Mortgage account monthly fees query

[ejrichie]

Hi there,

 

My parents divorced several years ago. My mother left a load of debts, including missed payments on the joint mortgage. She continued to live in the house for a while, and my father rented property from elsewhere. He had no knowledge that there were missed payments and had been contributing to the mortgage by giving his half of the monthly payments to my mum. The mortgage company never informed him about what was going on. Furthermore, they entered into an agreement with my mother but not my father regarding the mortgage. My mother then moved out, my father moved in and once he found out what was going on had my mother's name removed from the mortgage (although she is still there for the debt accrued).

He is now on disability benefits and contributes £20 a month to the mortgage (which is about £100 a month) with the govt contributing the rest. Since he took over the mortgage in 2001, he has never missed a payment. B&B have been charging £25 a month to "monitor" his account since 2001. This seems very unfair and he has repeatedly asked them to reconsider the charge given his recent payment history. He has been into the local branch, called various numbers and written letters.

 

I just want some advice really on how to proceed. Are we right in thinking that the charge should be stopped and is he entitled to claim the money back? I have been reading advice on this site and it is proving helpful, but there doesn't seem to be anything specific about these kinds of charges.

 

Appreciate all your help, ej

[thecornflake]

I haven't heard of this before. Is is part of the arrangement to pay back a small amount every month? I would defintely look into this, as there is no way they could be doing 'monitoring' that costs £25/month.

 

However, it sounds like they could argue it as being a service due to the use of the word monitoring.

 

I would look at other mortgage-related threads around here as some have good links to mortgage legislation. Also check out the mortgage contract itself to see whether there is anything official relating to this charge.

[ejrichie]

I'm still really confused! My dad was left with a debt of £XXXX from missed payments on the mortgage. Bradford and Bingley wanted him to pay back £26.70 a month, but he argued he could only afford £20. They took him to court over this, so I'm quite concerned that they would take him to court over this too. The judge agreed with my dad, so he is paying £20 a month off of the debt.Before the case, they were not charging him a penny to "monitor" his account, afterwards it was £10 a month, which rose to £20 in 2002 and £25 in 2004. He has tried since 2001 to get them to stop the monthly charge, with no success. They just keep reeling out the . But £25 does not seem a reasonable amount. Added up, it will come out as more than the debt.Basically, all the advice I have seen on this site, and I have done some exhausting searching, seems to concentrate on the one off fees you get charged when, for example, you go overdrawn. I am concerned that it will turn out that BandB can charge this fee as it is classified as a monitoring fee, although all that really means (and I have no proof) is that a flag is thrown if he misses a payment and this can be done through an automated system, so it's not like they are paying someone to sit there and watch my dad's account just in case he slips up. I'm also quite worried that they will turn around and call in the mortgage. Like I've said, he's on disability and is unlikely to be able another mortgage at a sensible rate. I don't want to promise my dad that there's a good chance he could get this money back if it's going to lead to more problems. I would really appreciate some help on this!

[homer_j]

I think that where mortgages are concerned, there should be no reason why you cannot claim for late payment fees and arrears charges as the process effectively is the same as your bank charges. An automated letter is issued and then you may get a phone call if you do not pay up within a few weeks of the letter being issued.

 

Clearly each lender has its own process but pick up the tarrif of charges for your lender and you will clearly see what they will charge should this happen.

 

The difficult part of being in arrears is that when solicitors get involved and legal action is taken, you are actually paying for actual costs incurred, i.e. a solicitor preparing the legal docs to get the case to court etc. As these are not punitive then you cannot claim for these.

 

Where you may have an argument is that should the punitive charging not have taken place, the arrears would not be as high as they are at the moment and therefore legal action should not have taken place. Example:

 

100 arrears

25 arrears charge

 

You pay 50 off your arrears

 

Your arrears is now 75 rather than 50

 

following month your arrears is 175 and then you get charged 25 fee

 

arrears now 200

 

you pay 50, arrears 150..

 

Sorry if that is not clear but it just indicates how arrears charges on mortgages snowball debt.

 

Charges on mortgages is something that I would like to see more discussion on as I know that reposessions are on the increase and arrears balances would naturally be on the increase to reflect this.

[philpaula]

hi , im working 2 jobs and all my wages goes on debts into a management plan .

my fiance also worked full time up until 3 weeks ago when he has taken sick leave due to an alcohol dependancey issue which he is booked into a clinic next week. his sick pay has been stopped due to an overpayment.

i have spoken to my debt management company who can help for 1 month by freezing all debts but my mortgage is seperate. my fiances wages would cover the mortgage payments normally but as mentioned above not this next few months worth.

i am struggling to support both of us even with the freezing of the debts outlined above .

 

i rang my mortgage up and told them the situation and they said they cannot give me any help at all regarding reduced monthly payments etc even just for a few months!

 

i find this unbelievable as ive never been in arrears before with the account .

 

we cannot get any welfare help s my fiance is classed as still employed and getting sick pay

 

does anyone know how to approach the mortgage company and possibly achieve a few months help from them and how do i get longer from the debt management company about the freezing of debts

 

please help am scared and worried sick

[ejrichie]

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