Start Mortgages: threatened legal proceedings

M

mcloughlin36

Guest
I will keep this as brief as I can.

Due to a very lazy unhelpful broker last year who was supposed to arrange our remortgage - we had no other option but to find another broker to sort it out for us. They signed us up with Start Mortgages paying at the time 8%. At the time we had a mortgage with them for €320k for €1,984 a month. That has now risen to €2,643 a month and we cannot afford to pay our mortgage & support our family now.

We put our house on the market but Start Mortgages said that if we don't sell within the next 2 and a half months they will start legal proceedings against us and take the house from us - leaving us with all of our bills etc and having most likely to rent for the next 5 yrs.

Were do we stand - they won't freeze the mortgage for us - they wont let us pay interest only - they are not helpful at all and just want their money which we cannot give them.
What are we to do ???
 
Re: Advice,Start Mortgages threatened legal proceedings, Help!!

Horrible situation. I am presuming the reason you went with Start was that one of the traditional lenders wouldn't lend you the money for some reason. I would suggest contacting MABS and getting some advice. They might be able to deal with Start on your behalf. Good luck
 
Re: Advice,Start Mortgages threatened legal proceedings, Help!!

No, the broker who started our remortgage on 02 APR and by July still hadnt anything done, we were in trouble with all of our loans & bills. The new guy sent us there because I had just changed my job and didnt have enough payslips and said I was self employed (LIE) !!!!
 
Re: Advice,Start Mortgages threatened legal proceedings, Help!!

Unfortunately you have very little options when you miss payments with Start.

You can try and remortgage to GE Money, but if you can't afford the repayments with Start, it's unlikely you'd be able to afford them with GE either.

You should seek proper financial assistance form another independent broker or go to MABS as previously advised.

Best of Luck
 
Re: Advice,Start Mortgages threatened legal proceedings, Help!!

mcloughlin36 said:
No, the broker who started our remortgage on 02 APR and by July still hadnt anything done, we were in trouble with all of our loans & bills. The new guy sent us there because I had just changed my job and didnt have enough payslips and said I was self employed (LIE) !!!!
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Well then go to all the main lenders and see if they will give you a mortgage. Then you will only be paying around 5% instead of 8% interest. As you are in a hurry, it might be better to approach a broker (a good one). As for your last broker, I would question why exactly he was sending you to a sub prime lender on the basis of missing pay slips. These places should only ever be approched once all the traditional lenders have refused you the mortgage. I would certainly give some serious consideration to putting in a complaint about the broker for that advice.
 
Re: Advice,Start Mortgages threatened legal proceedings, Help!!

We have been to MABS & EAP and have also seeked advice from Eddie Hobbes. I have started to send emails to my local td etc. A normal mortgage of 320K should only be around 1,400K give or take - that wouldnt be a problem but our % is now 9% because of the CB increases.

All anyone has been able to do is tell us we have no other option but to sell the house, but how to we keep them off our backs until we sell it !!!
 
Re: Advice,Start Mortgages threatened legal proceedings, Help!!

Sunny said:
Well then go to all the main lenders and see if they will give you a mortgage. Then you will only be paying around 5% instead of 8% interest. As you are in a hurry, it might be better to approach a broker (a good one). As for your last broker, I would question why exactly he was sending you to a sub prime lender on the basis of missing pay slips. These places should only ever be approched once all the traditional lenders have refused you the mortgage. I would certainly give some serious consideration to putting in a complaint about the broker for that advice.
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Thanks but without payslips what can anyone do. I am only in this job for 6 months and then what, and we only just found out that I am pregnant - what a wonderful life eh !!! The company I am working for is not going to lie and say that I am permanent when I am only contract !! (I didnt know when I took it that I was pregnant) !!
 
Re: Advice,Start Mortgages threatened legal proceedings, Help!!

aircobra19 said:
What was their advice?
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MABS told us to cut out our Childminder who looks after our daughter while we are at work, (as if) they told us that if we continue to operate our account in the red (overdraft) the bank will close our account and will not let us bank with them anymore, they said we WILL loose our home, and to look at what we are spending, but if you count, petrol and nappies and food above and beyond what we should be purchasing then we should be alive !!!
 
Re: Advice,Start Mortgages threatened legal proceedings, Help!!

mcloughlin36 said:
We put our house on the market but Start Mortgages said that if we don't sell within the next 2 and a half months they will start legal proceedings against us and take the house from us - leaving us with all of our bills etc and having most likely to rent for the next 5 yrs.
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I wouldn't dismiss renting at all in your case. On a place worth 320-350k, you must be able to rent a similar house for half your current mortgage repayments, if not less. You're paying a massive premium for owning your own home when all that you actually need is a roof over your head. If you do sell this house, I'd seriously consider renting if I were you.

