Halifax Mortgage arrears and pending repossession ** Urgent **

[jj69]

Hi All...

I have been looking at this forum for a couple of months and have made the leap to register.

Anyway I would like some assistance with the following please and if this is in the wrong area please forgive me.

 

Basically I have missed several mortgage payments to the Halifax and the arreas currently total £7000.

I have had a few payment arrangements and some have failed due to not enough money coming in at the time.

I was made redundant back in Nov 2007 for three months then found contract work for about five months but the payments from an agency were random such as fortnightly or monthly and as I was an umbrella company and needing to pay bills I did not want to alter a steady income.

My wife and I seperated so that was one less income coming in.

I have been in full time work since July 2008 with a government backed company so know my job is safe and I have a good salary with overtime etc..

Halifax have been fair (but not flexible) with excepting random payments but now say I will recieve a letter from their solicitors about possible court action but this may be avoided or suspended if I continue to pay the actual monthly amount £840 and then put the arreas back onto the term of the mortgage.

The guy from Halifax did say the whole process could take up to six months but I would rather not go to court at all.

I have made payments since August,some contractual some not although I only paid £400 in December 08 which has prompted the action.

I plan to pay the full contractual amount in Jan 09 plus about £70 extra and will continue this for the next few months.

After speaking to the CCCS and CAB both advisors say they would not go for repossesion but rather except the payment scheme.As a side note I did ask Halifax back in Sep to switch to an interest only for a year but they refused unless I made six consequtive payments which they may agree to again.

Has anybody had a similar experience with this or Halifax and would they go for a reposssesion if I continue to pay my contractual amounts ?

I have bank statements going back over a year showing payments and should Halifax have allowed me to switch the mortgage when I asked?

I am only concerned if I go to court I may have an unsympathetic judge

Edited January 23, 2009 by jj69

[maroondevo52]

Hello and Welcome, jj69.

 

I'll move this thread to the appropriate Forum, hopefully you'll get some good advice.

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, if you have an income and can make the contractual monthly payments plus an amount towards the arrears each month, then no judge will order possession.

 

You need to write to the Halifax outlining your proposal for clearing the arrears (including a budget sheet) and asking for their acceptance in writing. Also point out the new mortgage pre-action protocols. The letter needs to be sent by recorded delivery.

 

If you need any help with the letter and budget sheet let me know.

 

Ell-enn

[jj69]

Thanks for that Ell-enn.

I have recieved the same advice from a couple of organisations so you comment has reassured me.

I am calling Halifax tomorrow to poay my monthly contractual amount plus £50 towards the arreas.

Is it worth trying to come to an arrangement over the phone with the arreas dept at this point ?

Also I have not recieved a letter from the solicitors yet but could be due this week.

Can I negotiate with them at this point and how long would the process take to get to court from this first letter.

Just a side note I intend to keep paying small amounts into the mortgage besides the contractual payment just in case the Halifax proceed with court action.

[Ell-enn]

I would definitely recomment putting any payment proposal in writing accompanied by a budget sheet to reinforce it. The trouble with telephone conversations (and verbal agreements) is that you can never prove what was said. If you put your proposal in writing they have to respond in writing and that is the safest way.

 

I have affixed the budget sheet we use, remember when filling it in that the amount you want to offer each month towards the arrears (on top of the normal payment) is the amount left over after everything else has been paid.

 

You should mention in the letter the Civil Justice Council mortgage pre-action protocols. If you would like me to draft a letter please let me know.

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn

Budget Sheet.xls

[jj69]

Yes if you could draft a letter that would be great.

The last person I spoke to in the arreas dept told me that if I kept up with the payments from Jan it would help me in case it went to court,it basically sounded like they were telling me ' keep up the payments and it may not get to court or they would go for suspended' , then add arreas onto the remainder of the mortgage term.

I am worried that previous payment plans have failed but that was last year and a judge may not be leinient if he sees this.

That said I did ask Halifax to put me on a interest only mortgage for a year back in Sep 2008 but they would only do so if I made six full payments of the contractual payment.

I have a budget planner already made out which shows I have about £140 left at the end of the month.

My arreas being about £7000 I can see Halifax may ask for an additional £100 per month..is this something they could enforce ?

[angelamc777]

I cant really offer any advice but can let you know a bit about my experience with the Halifax and mortgage arrears.

