How long does it take before mortgage company repossess house?

[slippery slope]

Hi

 

I'm heavenly in debt, my partner has been on sick pay for last 3 months, probably continuing for another 2 months.

 

If I stopped paying mortgage and secured loan this month, how long before they would repossess the house?

 

Only have enough money to pay council tax, utilities and food.

[angel_1]

hiya slippery slope

 

so upto now mortgage and secured loan been paid to date and you have no arrears?

 

only asking for clarification as it also depends who the lender as ive had well known bank start after 3 months of full arrears although had been trying a catch up game of upto 6 months before that, it did go to the litigation team after 3 full months, but as i keep learning all the time, every lender does what they want but of course there are guidelines and if you can take a look at the FSA site you may get some good advice there

 

i would suggest you contact your lender and see try and negotiate a plan of kinds, they may be able to see if you can have a holiday payment for this month and then start afresh again next month or at least you start offering them something each month and then look at all your debts overall

 

my personal journey this year was that i wouldnt want others to fall into the trap in paying non priorty creditors before your priorty ones ie your mortgage, council tax, etc,

 

i did that early part of the year trying to pay everyone and i couldnt, hence the mortgage became with arrears over the months

 

i used the nationaldebtline site a lot and learnt a lot too, but here we can help you too

 

from my personal way of dealing with it all i came close to losing my house and was due for a possession hearing but managed to sort out my priorty debts and offered my non priorty debts a pro rate payment from funds left over after a statement of affairs was set up, ,ie a budget to your circumstances, then any money left over is offered to those non priorty creditors, ie overdrafts, credit cards, catalogues, etc,

 

i also visited rang national debtline who sent me a booklet Dealing with your debts, which i learnt a lot from also giving you info on the free charities that can also assist you ie payplan or cccs

 

i wanted to say hi and give you a bit of moral support, as i totally understand what you must be feeling today, i know and remembe from the beg of the year

 

pls dont worry for now - just get as much info as you can get and we can help you here too

 

as ive posted i believe youwill be a subscribed thread for me and so will look in later and hope you have had other replies that will help also

 

ciao for now maz

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

Hi there. I am so very sorry to hear of your dilema and maz what great advice:).

Are you sure you are claiming all that you are intitled to now. Do you have children? if so is youre child tax up to date. Are you claiming statutory sick pay?

 

Have a look on the DWP website as well.

 

Who is your mortgage lender?

 

olives xx

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

P.S talk to the council as well as if you are on low income now you may be intitled to help with that

 

olivesxx

[angel_1]

hiya thanks olive

 

i just had to give a reply it was as if i was back to where i was at the beg of the year, so i do hope ive been helpful

 

you also great advice:) totally forgot about the child benefit element and to claim council tax -

 

i hope things improve the secret is actually taking positive action however scary and becoming knowledgeable in the journey onwards

 

ciao for now keep happy maz

[slippery slope]

Hi all

 

Thanks for the replies, good advice. We have no children and have tried council, but my income doesn't allow us any discounts. My mortgage company is Inteligent Finance.

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, Have you been in contact with the lender yet? also do you know if they offer Payment Holidays? a lot of mortage lenders do this - you may be able to get 3 or 6 months payment free. You could also ask them to capitalize the arrears (i.e. add them on to the end of the mortgage).

 

I recommend that you make all contact with them in writing as any arrangement made on the telephone cannot be proved. If you need any help with writing a letter please let me know and I will draft one for you.

 

Under the Civil Justice Council Consultation Paper - Mortage Arrears Protocol, lenders are required to respond positively to requests for help from customers experiencing difficulties, but you do need to contact them as soon as possible.

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn

[angel_1]

hi there again

 

thank s for the nudge on my scales - much appreciated

 

i guess the crux of what i was trying to say is pls dont panic firstly , then take positive action.

 

like ell-enn has also said to contact your lender - which is a high street lender of sorts and thankfully not a prime type.

 

So hopefully they will be helpful to you and also they do have guidelines to adhere to

 

but also the other main thing i was trying to warn you away from is do not neglect your mortgage over the unsecured types of debts.

 

the unsecured type debts will have to help you too but at least you can take steps in addressing them once you get the mortgage and your priorty debts being paid every month on time -

 

in the early part of the year, without being involved then with this forum, i did panic and paid who screamed the loudest on the phone, got scared of being threatened with court action, ccj, credit file being trashed you name it - i got it. it made me so ill that i nearly gave up on even getting out of bed. Im so much better now so dont worry but i dont want anyone else to go through what i went through.

