Under threat of repossession.

[northernbloke]

Hello.I hope I may get some words of wisdom here!

I am not working and my wife has been on long term sick for three years on around half pay. My mortgage lender got a possession order just over two years ago but have only now enforced it and we are to be evicted on 13/12/12. Our payments have been somewhat erratic (the money goes into my wife's account and she is supposed to pay bills but she has severe depression and doesn't keep up to things). Our arrears are £15000, the house is worth about £180000 with £152000 owing. I spoke to the CAB advisor on Friday and she said about the N244 form but before doing that, speak to the lender which I intend to do on Monday. My monthly payment (interest only) is £330. Do you think offering to pay this + say £170 towards the arrears is a reasonable offer? (I can only do this because my son has offered to pay it). If they don't accept that do you think a judge would think it reasonable? I think the only way forward is to sell up.Would it be reasonable to ask the judge for a few months "selling time". My other fear is that as my wife is still employed by a bank she could well lose her job,and income, because of this. Any input greatly appreciated. It's been good just to share my troubles!

[Lea_HTH]

Whether your offer is reasonable or not depends on how many years and months (exactly) you have left on the term of the mortgage. This will determine if your 15k of arrears will be paid back in time...in other words, to repay 15k at £170 a month would take just over 88 months (over 7 years). Do you have over seven years left on the mortgage? If yes, then a judge will consider that to be reasonable - particularly given your circumstances. You should explain all the circumstances surrounding why you have got into arrears and why you can now manage to make payments and keep to them. You should provide medical proof of your wife's illness and how it affects her, plus provide evidence that you will now take over control of the payments. You should also, if at all possible, have proof of the offer from your son - it would be best if he could attend the court with you. The court cannot compel your son to make payments, but judges can be persuaded by an adult child attending court and informing the court directly that he/she will help parents make the payments. Does your son live in the house?

 

The biggest difficulty is that if your mortgage payment is £330 a month, the 15k represents missed payments of around four years - you will need to explain why now is different from the time that you haven't made payments, particularly if your circumstances haven't actually changed or improved in the past four years.

 

A judge will only consider giving you time to sell if a) the property is already on the market, b) there is an offer on the table with concrete proof of exchange of contract dates and c) if you can make payment in the interim. Some judges will provide some flexibility on this, so long as the arrears are not increasing during the time to sell.

[northernbloke]

Thanks for the input. Yes, there are more than 7 years to run on the mortgage but really all I want is a few months to sell, during which time I would pay as above so the debt will be going down. I have had the house valued, as it happens the day the lender got their solicitors to get the eviction started. As we only had three weeks or so I didn't get it on the market. I thought by the time they'd measured up and taken photos etc. there wouldn't be time to sell and I would be landed with costs for what they had already done. My wife had her ESA stopped in July of last year. We have appealed and recently got it back but we've now had to apply for income based as she has had 365 days of contribution based. They stopped her DLA in March this year and we have an appeal on 2nd.January. Hopefully this will be reinstated as although they have different descriptors they base their decisions on the same Atos medical. My son has his own flat but he is a doctor so can afford to help us out. He only qualified last year so hadn't been in a position to help up to now. Do you think the threat to my wife's job is a helpful factor?

[Lea_HTH]

I would expect a judge to consider your offer seriously - particularly as you state you wish to sell.

 

No, the threat to your wife's job is not a helpful factor. The expectation would be that she would not allow herself into such a situation knowing it would affect her employability. It is, as far as the judge is concerned, irrelevant to whether or not you can afford the offer you are currently making. The judge will be more concerned about whether or not you can afford the offer you are making and whether or not a sale is likely in the current market. In addition the judge will look at the payment history over the past 2 years since the SPO was granted.

[northernbloke]

Just spoken to lender and they won't negotiate, they want all arrears, which as I said, if I had that amount I wouldn't be in arrears! I will have to try for a hearing.

[Lea_HTH]

Wait until you get the eviction notice to put in your N244 application - this is because if you put the application in before you get the NoE, it will cost 80 pounds (after 40).

 

It is likely your mortgagee has refused to negotiate because they feel they've heard it all before, so ensure your application to the judge is persuasive, but sticks solely to the facts, highlighting the illness appropriate (with medical proof) and showing how you can now afford things going forward (again with relevant proof).

