To report someone for possible mortgage fraud

[Wheredoistart78]

Is it fraudulent to not declare an existing mortgage in another country when you apply for one in the UK?

@Testina actually up to now it's been somewhat of an easy ride.

My mortgage payments were manageable and due to housing crisis here I was happy to stay in my home.

Ok, let’s turn the question around, take a deep breath, and ask yourself these 2 questions

1. What can I afford to do? Not what you cannot do, but what you can do. The answer may be hard to swallow but this is the starting point to sort it.

2. What is the absolute worst thing that can happen? Can I manage that?
   In my case it was leaving the city and sofa surfing for a while with a child on thow until I could improve my finances, it didn’t come to that, but it helped me realise I could manage, survive the situation and thrive once the problem was out of the way (and I have)

Best of luck to you. Believe me, this is NOT the end.

You can’t stand a woman abandoned by her husband and left with a joint debt on the family home that she can no longer afford.

Charming.

OP, you are not approaching this the right way. His UK bank won’t care that he didn’t declare his Irish mortgage 8 or so years ago and won’t pursue it or take any action against him.

Get legal advice about divorcing him. A solicitor will be best to advise you on the status of the family home and on his other UK property.

Try ringing citizen advice or mabs for some real advice. As you are still legally married, I wonder if you have any legal rights to his UK property. You need to speak to someone who knows and anyone I know who had rang citizens advice find them very good over the phone.

The mortgage company, for starters.

@Testina no idea. But it’s definitely the case in the U.K. So id be taking no chances without consulting a solicitor

I had a property overseas when we applied for a mortgage - I did declare it but they seemed not to be bothered about it and maybe this was because I was not the person paying for the Uk mortgage.

Always report. People "minding their own business" is why so many people get away with fraud.

Please be aware this is absolutely not the attitude to take with the mortgage company. You were legally obliged to inform them of your change in circumstances 9 years ago and have not done so. If you want their help now, you're going to need to answer for that period of time. Saying it was because it made your life easier, rather than because you were struggling with children and trying to resolve matters by finding the ex would get a lot more sympathy.

I think this has the potential to affect or impact on her life if it’s an ex not paying towards a U.K. mortgage.

If you cannot afford the mortgage and the husband has disappeared in most countries the advice would be to see a lawyer. I would not be putting potential mortgage misdeclaration from 8 years ago on top of to do list. The triaged list would be working out what you can afford to pay, if you could keep the house, what the law in your jurisdiction gives on a divorce etc etc if you can get a full time job/ or second job to keep finances on track.

@MRex a few assumptions there from you. I absolutely did contact my mortgage company at the time and switched to interest only while I got myself on my feet.

It's been an easy ride re my mortgage payment as in the amount. It's only since last September when interest rates started to increase that it's gone through the roof. It's now more than double what it was this time last year.

@Xenia I changed my part time job to full time back in April.

Already have a second job, I've had that for just over two years. I work Monday to Friday from eight to four thirty then my second job from 4:45 until eight in the evening. I do five evenings one week three the next week.

I'm doing my best

You’ve been paying a mortgage for EIGHT YEARS without him, all the time paying money into an asset he co-owns?

I guess if mortgage is cheaper than rent where you are, and legal fees when he’s absent extortionate, and you know you couldn’t buy him out anyway… it’s not necessarily the wrong action. But still.
Have you done anything to establish your legal position over the value of the house?

This x 100.

@Wheredoistart78 you do understand that if you and X another together have a joint mortgage and co-own a property that if you keep paying when he is not, you are handing him money?

You are funding aproperty he is a co-owner of, so when you sell it, he will get half of the increased value of the property for all that time you were paying alone.

You need legal advice urgently I think.

Every lender asks on their application form if you have other loans/commitments so obviously you need to declare that.

Such information does not show up on your UK credit files and could therefore be missed. If you miss to declare a loan that is on your file, the lender will pick this up and most likely decline your application. I have come across this several times where applicants had been given defaults by phone providers when they changed contract without being aware of it.

If you have a commitment showing on bank statements that you have provided to either the lender or your broker, they should certainly have asked questions. It is a regulatory requirement for them to do so to evidence your affordability.

It may affect stamp duty, even if it it outside uk and regardless of residence. The starting point is that it does increase the amount of stamp duty as the UK purchase would be treated as a second home. However there are some exemptions.

How much equity do you have in the house? If it's not much can you afford to rent? Buy something cheaper?

@SirQuintusAureliusMaximus house was in negative equity for years. I'll be getting my legal advice on Tuesday.

@WonderingWanda my outstanding mortgage is probably the same as what the house would sell for.

My outstanding mortgage is not far off 400k.

In which case in your shoes think I'd be tempted to sell up sooner rather than later and buy something cheaper. That way any future equity will be yours alone. Or even renting if that's possible. Speak to a mortgage broker, see if you can afford a cheaper mortgage on your own. I'd sleep on a sofa bed in the living room if it meant being free from obligation to a man like that. I certainly wouldn't paying into something g he could take half of in the future.

I totally get why you are clutching at straws and you don't sound jealous. You sound like a mother who has been left to raise the children while a feckless father buggers off to start a new family.

Surely it would need to be declared when financial outgoings are listed.

@WonderingWanda thank you. I've stayed here as there was nothing for him to take due to mortgage being mostly the value of the house if that makes sense.

I could rent but it would be very expensive and the housing crisis here doesn't help.

Regarding your original question, my experience is that lenders don't care if you own a property abroad, unless you're trying to claim a first time buyer rate. I volunteered the information for our mortgage application but wasn't asked about it (we went through a broker, he said it would make no difference).

The only people who cared where the solicitors, because it can affect stamp duty rates.

I think you're getting a lot of responses based on your opening post which makes you sound like you're just being a busybody. Seeing your later posts I've changed my vote to YANBU as this is clearly something that is affecting you personally.

Without further details, it's difficult to say whether or not it's fraudulent.

But for all those people saying "Mind your own business" etc ... just bear in mind that we all pay for other people's fraud and theft one way or another.