linked to the IVA which are still outstanding and I'm dreading re opening the can of worms, but i feel it is time to face the music. Thanks in advance

My husband got (miss) sold one of the Together Mortgages circa 2006. The total lone was £96000 which consisted of a Mortgage of £77750 and the remainder on an unsecured loan. We are currently looking to remortgage from interest only and start paying the property off. We haven't been able to get a straight answer from NRAM on a couple of things: The flat cost £86000, so some of the unsecured loan went towards the mortgage portion of the house. Does this now mean that part of our flat is owned (mortgaged to) NRAM and another part to another company? Or does this mean that we actually have some equity in the flat now , and the unsecured loan with the other company is now independent to that of the mortgage. We asked them if the Mortgage and Unsecured loan were now independent of each other and got a mixed answer. Will this make it easier to remortgage as are very uncompetitive? Their lack of clarity on this matter doesn't make dealing with them very easy.

Hi , i am looking for advice regarding a debt i am being chased for. Back in 2006, i took out the together mortgage with northern rock. Part of this was an unsecured loan. To cut a long story short,by 2007, i couldn't afford it any more and i left the house and the debt behind and tried to get on with my life. I realise now that what i was actually doing was burying my head in the sand! I heard nothing more about it until today when i received a letter from "drydensfairfax solicitors" saying i was still liable for the unsecured loan element.(£20881.52) From reading through various forums and message boards I have learned that after 5 years in scotland unsecured debt becomes statute barred. However I am confused as I see that mortgages may be slightly different. There is no mention whatsoever of the rest of the mortgage in the letter. Any advice on what my next course of action should be would be of great help.

Hello. I wonder if anyone can help. I am 53 and on ESA support group and also get DLA. lower rate mobility and middle rate care. I live apart from my partner and part timish carer. As she officially retires jen 6th 2013, we are considering the possibility of living together at my address and would like to. We have tried to get helpful info from benefit advisors on the financial implcations, the dos and donts and pros and cons without a lot of success. I wonder if anybody can help us please? What benfits should we claim and would it be to our detriment money wise. I dont mind losing a little as money isnt the be all etc but i want her to have that independence she deserves after a life of work. oh and hers is the basic state pension if that helps. Many thanks to all for reading and offering good advice.