Advice needed, repossesion

[stressedout1967]

Hello, not sure where to start, but basically over the last two years we have struggled financally due to decrease in husbands income, and other debt problems such as councill tax arrears attachment orders on income.

This has led to arrears of 4700 and that is about 16 missed payments, the lenders have let us arrange payment plans based on budget expenditure over the phone, however when we made offers they would say, but you have this much left over and we would then stupidly commit to more than was affordable and then not ring and let them know this then led to us failing to maintain 7 payment arrangements, i know the company have been very helpfull in giving us the arragements .

My husband income is now back to normal and with an attachment of order for current councill tax we are able to afford morgage and 120 towards arreas each month, this was due to an advisor from the morgage company calling to our home and basically showing us where we were going wrong with other debts. our mortgage company has rejected all proposals sent via the advisor and myself, insisting on possession, on friday they said they were instructing solicitor to start proceedings. i just dont know what to say to them to them to avoid this action we are worried because a few years ago we had a suspended order placed which we cleared and i am worried the judge will not let us keep our home this time please help its making me so ill i have not slept for over a week. thanks

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, provided you can show the judge that you are now in a position to make monthly payments plus an amount towards the arrears then I'm sure you will be able to keep your home. It might be an idea to write to the mortgage company expressing your disappointment that they did not take into consideration the recommendations of their advisor (which they no doubt charged you for!).

 

The problem with doing an income and expenditure over the phone is that they do not allow you to account for things that are a normal part of household income. Also, you cannot be accurate with figures when put on the spot in a telephone conversation. I have affixed the budget sheet we normally use for this situation and it is the format accepted by the courts. The budget sheet calculates as you fill it in - complete it and see if you still arrive at the figure you thought you could pay towards the arrears. You can then send it to the mortgage company along with your letter, and if you have to defend possession in court you can show the judge you wrote asking for them to consider your offer. If you need help with the letter please let me know and I'll draft one for you.

Budget Sheet.xls

[Rocco17]

Some excellent points as usual.

 

There really should be some kind of standard I&E form that HAS to be used, as I'm sure the way they do them on the phone is one of the main reasons why people end up in arrangements they can't really afford.

[stressedout1967]

Thanks so much for your reply, i would really love you to draft me a letter, i dont think mine would be very good, also when i have phoned them asking to put forward a proposal they say it will have to be sent off and it does not need to be a letter over the phone a writtrn letter is not needed from me, is a writtem letter better to have. i wil do the budget sheet later as i have to go to work soon. and again thankyou for helping me. One last question when i do the budget sheet, as we have a ttachment of earnings on the wages should i do income taaking off the attachment or just put in the takehome amount thanks again.

[Ell-enn]

You should show the income before the AoE is deducted and then put the amount of the AoE in step 4 under council tax arrears. It's best to send a letter as you can use a copy of it to show a judge you have tried to come to an arrangement.I am at work at the moment so will have to do the letter when I get home this evening if that's OK?

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, letter affixed. You need to put the addresses in and your surname where there are XXX's. Read it through carefully. When you print it out make sure your printer is set for A4 paper (not Letter size) so it all stays on one page - staple the budget sheet securely to the letter and ensure your account number and name are at the top of it. Take a photocopy of the letter and budget sheet before you send them, in case we need to use them in defence of eviction.

 

Send by recorded delivery and keep the receipt for posting so you can check on the royalmail website a few days after posting to print off the signature receipt - staple that to the copy letter and keep in a safe place.

stressedout1967 letter.doc

[stressedout1967]

Hi i thanks for letter, i have been waiting on a reply from a proposal that was put forward, the answer was no yet again, i dont think i made myself clear before we have been in arrears since 2007, from as little as £200.00 to now 4500, because of this and the payment arrangements in place that we have broken they say 7 arrangements they say we are either unable to pay or npot committed to pay, my husband has been working all this time and myself part time, the arrears have been due to bad money management, debts and loss of income when my husbands hours were cut as we are now better off his hours are back to normal we have made cutbacks eg sky internet etc, they are starting legal action on the 16th and i really dont want them to do this but dont see anyway to stop them, i am so afraid the judge will see last suspended order and failiure to maintain morgage repaypments since 2007 and grant them possesion, my mortgage company is kensington and they have been good in letting us set up aggrements before i really dont know what to suggest to them i have offered 120 over the morgage payment which is only 280. they are saying they want a secured payment plan but that means going for reposseion and it will be up to the judge to decide, so i am not sure the letter although very greatfull i am will do any good. so i wondered what you may suggest i do.

