Repossession

[Ram19]

Hi,

I have missed a few Mortgage payments due to my OH losing his job. We have had a letter through threatening court action. Do I have any options? My OH has had a second interview for a job so hopefully should be back on our feet soon but need to sort this out before we get our house repossessed? Any help greatly appreciated

Call the mortgage company and start paying them! There is no payment that should be made before your mortgage. Are you working?

Have you spoken to your mortgage Provider and explained the circumstances? Are there any solutions they have offered? If neither of you are currently workin have you looked into Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) to see if you are eligible for assistance? Have you checked that you aren't paying for Mortgage PPI which could be paying it? There are plenty of solutions available, it should be a very last resort for a lender to repossess given the current economic climate they are much more understanding now that pre-credit crunch.

Rockchick is right. Lenders these days would prefer to talk to you about rescheduling payments and making other arrangements rather than going to court or repossessing. So do call and tell them you are having problems paying and see what they suggest. If you have other debts besides the mortgage that you can't keep up with it may be worth consulting one of the free debt advisory services such as CAB, CCCS or National Debtline.

If you have only just had a letter threatening repossession, court proceedings will be months away yet so you will have time to negotiate some kind of arrangement with them.

I agree lenders would prefer to come to an arrangement rather than take legal action

The Government has a mortgage rescue scheme (MRS) - may be worth investigating - it has been set up to provide safety for vulnerable households at risk of losing their home - but the best advice would be to contact your mortgage provider asap.

All of the above is good advice. I would just add that you really want to avoid the mortgage lender issuing proceedings at court. A county court judgement will affect your credit rating. If you find that you will not be able to resume sensible payments, as a last resort consider selling rather than waiting for repossession, the lender will generally give you a bit more time if you are proactive, and that way you get more for your property which would otherwise be sold quickly and not necessarily at the best price. The lender takes the balance of the mortgage plus their costs. Anything left over comes back to you. Obviously it therefore makes sense for you to sell instead if them doing it. Another point to consider is that you are considered to be intentionally homeless if your home is repossessed and the local authority don't have to house you - although this doesn't affect your ability to claim housing benefit for private lets. Personally, I'd go with all the above advice first and open communication with the lender.

Your mortgage provider HAS to help you, by law - they have to offer you some sort of assistance. We were four months behind and they worked with us and came to arrangements.

Ladykookoo, i think this is one of those, if you can't say something nice/helpful, then shut up type moments!!! Yes you dont default on your mortgage unless you can't avoid it but you know what, sometimes it is unavoidable - if you have a choice between making a mortgage payment or feeding your family its a bit o a no brainer really! Yes, people do have that stark a chioce - we did, but fortunately our mortgage provider were understanding and worked with us to avoid furhter distressing action.

Pick up the phone and talk to your mortgage company. It is horribly stressful but hopefully you will get some advice/help. Phone the national debtline as they will have advice.

Have you had your heads in the sand for a while? ignoring letters (i know we did) as your mortgage company really has to offer you options before it goes to court. Do you have young children?

Our company allowed us to go inerest only until we had paid off the deficit as we were paying over £400 a month extra to catch up and it was making things worse.

Firstly dont panic xxxx
Talk to them, (mine didnt help tbh but this was 2005) they may be able to give you a break, load the repayment onto the next few months, swap you to interest only.
It took my house 8ish months to get to court when my ex stopped paying. Even then i was able to stop it being repossessed by going to court and explaining to the them. They then set up an agreement where there was an over payment for a year, then it was all fine.