Capstone/SPML

[Andrew66]

Had a letter from Capstone's solicitors on Friday stating that they would be going for repossession unless I paid £4900 arrears. About £2900 of this is Capstone's fees, about £2000 is actual arrears. My discounted rate finished in July, and as my credit history shows arrears I can't find another mortgage. The monthly payment went from £638 to £885. My house is up for sale with about 40K of equity in it, but no-one is buying at the moment. Any advice from anyone would be gratefully received.The letter stated at the end that repossession is alast resort. Really? Seems like SPML use it as a first resort!

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, sorry to hear you find yourself in this position. Are you able to make even a small payment towards the arrears each month?

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn

[Andrew66]

.Hi there and thanks for the quick response. Quite difficult now its gone up to £885.

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, I would advise you to ask Capstone for a statement of your mortgage from inception to date - this will show the true arrears.

 

As your arrears are around £2k even making an extra payment of £25.00 per month would clear the arrears in 6.6 years. If Capstone are determined to take it to court, there is case law we can use in your defence that allows the court to spread the arrears over the lifetime of the mortgage if necessary (although usually 5 -6 years is more likely, unless the arrears are vast).

 

You then need to write to them enclosing an income and expenditure sheet showing that you can only afford a little extra each month. you can download a budget sheet here: National Debtline England & Wales | Personal Budget Sheet.

 

If they do proceed with court action, then you can at least prove you have tried to come to an arrangement with them.

 

Send your letter by recorded delivery and keep the receipt together with a copy of your letter and budget sheet. You may need to prove that they received it!

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn

[Andrew66]

Spoke to Capstone, have arranged to pay an extra £150 per month. They said it would probably still go to court but they wouldn't go for repossession. So I've got some breathing space.

[Ell-enn]

Can you afford to pay £150 per month? You shouldn't agree to more than you can afford. If it went to court the judge may decide given your income and expenditure that £150 is too much.

 

Capstone however, will try to get you to agree to anything that makes it better for them

 

If they do take it to court we'll deal with it

 

 

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn

[Andrew66]

Thankyou, your support and help is most welcome.

[Ell-enn]

No problem Andrew, just don't want to see you pressurised into paying more than you can manage. If you're going to struggle to pay that let us know and we'll help with a letter.

 

Ell-enn

[Andrew66]

I might struggle with that, so would appreciate a letter to help. To be honest considering the way they deal with people the lady I spoke to was surprisingly sympathetic. Not like some at that place I've spoken to before.

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, I'll draft something up for you and let you have it tomorrow - is that OK?

 

Ell-enn

[Andrew66]

Yes, that's fine. Thanks.

[Ell-enn]

Hi Andrew,

 

Draft letter below - you just need to fill in the gaps/make adjustments where necessary.

 

 

Date:

 

Name & Address of Mortgage Company

(Ring them up to get the right address & Department)

 

 

 

Dear Sirs,

 

Re: Mortgage Account No.

 

I am writing regarding my recent telephone call to your customer services department regarding the arrears on the above account.

 

In order to make payment towards these arrears I offered the sum of £150.00 per month in addition to my normal monthly payment. However, on reflection, I feel this commitment was made when I felt under pressure to make an offer which would avoid further action.

 

Having completed an income and expenditure exercise (see affixed budget sheet), it is obvious that I cannot afford £150.00 per month. I am therefore offering £XXX per month, which I feel will be more manageable and will be able to commence payments on (date).

 

I am sure you are aware of the Civil Justice Council Consultation Paper - Mortgage Arrears Protocol where lenders are required to assist, in any way possible, customers who are experiencing financial difficulty and to consider alternative payment proposals which would alleviate the difficulties. Therefore I trust you will take this into account when considering my offer of payment.

 

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

 

XXXXX

 

download the budget sheet from here: National Debtline England & Wales | Personal Budget Sheet print one out to practice on first to make sure you arrive at the right sum left over to pay arrears. Then complete a final copy and affix to the letter.

 

Send by recorded delivery (preferably special delivery) and make sure you keep a copy of the letter, budget sheet and the receipt for posting.

 

Any questions, just shout

 

Kind Regards

 

 

Ell-enn

[Andrew66]

I'm playing around at the mo with the budget sheet, should everything balance accordingly or should I falsify anything to make it balance?

[Andrew66]

My wife gets monry from her parents each month, should I include this?

[Ell-enn]

Hi Andrew, when filling in he budget sheet you should make sure that the amount left over (after everything has been taken into account) is the amount you can afford to pay towards the arrears. Utility bills are going to be higher as winter approaches and you need to make allowance for that.

 

As the money your wife gets from her parents is not what is known as a guaranteed income - I would leave it out.

 

If this does go to court the judge would base the amount you have to pay on the budget sheet so it's best to make sure you offer what you can afford and not what you think Capstone want to hear.

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn

[Andrew66]

OK I'll have a play with it.

[Andrew66]

Is it right that SPML are/were owned by Lehman Brothers? I guess someone else will take over SPML then.

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

I reckon all their mortgages will be sold off. Most probably by the disc load or something. Have you done an internet search to find out.