[Rocco17]

stressedout, I've had issues with the same company over the past few weeks. Sadly I can't offer anything in the way of advice on how to deal with them before they start proceedings, as it was when I got the solicitor letter when I started trying to sort things out, but I do know how difficult it can be to deal with them, particularly with the waiting around for them to respond. They most probably do want to start proceedings as they get to charge more fees that way!

 

However I would say that writing to them could help matters. It certainly wouldn't do any harm anyway, as it at least gets things down in writing and shows that you are trying your best to reach an agreement at an early stage.

 

In my experience they did become a lot easier to deal with eventually though.

[Sand-Dancer0191]

""a few years ago we had a suspended order placed which we cleared and i am worried the judge will not let us keep our home this time"" This as far as a judge is conserned is in your favour...YOU complied with the order.therefor NORGEN agreement could be used.

Now they have refused your offer made with THEIR advisor..how GOOD will that look in court...

You might also queery your mort rate and how its calculated...they have no standard rate as a fellow cagger has shown in court..These people hide behind the law but avoid compliance of it...STICK with ell-en's advice (post 2)

[Lea_HTH]

""a few years ago we had a suspended order placed which we cleared and i am worried the judge will not let us keep our home this time"" This as far as a judge is conserned is in your favour...YOU complied with the order.therefor NORGEN agreement could be used.

Now they have refused your offer made with THEIR advisor..how GOOD will that look in court...

You might also queery your mort rate and how its calculated...they have no standard rate as a fellow cagger has shown in court..These people hide behind the law but avoid compliance of it...STICK with ell-en's advice (post 2)

 

No offence intended, but there is NOTHING in anyone's favour in having had an SPO previously, discharged it, and then run up arrears again. Not to mention the OP indicates making previous arrangements with the mortgagee and not sticking to them. These things are negatives - BUT - they are NOT fatal to the OP's situation.

 

Word of caution regarding budget sheets - had a very nicely prepared one brought into court by a client the other week. Judge took one look at it, admired it, said how comprehensively it was filled in, turned the pages (there were three), then dropped the bombshell...the clients had included the fact that they had two cars (one was definitely needed as one had a disability), but the Judge said 'get rid of one, your wife can take the bus'.

 

So be careful what you include, and how you include it.

[ole]

Hi stressedout, i am in the same possion as you with kennsington, i have failed or been late on payments was in court in 2008 and got a suspened order. cleared arrears but due to difficult curcumstanses arrears again. how have you delt with kennsington. i am writting to them and will let you know how i go on.hope we can both help each other.

[BornThisWay]

If I might just stick my 2p worth in I am getting the impression that the 'sub-prime' lenders (and this doesn't just mean poor credit rating, but also self certified earnings, self employed, etc.) are being very aggressive in trying to repossess. Kensington were one such lender and there is a definite trend for these people to be pushing to get their money back. I only hope that judges are aware of this since lenders who use repossession so readily are at direct variance with the Council Of Mortgage Lenders (of which they are presumably members) who say that repossession is the very last resort and reserved for borrowers who simply fail to engage and have just 'given up' which is clearly not the case here.

 

It is very unfair that they give themselves the right to rid themselves of these loans by any means possible without consideration of the worry and concern they are causing to borrowers who are doing their best to hold onto their homes. This is not what the Government expects to see from lenders and I hope they are watching the culprits!

[stressedout1967]

Ole that would be nice, i will happily let you know how i get on.

I have had no luck in getting any proposal accepted they tell me they want an order set through the court. its been such a bad year and half moneywise and i am hoping things start to pick up this year.