 

so pls sort our your initial plan with your priorty debts and regulare payments then we will help you sort out the rest okay

 

come back to us when you are ready to give us an update and take each day and simply deal with that days only queries

 

take care ciao for now MAZ

[slippery slope]

Hi,

 

I haven't contacted my mortgage company yet, because I have the secured loan on the property they do not offer payment holidays.

 

I really don't want to lose my home, but I can not see the Mortgage companies being sympathetic.

 

I would appreciate help with some letters.

 

Thanks

Andrea

[angel_1]

hiya Andrea

 

so from your last post, your paperwork would have told you that because you have a secured loan they will not offer payment holidays? - i have no experience of this so just asking for clarification for others to comment to see if there could be a way around this for you

 

otherwise, getting a letter to them asap is vital thus we can then see what reaction you get back (sent by recorded delivery - i use track and trace costs about 1.08 ish for 1st class post)

 

i basically first rang them and my mortgage company were initially okay with that, but i now wish i had put all in writing to them from the start - i think it allows you to have a think and time to check out stuff without being blinded by panic on the telephone

 

i guess it depends whether you are unable to meet fully this months payment, or would you be able to pay part of the monthly payment say by the end of this oct month?

 

would it be possible for you to consider if you already are on a repayment mortgage to go to an interest only plan for a while?

 

would you want to try and clear this full months payment over the next 6 months by paying an amount you know you can pay from next months payment?

 

im hoping ell-en has lots more advice and experience that may be of help

to you too

 

however, i feel you have done great in addressing this so early on, and trying to get to a point you can resolve over the next few months.

 

anyway will check in laters to see what else we can consider for you

 

ciao for now laters maz

[Ell-enn]

Under the Civil Justice Council Consultation Paper - Mortage Arrears Protocol, lenders are required to respond positively to requests for help from customers experiencing difficulties, so you need to write to both lenders straight away.

 

Do you have copies of your partner's doctor's notes to prove they are off sick?

 

I will draft a letter this afternoon and post on here shortly.

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn

[angel_1]

hiya again

 

just seen the update from ell-en, thank you from me for doing the letter, i would have tried to help of course but as my experience was mainly telephone i wouldnt know if my draft would be as good as yours, so thanks

 

i do hope this does get sorted as i really dont want anyone else to go through what ive been through this past year, im still paying the arrears off and hopefully just till the end of the year, but its been a huge learning curve

 

ciao for now maz

[Ell-enn]

Here is a draft letter for you to send to both your lenders - I have also affixed a budget sheet for you to complete and attach to the letter.

 

........................................................................Your Address

 

 

Date

 

Their address

 

 

 

Dear Sirs,

Acount No:

We are writing to you with reference to the above account to advise you that we are experiencing financial difficulties at present resulting in us being unable to make payments to the account.

Mr XXX has been absent from work since (date) and the doctor does not expect him to be fit to return to work for another three months. (Please see affixed medical certificate).

We are aware that in accordance with the Civil Justice Council Consultation Paper - Mortage Arrears Protocol, lenders are required to respond positively to requests for help from customers experiencing difficulties.

Therefore we are requesting your assistance in finding a solution to our current financial situation. The most obvious solution would be to capitalise the arrears to the end of the mortgage term and we ask that this is your first consideration.

Affixed is a budget sheet showing our present income and expenditure and from this you will see that without Mr XXX’s income we are unable to make payments at present.

I look forward to receiving your positive response as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

XXXXXXX

Enc.

 

Make sure you send the letter by Recorded Delivery, keep the receipt for posting safe with a copy of the letter (you may need to prove they received it) - you can then check on the Royalmail website a few days after posting to print off the signature receipt - keep this safe also with the copy letter. You need to send straight away.

 

Any questions, just shout:)

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn

Budget Sheet.xls

[slippery slope]

Thank you all so much for your advice, I'm deffinately going to do the letters when I get home from work.

 

I have been paying interest only on my mortgage ever since my partner was diagnosed, which was in June. But combined the two mortgages come to nearly £1000. I only earn just over this a month! so that leaves us with council tax, food, utility bills, car bills all out of £80 a week sick pay!

 

In my lunch hour I noticed in estate agent windows that houses bigger then ours are only £400 a month rent! makes me wonder why am I paying

£1000 for a house I'm never going to own! I'm 31 now and I owe more then the house is worth!

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

One more thought to buy you two mpre moths. Again with the council tax as we pay for 10 months and have two months off, can you ask the council for your two months now if you explain the situation?