 

olivesxx

[Andrew66]

Hi all, having kept SPML at bay for a while they have now gone for repo on 1st April. I missed some payments (Dec, Jan). Spoke to them today and am re-doing budget sheet but outgoings exceed incomings! House still hasn't sold but would a judge look favourably on that? My payment is £689 at the mo, want to fiddle the sheet to say I can pay £25 extra per month. Nothing from the court yet.

[brassed-off-2]

Hi Andrew

Have had same probs with these low-lifes

You are probably better starting your own thread on this, so you can get the best advice to your situation, if you have only missed 2 payments, i cannot see why they are going for repo, because it is usually 3 months, i would also request a statement of arrears off them although they will charge for this, i asked for it to be added onto the mortgage. i took it to court as part of my evidence to show the judge what was going on...i.e arrears fees added even after the balance was showing at nill arrears ..TWICE!!! etc..etc...

 

Good Luck

B-O-2

 

Good Luck with cpml

[Andrew66]

Hi Brassed Off, this is my thread:D! Although I have come to an agreement with Crapstone I still have to go to court to rubber stamp it. I still haven't received anything from the court though.Will I be allowed to put forward my take on their rip-off fees? £2000 so far.

[anxiousjay]

I took out a 'subprime' interest free mortgage with them 5 or so years ago. Lower rate at first then rising once the 3 years were up. My monthly payment is now over £2,000 per month. I have racked up £21k+ in arrears over a period and this has been exacerbated with my Service Charge company intermittently contacting them directly for payments, which they have paid without my permission and their charges.

 

About a year ago we ended up in front of the judge who granted suspended possession provided I kept paying plus £350 extra a month towards arrears. At the timeI thought it would be easy to remortgage and get rid of them. This has not happened so although I have been paying a minimum of £2,300 per month I have a shortfall against what the judge has ordered.

 

In the interim I have been trying to get them to give me a lower rate/offer a different product to reduce my outgoings while I take the long road to finding a new mortgage provider but have a Review date at the Court on 11 March. I do not have representation and would like advice to assist me either in front of the judge (as I do need to get the arrears payments lowered in any case) or for the case to be delayed while we negotiate the new lower payment.

 

I have been tying myself in stressful knots and would appreciate assistance greatly and gratefully.

 

Thank you.

[Andrew66]

I've sent back the court documents, I read on here that there is a duty solicitor at the court who can help me on the day. Is that right? It just sucks that I have to lose a days pay even though I've agreed a repayment plan. Wish the house would sell, that would be the easiest way out! 10 months its been up for sale, price reduced by £14000!

[bilbo21]

Hi All

 

I am new to this site and have registered.

 

I am getting increasingly worried about the way the SPML/Capstone go about their business.

 

I had a period of no work of 4 months but managed to make some payments. In January 2009 I got a new job and contacted Capstone in February and made an arrangement to pay a monthly amount of £800 which I can afford .... Just. I also asked for a direct debit mandate which took quite a while to arrive, I sent it back more or less straight away. No Problems yet?

 

Then they started to ring me asking for the details of my house insurance, which I had sent so they added a new house insurance of about £26 per month, I arranged to get my insurance sent, nothing yet, but this amount is now not being paid off my mortgage.

 

I expected the direct debit to take place in March. Nothing taken out of my account which I discovered when I went into my account just after my pay went in, in April, I contacted them and made a payment of £1600. Following Monday I received a call to say that I owed them £1085 (round figures), and that what I was paying was not enough, I told them I couldn’t afford any more and that I am making payments towards the money outstanding.

 

They have now declined my "arrangement" and want the balance of £1085.

 

I haven’t replied yet and am not sure what to do as I have been doing everything I can to sort this out with them.

 

They have threatened further action.

 

Once the insurance is sorted out (I am expecting them to refund the money they have taken for this ?? am I daft?) and that should be put towards the mortgage. Once the insurance is sorted this will mean I will be paying around £75.00 per month towards the outstanding amount.

 

Am I doing anything wrong and has anyone got any idea of what I can expect next?

 

I believe that if they do try and take me to court they will lose as I am making the payments, but have now declined my direct debit arrangement.

 

Looking forward to any help. Oh wuild I be able to get another mortgage from a "high street lender with this over my head?

[Crapstone]

What further action are they threatening and have they taken you to court previously?

 

If you have stopped the DD with your bank previously and now are trying to reinstate it then Capstone will say that it's either your fault or your banks. They know there is a problem and I was in the same position as you. I requested mandates but they were slow in sending them and didn't take the money. It's something to do with the account numbers and my bank blamed SPML and SPML blamed the bank but one of them should have been able to amend the details.

 

The same with the insurance. I posted, faxed and got my insurance company to call them but they still applied their own block insurance despite me proving that insurance was already in place.

 

Make a complaint to the Ombudsman as they are already aware of problems with Capstone, DD's and insurance. I complained and won and in their defence SPML said that they felt it unfair that they were always found to be wrong. Which leads me to believe it's not the first time this has happened prior to my case which was 2 years ago.

 

If your claim is a valid one then any threat of further action will stop until you get a final ruling but you do need to write to Capstone/SPML and wait for a final reponse from them first.