Is there any way out from Pepper for us?

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clon2562

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Hi, and thanks for reading what is my first post. Im not at all financially savvy, which you will see from reading my story! Ill try to make it brief as possible...
Had a rental property along with our family home, both mortgaged with KBC. Husband sole earner. About 11 years ago he was unable to work for a number of months due to health issue, and we fell into arrears on rental property . Used up all our savings to keep paying mortgage on family home. Entered personal insolvency. Personally, im not sure that helped us really. Yes, the rental was repossessed, and our 20,000 cu loan was wiped, but our home mortgage term was restructured so that now my husband will be in his mid 70s before the term is finished. We were told by our pip that our home mortgage repayments would be about 800 pm from then on, which foolishly we thought would remain so. We didnt even realise the extension of the term until it had all been finalised ! I remember the paperwork advised us to get legal advice - but our heads were fried from health worry and financial stress. We could barely afford to live week to week and cudnt afford to pay for legal help. It was citizens advice who sent us to pip, so we had no reason to doubt that everything would be done in our interest. And perhaps it was, but it really didnt feel like we were one bit better situated after the insolvency.
Anyways that went through in 2015, but the next thing was that kbc left the market and our home mortgage was transferred to Pepper. Although we did go through the personal insolvency, this mortgage was never in arrears - dont really know why they extended the term by about 8 years but we stupidly accepted it. It was a terrible time of health anxiety and money worry. We certainly weren't thinking clearly enough to question things. Anyways. He we are now 10 years later..
Mortgage of about 120,000
Property value at least double
No idea of the BER rating but its definitely very bad, as house is terribly cold but no funds to insulate.
Husband now healthy, though l have had a diagnosis and am having treatment .
We have a mortgage protection policy term assurance which was matched to our original mortgage end date, so im guessing this will expire 8 or more years before our new mortgage term ends!
Its all a crazy mess, to which we are now paying nearly double on our repayments to what the pip told us we originally would be doing!
But, being in our sixties now, and instead of coming to the end of our mortgage we are looking at another 8 years or so left. Is there any light at the end of what seems a never ending long tunnel right now?
Thanks for any advice, or insight. Sorry its all a bit vague in financial detail but just stumbled onto this site and dont have documents with me to be more precise. Thanks.
 
Many are going and have gone through similar and a lot worse than you and have come out the other end.

Debt of 120k on 250k house may sound a lot, but its manageable.

I'd check any files you had with the PIP and see what the terms were. Its possible you missed something or possibly there's an error. But also talk to Pepper and see what can be done that will suit both them and you. It may require a PIP to rearrange things and that might be the best option as they get something arranged far quicker than you trying to deal direct.

Also look at whether you have done tax returns for the past 4 years and claimed tax rebates on all medical expenses and also the fairly nice mortgage interest tax rebate the government gave in the last 2 budgets. There could be a couple of thousand there depending on your expenses.


Check the mortgage rate you are paying. Does this conform to any previous agreement?

Check your future finances - Current earnings, future Pensions, possible inheritance.

Check that you have re-contracted your utility bills at the best possible discounts. If you have not changed plan or provider in 12 months, do it today and save about 20% overall (about 30% on the unit rates, but no savings on standing charges)

If you have mobile phone plans and paying more that €15 a month - change today to 48.ie (Three) or clear mobile (Vodafone) or GoMo (Eir) - all offering the same service as their parent offerings - but less than 1/2 the prices. Takes about an hour for the change to be in effect.



Definitely talk to a PIP or other financial advisor - the fee will be well worth it. Check the savings on outgoings, check for tax refunds and acknowledge that whilst it may take a little longer than expected to clear the mortgage, you will be mortgage free at some point.
 
You can only do a PIA once in your lifetime. At the time of the arrangement it seems the property was likely in equity so can niot write off debt. As it was the original Creditor the ability of the PIP to do much with the rate is limited because significant rate reductions could be unfair and TBH its 2015 so rates were very low then anyway. The term was extended to reduce the payments.

Unfortunately it seems they were on a variable rate that has since spiked causing the difficulty.

If you want to maintain the life cover you need to extend the term.

You should try negoiate a lower rate with Pepper but you need them to voluntarily do it
 
If in your 60's and worried about managing the mortgage as you both get older. Maybe talk to a mortgage advisor about if a Spry mortgage would be an option to consider. I am a little older then you both but refinanced away from Pepper using them, or stay where you are for moment, keep reducing the mortgage and when you both are not working it might be an option then.
 
