NRAM Mortgage Shortfall

[M4tttaylor]

Please can someone here help me and advise how i should proceed????

 

I have a mortgage with Northern Rock and when the fixed term expired approx 2 years ago i was stuck on the variable rate which almost doubled my mortgage payments at the time. This got me into all sorts of problems and subsequent arrears. Unfortunately my house price has decreased in value so much that i am now in negative equity of approx £20k and so cannot remortgage without a huge deposit.

 

In September 2011 it got to the stage that i had an eviction notice enforced unless i could pay £9k in approx 2 weeks. Somehow, with hours to spare, i managed to beg/borrow the money from friends and family and paid Northern Rock. There have been another 2 occasions since then when i have had eviction notices but again managed to pay before losing my home. This has happened for a number of reasons, illness, lack of employment, etc.

 

Last month i finally got back on track and brought everything up to date (or so i thought), but at the beginning of this month i started receiving letters saying i was still 1 month in arrears which i couldn't understand. When i spoke to Northern Rock, it became apparent that the month of arrears they claim i am in is actually Februarys payment which was due 1st February. Now this hasn't been the case throughout the mortgage, i have always paid on the last working day of the month and so expected tomorrow to be payment day. Northern Rock explained that this isn't a problem as long as the payment is made before end of month.

 

I have the money in my bank ready to make the February payment tomorrow, but unfortunately last week i was let go from my job (i am freelance) and now i have no income whatsoever. I don't expect to be out of work for too long, butits difficult finding work at the moment and i had expected to be in the same place for another 2 months at least so haven't lined up anything else yet.

 

The problem i have is, i have £920 in the bank ready to pay the February mortgage payment, but thats literally EVERY penny i currently have and i can't be sure when i will next earn (hopefully not long). Basically do i pay the mortgage payment??? Could i lose my home if i do not??? I doubt they will give any leeway due to the previous problems. I have a wife and 2 young children at home that i need to support an feed... what am i supposed to do??? I have no fuel in my car and so even if i get a job interview, i won't be able to get there... things really are desperate and i just need a few weeks to get myself another income....

 

Basically i just need to know if i should pay them by end of play tomorrow, or just give a token payment tomorrow and at least have some money left to get me through the next few weeks....

 

Any advice would be appreciated... i really do not want to be evicted.... but i can't starve my family!

 

Please can someone urgently advise???

[M4tttaylor]

Basically i just need to know if i should pay them by end of play tomorrow, or just give a token payment tomorrow and at least have some money left to get me through the next few weeks....

 

Any advice would be appreciated... i really do not want to be evicted.... but i can't starve my family!

[honeybee13]

Hello there.

 

I'm trying to get you some help. Please bear with us until someone with the right knowledge comes along.

 

My best, HB

[honeybee13]

Just a thought. If you are classed as unemployed now, you could look into what benefits you might be entitled to. Here's a link to a calculator to start you off.

 

http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx

 

HB

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, you need to speak to them and tell them of your situation. Ask if they will accept 1/2 payment this month until you get back on track - then follow that up with a letter confirming your conversation (send recorded) and ask them to confirm their acceptance in writing. In the meantime check out what help you can get with your mortgage - if you have children you may be entitled to certain benefits that you are not aware of.

[M4tttaylor]

Thanks HB, i'll look into that ASAP... initially just need to know what is best to do right now... i.e. pay them full mortgage payment so its fully up to date, pay a token payment now and keep the rest for living, etc...

but i will definitely look into any benefits i could possibly claim for, although i'd rather not take any benefits and just get back into work!

 

My wife asked me this morning if we have any PPI on the mortgage and if it would be applicable or not... to be honest i really don't know if we do or don't! and not sure if it would even apply as i am self-employed... one of the questions i'll ask northern rock when i call them.

[honeybee13]

Hello again.

 

Good point about PPI, it's worth checking.