[northernbloke]

I will get the N244 sorted asap.I intend to ask for remission of fees due to low income. I take the point about hearing it all before but the difference now is that it is my son who will pay the monthly amount and I will pay towards the arrears. I offered them £349 plus £150 towards arrears, or £500 in round figures and asked whether they would hold fire for 3 or 4 months but to no avail. I thought that for such a short time, with the payments +extra being offered it was a reasonable request. It's not like I was asking for that to go forward indefinitely and even then, the arrears would be gone in 8 years.

[Lea_HTH]

I will get the N244 sorted asap.I intend to ask for remission of fees due to low income. I take the point about hearing it all before but the difference now is that it is my son who will pay the monthly amount and I will pay towards the arrears. I offered them £349 plus £150 towards arrears, or £500 in round figures and asked whether they would hold fire for 3 or 4 months but to no avail. I thought that for such a short time, with the payments +extra being offered it was a reasonable request. It's not like I was asking for that to go forward indefinitely and even then, the arrears would be gone in 8 years.

 

The legal element of what is 'reasonable', will depend on what has happened in the past and how many times it has happened, and whether there is a reasonable prospect of it happening again - balanced with whether it is reasonable to give you another chance.

 

I have written the things I have in all posts for one reason; to ensure you are prepared for what the judge may throw at you in the way of questions. I have seen cases crumble before my eyes because a client has revealed something they neglected to tell me in advance - and which they felt compelled to open their mouths and inform the judge of at a crucial point in the proceedings. Don't do that. If you have it all written down and prepared ahead of time, you can present it to the judge, he can read it and then ask supplementary questions of you if he needs to.

 

Don't try to hide anything, be as honest as possible, and provide as much detail, information and evidence as you can muster without providing extraneous information that will be detrimental to you - e.g. don't focus of the amount of the arrears, focus on the fact you will clear it within eight years. Proving you can now afford the mortgage and something towards the arrears will mean you stand a very good chance of keeping your home at this stage, but obviously the SPO would continue and a missed payment will bring you right back to this stage again.

[hereigo]

Lea - could you please offer any advice on my thread - sorry to hijack

[northernbloke]

Hello. I posted in the repossessions section "under threat of repossession". I have been to court this morning and the very nice judge looked at my offer and suspended the eviction order so long as we keep to the agreement. The solicitor from G.E.Money was quite pleasant and I think he thought my offer was ok but as he said, he was following instructions. I had help from Christian Debt Line who are very good and helped with the N244 form. I am looking forward to Christmas now!

[inabind]

Hello Northernbloke,

 

Thanks for this post. As a result of it, I contacted Christian Debt Line. They were fantastic.

[northernbloke]

Glad to have been of help! I am sure the advice offered here is very good but you can't beat actually talking to someone.

[northernbloke]

Hello. I didn't know whether to post here or in the "Mortgage Companies" section. Anyway, We've been in arrears with G.E.Money for about three years. They wanted to evict us in December but I got that stopped in court by making a Norgan compliant offer. At the moment we are paying £349 CMI + £150 towards arrears. They called today offering to capitalise the mortgage which would mean a new CMI of £372. Obviously this is a good amount to save every month but are there any hidden drawbacks to this? Thanks.

[Ell-enn]

If you think you might struggle to pay the CMI + £150 for any length of time, then capitalisation would probably be a good idea.

[northernbloke]

Being cynical, my reaction was "what's in it for them?"as they'd called out of the blue. Presumably I end up paying more in the long run.

[Ell-enn]

You will pay more as the outstanding balance increases therefore the interest on that balance increases, but if it saves you money each month and you don't have any arrears then it would make sense to accept their offer.

[northernbloke]

I was looking at my GE arrears statement and there are three interest charges, one is for the loan amount, but the others are "Interest bearing charges incurred" and also "Additional interest incurred". These are not mentioned on the guide to their fees so I rang to ask. Unfortunately I am none the wiser. The person I spoke to had a strong accent and all I could get was they are charges on fees like the £40 a month arrears fees. He just said that the different items had to be shown as separate interest types. I said I thought it unfair that they charged interest on fees and he agreed with me! Anyway, does anyone know what the two separate interest amount cover?

[Andyglover63]

I am in exactly the same situation.

Any help anyone ?

[terrence]

I am in exactly the same situation.

Any help anyone ?