Hi, am hoping someone can help point me in the right direction as l haven't much of a clue about financial matters unfortunately. So, back in 2019 due to ill health I fell into debt and entered into personal insolvency which was successfully completed in 2021.
As part of the insolvency arrangement, a rental property l had, which had fallen into mortgage arrears, was voluntarily surrendered. I managed to keep up my mortgage repayments on my principle private residence, so there were no arrears on that. Both mortgages were with kbc at the time.
I did not attend any court, but did receive a document which was called a Standard Personal Insolvency Arrangement, which has a court reference and pia reference quoted. On this document, along with my debts at the time, it mentions my mortgage on my home. It states " l am proposing that the ppr mortgage be restructured : months 13 to 216 it then gives a current and proposed interest rate ( both figures being the same) and a new monthly payment amount plus a loan to value percentage.
My problem is this. Although this mortgage was never in arrears it got sold to pepper, who are now charging me not far off double what the monthly payments listed on the personal insolvency arrangement were. But looking at my paperwork I can only see that it says " i am proposing .... When it it lists the details of my restructured mortgage, so l dont know if these figures were agreed by the court , and if so do Pepper have to honour it?
Unfortunately I tend to ignore what l dont understand, so never looked into this until now, when I am currently awaiting test results to find out if my illness has returned or not. It's a worrying time, so l need to see if ive been over charged this last few years or not. Can anyone advise me where to turn? Is there some place l can go to see if the proposed monthly mortgage repayment on that insolvency agreement is binding, or did that only relate to when kbc had the mortgage, but since pepper took it over can they charge me what they like? In the event, although the insolvency agreement did clear some small debts l had, it ended up restructuring my mortgage term so l have that over my head now for longer. Of course if it turned out ive been overcharged, that would possibly mean l am able to reduce the term which would be a big boost to me as not too sure how long my health will hold up to keep working. Can't afford to pay for advice, so just wondering if anyone here might know whats best for me to do ? Many thanks for reading.
 
clon2562 said:
l am proposing that the ppr mortgage be restructured : months 13 to 216 it then gives a current and proposed interest rate ( both figures being the same) and a new monthly payment amount plus a loan to value percentage.
Click to expand...

So you entered into a Personal Insolvency Arrangement.
To do this you needed a Personal Insolvency Practitioner - a PIP, who acted on your behalf who drew up the plan and got the creditors to agree to it.
So you should contact the PIP and ask him to explain the agreement to you and was it just for 216 months or was the rate fixed forever.

Spoiler alert: It sounds as if the rate was fixed for just 216 months which is 4 years.

If so, then it means that Pepper can charge you what they like.
 
This assumes that your original mortgage with KBC was a variable rate and not a tracker rate.

You would need to read the original letter of offer or mortgage agreement to see what it says.
 
So, first contact the PIP.

When you get that information, come back her and do a Money Makeover.

Key Post - Basic information required for the "Money Makeover" forum

It can be difficult, but please try to use a meaningful title in your thread For example "27 year old with mortgage arrears". You will get a much better and much more coherent answer if you give as much information as possible in your first post. For example, if you give your mortgage rate, it...
www.askaboutmoney.com
 
Thank you for your reply. Actually, I think that figure of 216 months amounts to 18 years, not 4 unless I'm missing something.
I did indeed have a pip, and searching back for the company name just now, l see l did contact them years ago and got a reply that l don't think l ever acted upon. I was in a lot of heavy treatment at the time and perhaps l missed this reply, l don't know. But anyway, the reply states ....."as we no longer act for you, we can not liaise with Pepper, but the payment should be the amount noted on the proposal. If you contact Pepper and ask them to amend their records to reflect the court approved proposals, they should be able to do this"
So I'm hopeful, but wonder should l just contact Pepper myself, or would it be better to speak to someone like citizens advice first, and possibly see if l need legal advice or whatever, because l'm so worried about saying the wrong thing to them!
Thanks for any advice.
.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
So, first contact the PIP.
Click to expand...
She did have a PIP

Is there any way out from Pepper for us?

Hi, and thanks for reading what is my first post. Im not at all financially savvy, which you will see from reading my story! Ill try to make it brief as possible... Had a rental property along with our family home, both mortgaged with KBC. Husband sole earner. About 11 years ago he was unable to...
www.askaboutmoney.com

They got into trouble 12 years ago and hired a PIP who worked out a Personal Insolvency arrangment for them which allowed them to keep the family home and get out of the CU debt and the rental property. Mortgage term increased by 8 years. Mortgage is probably 110,000. value 250,000.

Both are in their 60's and looks like mortgage will be until they are 70.
 
clon2562 said:
So I'm hopeful, but wonder should l just contact Pepper myself, or would it be better to speak to someone like citizens advice first, and possibly see if l need legal advice or whatever, because l'm so worried about saying the wrong thing to them!
Click to expand...
Can you get out the paperwork of the Insolvency Proposal and see what it actually says. Yes you can contact Pepper directly. Don't worry about saying the wrong thing.

Can you afford the mortgage?

I think you need some help, so start with Citizen's advise and see what they say. Bring your paperwork with you. You should also try MABS.
 
If the PIA set the interest rate and repayment for 18 years, then Pepper must adhere to that.

It all depends on the wording.

First of all you should write to Pepper and inform them that the PIA said something different to what they are doing.

If it is their mistake, they will rectify it.

Brendan
 
My only advice in regards to Pepper is to put everything in writing and keep copies; don't do anything on the phone.
 
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