 

HB

[M4tttaylor]

Thanks for your reply Ell-enn, i'll do just that when i speak to them. I'm just worried they will say no and start repossession proceedings again if i don't make full payment.

i'm guessing they will say the March payment is due on 1st March (tomorrow) and so by end of play tomorrow i will be over 1 month in arrears (i.e. march payment and whatever i do not pay them today).

 

Don't know until i ask though i suppose...

[Ell-enn]

They have to deal reasonably with you and as you are offering to pay something they should allow that for the time being. if you need help with constructing a letter to them please let me know and I'll draft one for you.

 

In the meantime, check out the benefits situation as soon as you possibly can.

[Lea_HTH]

You state in your original post that you stayed an eviction in September 2011 by paying 9k and then had two further incidents since that time where you managed to pay - and now you're saying that you thought you had brought it up to date...

 

My query is, when you say 'brought up to date', are you saying that there are no arrears on the account, bar the payment that should have been made on 1st February, or that you have brought your agreement following the suspended possession order and subsequent stay proceedings, up to date - i.e. that you still have arrears for which you are paying a sum towards?

 

I think the difference between the two circumstances is material as to whether or not you should withhold any further payment.

[M4tttaylor]

In September 2011 i paid just over 9k to clear all arrears. There were then a further two incidents where i didn't meet the agreed pay dates (and failed to phone and explain to them) and i had another eviction notice. I was told the only way to stop the eviction was to clear all arrears (which was about £1800) which was paid in full so the eviction was stopped.

 

The only money i owe them right now is the february payment of £912.20. If i pay nothing today (which is not what i intend on doing) then i'm guessing they will say tomorrow i owe them £1824.40 arrears. Does that make sense?

[Lea_HTH]

Right, so you didn't have time to ask for the suspended possession order to be lifted following clearing the arrears because you then almost immediately fell into arrears again?

 

I think you should contact them (preferably in writing - by email since the payment is due soon) and tell them that you will make 50% of the payment due to your circumstances and would hope that they could show some forbearance for your current situation as you had not expected to lose your job. Inform them that you are making a claim for benefits but expect to be back in work shortly and will resume full payments as soon as you are back in work (give them a time frame of when you expect this will be).

 

You could also contact your local authority and ask them if they can assist you with an emergency repossession fund payment (this is either given as an interest free loan or as a non-repayable gift) - it is a one off payment, but if it assists you and your family to stay in your home, then they will often consider an application. You're not horrendously in arrears, but come tomorrow it will amount to 2 months of arrears, and given that they already have a suspended possession order, they don't even need to return to court to execute the warrant.

 

If you have to make a further stay application and you manage to clear the arrears by the time of the hearing, I would strongly suggest that you ask the judge to dismiss the original suspended possession order so that next time you fall into arrears you are not immediately at the stage of eviction. It seems to me that they are using the SPO as a stick to beat you with, and that, frankly, is not acceptable.

[M4tttaylor]

Thanks for your advice Lea. I've been trying to call them for nearly three hours now and no luck. The one time I finally got through to someone they tell me their systems are down and asked me to call back in ten minutes! That was an hour ago and I'm still trying now.

I need to get something in writing to them ASAP. Do you know an email address??? I can then make a bank transfer...

[Lea_HTH]

They tend not to publish email addresses, you will need to speak to them and obtain an email address. Their website only provides a postal address and telephone number.

 

If you cannot get hold of them today, try not to worry too much - make the payment you can afford and try to contact them again tomorrow.

[M4tttaylor]

Good Evening all....

 

Apologies, but this is a bit of a long story!

 

A bit of history on this was posted back in 2012 as the following link;

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/topic/293875-urgent-mortgage-payment-problem/

 

Well, this escalated further and we eventually gave up the fight and accepted that we were losing our home.  

After months of trying to come to a sensible arrangement, the monthly repayments continued to rise until it came to a point where we were given yet a court summons in August 2012, which we attended and although the Northern Rock representative was extremely keen on taking possession of our property, the judgement ended up in our favour and a repayment arrangement was made.  It was a huge relief after a very tough time for me and my family. 