The attachment order set up on my hubbys wages has finally been paid this has been hard this will give us an extra 300 a month i can not understand how they can take so much. i managed to start making payments but couldnt meet decembers due to boiler breaking down. Talk about bad luck broke my foot last week too.

We are now ok finance wise it just looks so bad having missed so many payments on and off throughout the last few years. i have a letter today from the lenders saying they have now instructed the solicitors, so i have to just wait to hear from them, I dont have a clue what i do next. I am hoping someone on here will advise me when i get the letters. Its so hard i have told no one about our troubles as it is so embarrissing.

[Ell-enn]

Have you put a repayment offer in writing to them ?

[stressedout1967]

No i didnt because i had put in 3 proposals but recieved letters refusing each offer i made and i was told it would be the same even if i put it into writing.

[stressedout1967]

i was told via letter that due to the amount of payment arrangements already made and failed to maintain was the reason they wanted it taking through court,

[Ell-enn]

You should still write to them with your offer of payment and mention your dissapointment in their refusals. Enclose a budget sheet (I have affixed the one we normally use in these cases - it calculates automatically as you fill it in). If you do receive court papers then we can use a copy of the letter in your defence, this will show the judge that you have tried to come to an arrangement with them. If you need help with the letter please let me know and I'll draft one for you.

Budget Sheet.xls

[stressedout1967]

Thanks ellen i still have copy of the letter you drafted me before i will do that tomorrow and get it off monday morning. One thing they did tell me was that had i made 6 regular payments they would have capitalised the arrears on to the mortgage and they would consider doing this if a sop order was granted and i made the 6 regular payments...so i am hopefull if i do go to court the judge would grant this. we have 17 years left on our mortgage we owe 37000.00 and the house is valued at 110000. do you think the judge would consider this when deciding on a suspension of order.

[Ell-enn]

ok, but you will need to edit the letter to reflect the situation at this moment in time, remember to keep a copy

[stressedout1967]

Hi Ellen,had letters from solicitors Eversheds today, one is saying they are comencing court proceedings and have contactacted the court with an attached budget sheet to fill in and proposal for repayment if its not possible to pay the whole amount. the other letter is a list of the arrears. it does have attached leaflet showing how things will progress. they also say any proposal made will be passed on to the judge who will make the final descision but if the lenders do agree to the payment offer they will still take it to the judge so its under a court order. should i fill in there budget sheet and make proposal or wait till i go to court? and is it worth me sending the letter we talked previously about sending on monday to the lenders. how long will it take to get the court date is there an average time? I have to say the arrears sheet dose look bad over past 2 years we have missed 17 payments this through very bad money management. now there are no attachment of earnings and wages at regualar amounts i hope the judge will see this as positive and allow us to keep our home with a suspension order. i feel like we are the only people who have got themselves into a right mess.

[Ell-enn]

Are they saying they are asking the court for an eviction date?

 

it is definitely worth sending the letter and your own budget sheet - it will show the judge that you have tried to come to an arrangement.

[stressedout1967]

no its a possession hearing they are applying for i did ring the court and they said yesterday they have duty solicitors that will be there on the day and when i get my date to give them a call and they willl check that the duty agent will be able to help us and thanks i will still send the letter.

[Ell-enn]

Sorry, I thought you already had a suspended possession order ?

[stressedout1967]

we did a few years ago but paid it off and this they say is also out of date and no longer applies so they have to start a new possession claim. i did mention this as the judge will no doubt not be pleased we are in this situation again.

[william 4262]

Looking at the advise given and your situation I think you have a very good chance on the judge being leniant but straight to the point,especialy with regards

to your missed payments. You must keep all letters and offers made in writing and produce these in court also any responce made by the lenders on their

refusals, because this will not look very good on them in front of a judge,who will want to know why this is not acceptable to them.

Owing to the amount of homelessness these days the courts try their best to make agreements via court orders which could help you out this could

be a last resort on your situation. I have delt with Eversheds before on advice and it does work,as I have said you have had very good advice already good luck

on this.