 

I owe £15,000 in arrears but have made the last 6 months contractual payments plus £40 off arrears. I should also be able to do this in the forseeable future. Payments before that were sketchy over the last 4 years to say the least.

 

As I am on a fixed rate, the interest on the arrears is calculated at SVR which is a lower rate, meaning it would cost more to have the arrears added to the capital. So this may be something to consider.

 

I have had no letter regarding solicitors, courts or repossession, but have had debt councellors call to my home which I was charged £100 for.

 

In my experience the Halifax have been very understanding and as long as payments are being made I think they will be with you also, though I suggest you also get everything in writing as others have said.

 

I also wanted to suggest perhaps you look into reclaiming any unfair charges they may have levied on top of your arrears. I recently sent off an SAR, and have found 2K in charges. I dont know if I will succeed in reclaiming them, but I thought it was worth a shot.

[Ell-enn]

Hi, on the budget planner you should only show the amount being left over as the amount you want to pay towards the arrears each month. You may need to increase the amounts you have put down for utility bills (as they have increased a lot over the last six months) and food etc.

 

I will draft a letter later this afternoon and post on here for you.

 

Ell-enn

[sleepingdog]

Hi jj69, I have had dealings with Halifax over mortgage problems due to redundancy ,variable income ,failed payment arrangements, attempted repossession etc. At the time I thought that halifax was not very helpful but when I look back and compare to the many horror stories that I read on this site with sub prime lenders I soon realised that they were in fact good and have since allowed me to change to another of their products to reduce my monthly expenditure. I did find their solicitors unhelpful though and may have lost my home had I not gone behind the solicitors back and nogotiated directly with Halifax themselves.

Hope you get over your problems soon.

Sleepingdog

[jj69]

Thanks Angelamc777...it is really good to have somebodys opinion who has dealt with Halifax so that is a relief..

I too have had the debt councellor which cost me a £100 (thanks)

Did you come to an arrangement with Halifax over the phone ?

Did you also go through their arreas dept ?

 

 

Hi Ell-enn I have got a copy of the budget planner so working on that now and thanks for the letter..I shall look out for that..

[jj69]

Hi jj69, I have had dealings with Halifax over mortgage problems due to redundancy ,variable income ,failed payment arrangements, attempted repossession etc. At the time I thought that halifax was not very helpful but when I look back and compare to the many horror stories that I read on this site with sub prime lenders I soon realised that they were in fact good and have since allowed me to change to another of their products to reduce my monthly expenditure. I did find their solicitors unhelpful though and may have lost my home had I not gone behind the solicitors back and nogotiated directly with Halifax themselves.

Hope you get over your problems soon.

Sleepingdog

 

 

I know what you mean at least Halifax are tied to FSA rules etc...

When you say going behind the solictors back did that mean dealing with the dept that had your account before the solictors got involved ?

I have the number of the last dept and they told me to ring them for future debit card payments.

Did the solicitors except any proposed payment plans ?

[jj69]

Just an additional note:

I have just spoken to Halifax legal and they have not requested a solicitors letter yet but will do after the 30th Jan.

They said that if I keep to payments up to the court date they may go for adjournment.

I asked about a suspended order and they said most judges would suspend or some may go for repossesion based on a monthly basis.

She was not giving any answers when I suggested about a monthly plan going forward but I intend to make my contractual payment tomorrow with additional and get them to confirm in writing...

Hopefully they will except these ongoing payments without pressing for court action.

I would like to try and get my mortgage product swapped ( variable rate at the mo) on to interest only but not sure how they would take this...

[sleepingdog]

Hi jj69 ,when halifax started repossesion proceedings I had to deal directly with the solicitors (drydens) .At court the solicitor asked questions outside the courtroom then stated as she walked off 'too little too late' .In court I found the judge sympathetic and was given time to sort out my employment problems which I did quickly yet when I offered payment plan over the phone to solicitors was told 'not enough'. This happened each time I phoned them with an ever increasing amount to repay arrears until 2 days before possesion deadline when I tried halifax who told me to negotiate with solicitors that was until they listened to my story ,they then offered to accept full payments only without any off arrears. They then after 6 full payments put arrears over full term of mortgage .As my mortgage had previously gone from fixed to variable during my employment problems increasing my financial problems I recently asked if they could help as I was concerned that if interest rates go up I could again find myself in trouble. They were able to give my a fixed rate and even increase my term. This has helped and taken a weight off my mind ,they also said that if I had got into financial problems again that they would go down all the normal routes of help before using court action even though they already have a suspended possesion order on the house ( for another 6 years) , I found this good as well.

