I hope this doesn't become a rambling tome but I'll try to make this as short as possible. My father was co-borrower on my mortgage and died in 2011, I started talking to the bank in May 2013 about the potential for difficulty with making repayments and how I'd like to try to come to some arrangement.
There were a lot of emails and phone calls over and back, I continued to pay my mortgage which was over 50% of my income and never let it go in to arrears. They eventually told me they would no longer talk to me about it and that I was to get a solicitor so I did. He started talking to them in May 2014 and by Jan 2015 approx, they stopped talking to him, insisting that I got financial advice, which I did, this person then told me to talk to a PIP. I started talking to a PIP about my possible options, reduce repayments by maybe 30%, shelve some of the mortgage, go interest only etc etc, he made contact repeatedly with the bank and each time they just said no, they wanted the house. I said I would sell the house and then the shortfall could be discussed as some informal arrangement, they said no.
In September 2015 I was told that my ONLY option was the surrender, something I never offered as a solution from the start but it seemed that this was the only thing that the bank would agree to.
In December 2015, I was granted insolvency, something I knew in my heart and soul was wrong but felt after talking for 2 and half years, I had no other options.
In February this year the keys went back to the bank and as of today, the house is still empty.
Am I mad to think I was shafted in this situation? That the banks and PIPs are in cahoots and no matter what sort of reasonable offer the individual makes, it will never be accepted unless it's what the bank want from the start.
Not one person I have told about this situation agrees that this is what should have happened, between rent and the Insolvency repayments I am currently paying out more than I was when I had the mortgage, something that makes no sense whatsoever.
Do I have any recourse?
When I finally get my credit rating back on track, I will be tool old to even hope to get a mortgage if I was so inclined, and I will spend the next 5 years with no credit at all. I was refused an overdraft of €400 recently for example.
I was never in arrears because I didn't want to draw the bank on me, I was doing things by the book. My father's suicide left my family in a difficult situation financially and we were all put on the back foot.
My brother on the other hand, didn't engage with the bank, my father was his co-borrower too and he's still in his house, paying half of his repayments for the last 4 years with no threat of losing the house at the moment anyway, he was recently told they would write down his repayments indefinitely. How is this fair?
I am a single woman which I feel played in to the hands of the bank, no dependents, not a widow, not a parent so it was easy to back me in to the corner I believe. That may sound a bit paranoid but I do believe that I was an easy target.
There is no hard and fast rule, I understand that, but how can engaging with the bank leave you up the creek without a paddle but not engaging can get you some sort of deal in a lot of cases?
There were a lot of emails and phone calls over and back, I continued to pay my mortgage which was over 50% of my income and never let it go in to arrears. They eventually told me they would no longer talk to me about it and that I was to get a solicitor so I did. He started talking to them in May 2014 and by Jan 2015 approx, they stopped talking to him, insisting that I got financial advice, which I did, this person then told me to talk to a PIP. I started talking to a PIP about my possible options, reduce repayments by maybe 30%, shelve some of the mortgage, go interest only etc etc, he made contact repeatedly with the bank and each time they just said no, they wanted the house. I said I would sell the house and then the shortfall could be discussed as some informal arrangement, they said no.
In September 2015 I was told that my ONLY option was the surrender, something I never offered as a solution from the start but it seemed that this was the only thing that the bank would agree to.
In December 2015, I was granted insolvency, something I knew in my heart and soul was wrong but felt after talking for 2 and half years, I had no other options.
In February this year the keys went back to the bank and as of today, the house is still empty.
Am I mad to think I was shafted in this situation? That the banks and PIPs are in cahoots and no matter what sort of reasonable offer the individual makes, it will never be accepted unless it's what the bank want from the start.
Not one person I have told about this situation agrees that this is what should have happened, between rent and the Insolvency repayments I am currently paying out more than I was when I had the mortgage, something that makes no sense whatsoever.
Do I have any recourse?
When I finally get my credit rating back on track, I will be tool old to even hope to get a mortgage if I was so inclined, and I will spend the next 5 years with no credit at all. I was refused an overdraft of €400 recently for example.
I was never in arrears because I didn't want to draw the bank on me, I was doing things by the book. My father's suicide left my family in a difficult situation financially and we were all put on the back foot.
My brother on the other hand, didn't engage with the bank, my father was his co-borrower too and he's still in his house, paying half of his repayments for the last 4 years with no threat of losing the house at the moment anyway, he was recently told they would write down his repayments indefinitely. How is this fair?
I am a single woman which I feel played in to the hands of the bank, no dependents, not a widow, not a parent so it was easy to back me in to the corner I believe. That may sound a bit paranoid but I do believe that I was an easy target.
There is no hard and fast rule, I understand that, but how can engaging with the bank leave you up the creek without a paddle but not engaging can get you some sort of deal in a lot of cases?