 

Completly know how you feel with how much you are paying. My house is a three bed terraced and i am paying a sum like yours. Down the round a 5 bed dettached with garage and huge driveway was going for rent for

£850

 

 

olives xx

[slippery slope]

Change of plan, I've decided not to pay my mortgages or my loans and see what happens.

 

I know! you all think I'm crackers, I probably am! I'm never going to pay my debts off, I'll never own my home and I can't afford to pay the fee to go bankrupt. So I'm going to sit tight and wait until they either take me to court or take my home.

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, it would be in your best interest to send the letter asking for the arrears to be captalised because if they do take you to court you have proof that you tried to come to an arrangement and that might just help to stave off repossession. Also, they might just do what you have asked and add the arrears onto the end of the mortgage.

 

Ell-enn

[OLIVE.FAMILY]

Have you looked around the rest of the forums as well. With the help from this site I am managing to wipe out most of my debts without paying a penny. In fact so many have charged me that they actually owe me.

 

Also it is worth sending the letter all for the price of a pound, it could save a lot of headaches

 

olives xx

[cat100]

If this is the route you are going to take,please plan well ahead.Consider all options plus's and minus's before taking the eviction route.

You may be lucky if your with Inteligent Finance as this is part of HBOS ,there are good positive rumours from reliable sources that once the paperwork has been signed and sealed between government and Lloyd's/TSB and the take-over of HBOS then repossession's would only happen in extreme situations. So it may pay to hang on a bit longer.

As situation's get worse the government will not want to pour petrol on the fire.

[nuke em]

If this is the route you are going to take,please plan well ahead.Consider all options plus's and minus's before taking the eviction route.

You may be lucky if your with Inteligent Finance as this is part of HBOS ,there are good positive rumours from reliable sources that once the paperwork has been signed and sealed between government and Lloyd's/TSB and the take-over of HBOS then repossession's would only happen in extreme situations. So it may pay to hang on a bit longer.

As situation's get worse the government will not want to pour petrol on the fire.

 

 

"extreme situations" to a lender, any lender is when you are more than 2 months in arrears. Thats the min amount of arrears they need to take you to court for repo and the judge has to grant possession if you are more than 2 months in arrears. The only discression he has is the length of time ie possession granted in 56 days ( which is about the max you can hope for )

 

you dont say if there is any equity in your home.? also i agree the the above posters, try and get your outstanding arrears capitalised, write letters, many of them & try and reduce your monthly payment to them by agreement..

 

in my ( many) cases i was able to drag out the repos processes for over a year just by writing many many many letters offering all sorts of things. i even went to most of the hearings to ague to delayed possession ( which i got somehow in many cases. I was a hopeless case as i had many buy to let props which lenders/judges righly view as commercial cases and they were never going to help me, stupidly for the lenders as it now turns out with the shortfall amounts they are asking for and i will never be able to pay, but thats another story...) even so i fought with them all ( still am) not because i thought/think i could stop the process but to have the many experiences, learn the practices in order to help others and yes it is a major challenge dealing with muliple lenders, yes it would be easier just to delare BR and i might still have to/want to do that but by being in a no-loose situation ( i'm Bancrupt standing ) i carry the fight/challenge on, learning so much on way and with help from fellow Cag'ers, i'm not beaten yet !

[lucky01]

sign-up & lets put the pressure on!

 

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/savemyhome/

[angel_1]

good luck in what you decide ss

 

i have signed above petition - as nearly losing my home this year has been the worst year of my life dont want others to experience it

 

ciao for now take care maz

[tat2]

hi could anyone advise me i am 3 grand in debt with my morgage, i have one of got my friend to rent out my house, i offered to pay extra on my morgage to try and reduce my arrears they seem to have got upset becaus ei didnt tell them i was renting out to my friend as a way of extra income as im only on a part time job after quite a long time wiyh illness, i said if my financial circumstances didnt change in the next 3 months i would put my house up for sale with amediate effect, or if they didnt accept my proposals i would do it within a month... they still didnt accept and now say they will start litigation.... i fell like not paying my morgage and just putting my house up for sale in the next few weeks and informing them as they told me as im in arreares can anyone please help with advice thanks im getting really stressed thanks again

Edited March 4, 2011 by tat2
to start new post

[borrowedwhilstwerehere]

I have just posted a thread regarding my situation with this. Eviction then bankruptcy. I totally understand where OP is coming from. The banks must be laughing, paying 1100 for houses when you can rent better ones for half the price. People may see it as losing a house but you can also see it as removing the millstone around your neck. The thing is you can keep on fighting to stay in your house but what happens say in six months time? Accident, illness, redundancy. Its best to let go of houses in this climate but thats just my opinion.