hope this helps (by the way my arrears were 15k).

sleepingdog

[jj69]

Hi jj69 ,when halifax started repossesion proceedings I had to deal directly with the solicitors (drydens) .At court the solicitor asked questions outside the courtroom then stated as she walked off 'too little too late' .In court I found the judge sympathetic and was given time to sort out my employment problems which I did quickly yet when I offered payment plan over the phone to solicitors was told 'not enough'. This happened each time I phoned them with an ever increasing amount to repay arrears until 2 days before possesion deadline when I tried halifax who told me to negotiate with solicitors that was until they listened to my story ,they then offered to accept full payments only without any off arrears. They then after 6 full payments put arrears over full term of mortgage .As my mortgage had previously gone from fixed to variable during my employment problems increasing my financial problems I recently asked if they could help as I was concerned that if interest rates go up I could again find myself in trouble. They were able to give my a fixed rate and even increase my term. This has helped and taken a weight off my mind ,they also said that if I had got into financial problems again that they would go down all the normal routes of help before using court action even though they already have a suspended possesion order on the house ( for another 6 years) , I found this good as well.

hope this helps (by the way my arrears were 15k).

sleepingdog

 

 

Thanks sleepingdog...did you get a letter first stating that proceedings were going ahead ?

I would much prefer to avoid court at all possible especially as the solicitors sound non helpful.

My arrears occurred when I lost my job for about 3 months then had irregular payments for another 3-4 months working for an agency.

Did the judge take this into account when you attended ?

If I realised the difficulties then I would have asked Halifax to make changes way back but they were happy to except my payment plan foolishly thinking I could make up the arrears with my next salary.

By the way what did you offer the solicitors ? I was thinking of somewhere up to £100 then get the arrears extended into the mortgage for the rest of the term after six consequative payments.

[angelamc777]

Thanks Angelamc777...it is really good to have somebodys opinion who has dealt with Halifax so that is a relief..

I too have had the debt councellor which cost me a £100 (thanks)

Did you come to an arrangement with Halifax over the phone ?

Did you also go through their arreas dept ?

 

 

Hi Ell-enn I have got a copy of the budget planner so working on that now and thanks for the letter..I shall look out for that..

 

 

I came to 4 different arrangements over the phone with the arrears dept. Everytime I missed a payment, I had to phone and rearrange a new agreement. They initially wanted more than £40 off the arrears, but accepted this was all I could afford after the contractual payment.

[jj69]

I came to 4 different arrangements over the phone with the arrears dept. Everytime I missed a payment, I had to phone and rearrange a new agreement. They initially wanted more than £40 off the arrears, but accepted this was all I could afford after the contractual payment.

 

 

I've had about six in total and although I missed paying the contractual amounts I did pay about half in some cases.

I am worried they may hold this against me but I will try and arrange something with them tomorrow when I pay my contractual amount for Jan.

Did you account end up with the legal dept ?

[angelamc777]

Amazingly no!

 

Though this scenario has been going on 4 years

[jj69]

Amazingly no!

 

Though this scenario has been going on 4 years

 

That is amazing...I'm hoping that Halifax will except my ongoing payments and adjourn the court action..

It is good to know that other people are facing the same issues.

So are you currently back on track with Halifax ? Have they accepted your new payments ongoing ?

[angelamc777]

This Wednesday will be my 6th Payment in a row which has been on time and for the full contractual amount including £40 arrears.

 

Halifax has not sent a letter or had made any contact with me since I started making regular payments. I phone them every month to make the payment.

 

As I mentioned earlier I am now looking at reducing the arrears by applying for the unfair bank charges back.

 

I have only lately started looking at my debts and trying to organise my finances, something I have been notoriously stupid about.

 

I've been on MSE to save money and hope to clear most of those arrears over the next 2 -3 years. My income goes up in March making this possble. Once this is done I hope to start overpaying to get the mortgage cleared early.

 

Halifax have mentioned about adding the arrears to the lump sum, but I have not taken them up on this yet as the interest calculated on the arrears is at a lower rate than the capital Iyswim.