 

Then it got worse!  

I was out of work for 11 weeks and fell behind again.  

If i remember rightly, we were asked to pay approx £5k within just a couple of weeks to stop yet another eviction in November 2012.

 

 We literally had no fight left in us and simply had no means of finding the money NRAM demanded, so we gave up.

 We packed all our belongings and moved to another county for a fresh start in rented accommodation.  

 

***Before anyone mentions it, yes we know this may not have been the right thing to do, but we were completely fed up with the never-ending rate increases, house price dropping and unrealistic demands from NRAM***

 

In May 2013, we received a letter from NRAM, confirming our property had been sold for £128,000 leaving a shortfall of £38,470.  

This came as a huge shock to us, as we had the property valued at £160,000.  

 

We also knew someone that worked in the local estate agents who ended up selling the property and they told us that although they had advised a much higher price, NRAM insisted on selling the property for £128k.  

I certainly did not have the means to pay this debt.  

 

I was furious at the price the property was sold for, so even if i did have the money, i probably wouldn't have paid it to them if i'm honest!  I was expecting approx £10k debt, but definitely not £38k.  

 

My thoughts at the time were that they do not have anything they can take away from me anymore, so they can get in the queue with the rest of the people i owed money too (most of which lent me the money to avoid previous evictions).  I ignored them.

 

In February 2015, we received a letter from NRAM and this showed the outstanding balance to be £45284.74.  

I emailed the customer relations department to query the balance and advise that i had already been in touch with Mackenzie Hall (apparently working on behalf of NRAM) but never received a response.  

I received no response.

 

In June 2016, we received correspondence from Mackenzie Hall advising that their client (NRAM) is pursuing me for the mortgage shortfall of £38470 again!  

I had still not received any responses to my email of March 2015, so decided to not waste any more time responding to them again!

 

If i'm honest, I look back now and think this is the best thing we have ever done (although not the most responsible).  

The phone calls and letters stopped and we were able to make a fresh start with new employment, a new home (albeit rented) and we were and still are genuinely happy.

 

fast forward to June 2019 and we've just started receiving text messages asking to call NRAM regarding 'an urgent matter'.  

We've also received a letter requesting proposals to repay outstanding balance of circa £45k and threatening further action.

 

I'm really not sure where we go from here, as I can't afford £45k and although i could afford a minimal monthly payment, the amount I can pay wouldn't make a dent in the £45k for a long time.  I obviously don't want to be 'running away' for every and would like to get this sorted one way or another....  

 

Its over 6 years since NRAM made us aware of the debt and i've noticed the debt is no longer shown on my credit file which is great... I'm just not sure if there's anything i can do to stop any further threats in the future???

 

I appreciate this is a bit of a long read and I don't have copies of old correspondence so i'm just trying to remember exactly what happened and when.  I know i've paid a ridiculous amount of charges on the mortgage since first falling into financial difficulties and I'm also sure we had a PPI policy with the mortgage (although i think this was provided by a broker rather than directly with NRAM at the time).  

 

Can anyone advise on how best to proceed with this as I just want to face it now rather than ignore them again in the hope they will disappear (as i know they won't!)

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

 

[AndyOrch]

Threads merged.

[BankFodder]

I have scarcely read this thread but have looked at your last post. If your house has now been sold and you have no assets then have you thought about bankruptcy. bankruptcy would put you back into a zero position. After a year or so your bankruptcy will be discharged and you could start again. It will also deliver a much needed slap to Northern Rock etc

[dx100uk]

 

[unclebulgaria67]

Thing is the debt is used to write off against tax. They probably had some contingency insurance cover, so anything they recover is a bonus.

 

If you have no assets at risk now, you could say to NRAM that if they wanted to pay the costs of bankruptcy, then you would like them to confirm this and how this might be arranged.

 

Passing the ball back to NRAM and seeing how they respond might be your next move.