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, affixed is the letter to send with the budget sheet. You should sent it by recorded delivery and keep a copy of both the letter and budget sheet together with the receipt for posting. Check on the Royalmail website in a few days to print off the signature receipt. Keep all together safely.

 

Any questions, just shout.

 

Ell-en

JJ69 Letter.doc

[jj69]

Hi jj69 ,when halifax started repossesion proceedings I had to deal directly with the solicitors (drydens) .At court the solicitor asked questions outside the courtroom then stated as she walked off 'too little too late' .In court I found the judge sympathetic and was given time to sort out my employment problems which I did quickly yet when I offered payment plan over the phone to solicitors was told 'not enough'. This happened each time I phoned them with an ever increasing amount to repay arrears until 2 days before possesion deadline when I tried halifax who told me to negotiate with solicitors that was until they listened to my story ,they then offered to accept full payments only without any off arrears. They then after 6 full payments put arrears over full term of mortgage .As my mortgage had previously gone from fixed to variable during my employment problems increasing my financial problems I recently asked if they could help as I was concerned that if interest rates go up I could again find myself in trouble. They were able to give my a fixed rate and even increase my term. This has helped and taken a weight off my mind ,they also said that if I had got into financial problems again that they would go down all the normal routes of help before using court action even though they already have a suspended possesion order on the house ( for another 6 years) , I found this good as well.

hope this helps (by the way my arrears were 15k).

sleepingdog

 

Hi sleepingdog...what was the timescale like when the solicitors got involved ?

Involvement with the solicitors is not due until 30th Jan.

I have made my contractual payment today plus £40 extra,the lady in the legal team was helpful enough but did say because of the broken payment arrangements they would still proceed with court action but in most cases consider a suspended order.

I intend to keep ringing the legal team and make small interim payments such as £20 here and there as well as my contractual.

Did the judge mention anything to you about broken arrangements ?

[jj69]

Hi there, affixed is the letter to send with the budget sheet. You should sent it by recorded delivery and keep a copy of both the letter and budget sheet together with the receipt for posting. Check on the Royalmail website in a few days to print off the signature receipt. Keep all together safely.

 

Any questions, just shout.

 

Ell-en

 

Thanks for your helpEll-enn...

Just a quick question as you seemed pretty clued up in this area.

Do you know the timescale for solictors to get involved up to court action ?

My account is due to get involved with solicitors on the 30th Jan but am currently dealing with the legal team who said they would still proceed with court action but in most cases go for suspended as they would like to keep people in their homes...

By the way made a full contractual payment today plus £40 extra..not agreed with legal team but I paid the extra to help the cause..

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, if they pass your account to their solicitors they will issue a claim for possession in your local county court. The date for the possession hearing is usually about 6 - 8 weeks from the date of issue. So - if they issue a claim at end of January it will more than likely be middle to end of March for a hearing date. This gives you time to prove you can make consistant payments, and can easily be defended.

 

As long as you have an income and can show the judge you are able to maintain payments towards the arrears each month in addition to the normal monthly payment you will be OK. In your circumstances, there is no way a judge would give possession at the first hearing.

 

Hope this sets your mind at rest a bit - if you do get a claim form please let us know as it is important to put forward a credible defence.

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn

[jj69]

Hi there, if they pass your account to their solicitors they will issue a claim for possession in your local county court. The date for the possession hearing is usually about 6 - 8 weeks from the date of issue. So - if they issue a claim at end of January it will more than likely be middle to end of March for a hearing date. This gives you time to prove you can make consistant payments, and can easily be defended.

 

As long as you have an income and can show the judge you are able to maintain payments towards the arrears each month in addition to the normal monthly payment you will be OK. In your circumstances, there is no way a judge would give possession at the first hearing.

 

Hope this sets your mind at rest a bit - if you do get a claim form please let us know as it is important to put forward a credible defence.

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn

 

 

It has certainly helped me a lot more..could the solicitors push for repossession and have a good case backed by the broken arrangements ?

Also should I compile notes when the arrears started and the circumstances such as redundancy plus inconsistent payments from agency work.

Is it also worth mentioning that I had asked for the mortage to be changed last year ( only over the phone nothing in writing).

I don't want a tit for tat situation in court just need to be honest to the judge and prove I can make payments.

[scedminc]

Any chance of someone looking at this please as it is also to with arrears specifically my last post.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mortgages-secured-loans/175426-mortgage-securitisation-preferred.html

Thanks.