On the legal side, surely it would take several months or more for legal proceedings to amount to anything, so I'd say you have more than the 2.5 months in reality. I'm not sure where your credit rating would stand in this situation though.

Re selling your house - it's a tough market at the moment, so if you need to sell in a hurry then you need to price accordingly. Your house should be spotless too, its amazing how a tidy, neutral, non-personalised house can sell over a similar house that is cluttered with personal belongings.

Best of luck though, I'm sure it's not a very pleasant situation to find yourself in.
 
Re: Advice,Start Mortgages threatened legal proceedings, Help!!

conor_mc said:
I wouldn't dismiss renting at all in your case. On a place worth 320-350k, you must be able to rent a similar house for half your current mortgage repayments, if not less. You're paying a massive premium for owning your own home when all that you actually need is a roof over your head. If you do sell this house, I'd seriously consider renting if I were you.
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Thanks
We have a house currently on hold for rent and its lovely at a bargain of 900euro a month. Renting even for the next 5 years doesnt make us feel bad - loosing our home does. Our house is spotless but I am starting to feel that its not being marketed right !! Its a beautiful home, clean and in showhouse condition. We will just have to wait and see.

We are due to speak with the Financial Regulator Legal Aid next wednesday
 
Re: Advice,Start Mortgages threatened legal proceedings, Help!!

mcloughlin36 said:
Thanks
We have a house currently on hold for rent and its lovely at a bargain of 900euro a month. Renting even for the next 5 years doesnt make us feel bad - loosing our home does. Our house is spotless but I am starting to feel that its not being marketed right !! Its a beautiful home, clean and in showhouse condition. We will just have to wait and see.

We are due to speak with the Financial Regulator Legal Aid next wednesday
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As Conor mc said it would take several months for a re-possession order to be obtained.

I do some similar work for one of the other financial institutions and it takes at least that long. The courts are very forgiving and will give the borrower every opportunity.

They will sell the house and pay off the mortgage, if there is any equity left(after paying arrears and legal costs) that is yours.
 
Re: Advice,Start Mortgages threatened legal proceedings, Help!!

mcloughlin36 said:
Thanks
We have a house currently on hold for rent and its lovely at a bargain of 900euro a month. Renting even for the next 5 years doesnt make us feel bad - loosing our home does. Our house is spotless but I am starting to feel that its not being marketed right !! Its a beautiful home, clean and in showhouse condition. We will just have to wait and see.

We are due to speak with the Financial Regulator Legal Aid next wednesday
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How does the price compare to similar houses in the locality? Bearing in mind that the market is very soft at the moment, you may need to undercut the current crop of houses in order to get your sale. How many other houses are for sale on daft.ie or myhome.ie in your area? Have you had any viewings yet?
 
Re: Advice,Start Mortgages threatened legal proceedings, Help!!

mcloughlin36 said:
I have started to send emails to my local td etc.
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I don't understand. What has this situation got to do with your local elected representatives? :confused:
mcloughlin36 said:
MABS told us to cut out our Childminder who looks after our daughter while we are at work, (as if) they told us that if we continue to operate our account in the red (overdraft) the bank will close our account and will not let us bank with them anymore, they said we WILL loose our home, and to look at what we are spending, but if you count, petrol and nappies and food above and beyond what we should be purchasing then we should be alive !!!
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No offence but obviously you are living beyond you means and so MABS are totally correct in saying that something's gotta give. Hopefully it won't be the house but if you don't do something then it will be.
Stifster said:
As Conor mc said it would take several months for a re-possession order to be obtained.

I do some similar work for one of the other financial institutions and it takes at least that long. The courts are very forgiving and will give the borrower every opportunity.

They will sell the house and pay off the mortgage, if there is any equity left(after paying arrears and legal costs) that is yours.
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What sort of legal bill could the home owner face in this sort of situation? And presumably if there is no equity left then they could be further out of pocket?
 
Re: Advice,Start Mortgages threatened legal proceedings, Help!!

mcloughlin36 said:
A normal mortgage of 320K should only be around 1,400K give or take - that wouldnt be a problem !!
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320 even over 40 years 100% is min 1480 on a tracker from what Im calculating
You remortgaged because you couldnt afford your life style and now you cant afford your remortgage . I'm not blaming you but the problems lies with financial institutions who gave you all this credit in the 1st place.

anyway I hope that things work out for you
 
Re: Advice,Start Mortgages threatened legal proceedings, Help!!

conor_mc said:
How does the price compare to similar houses in the locality? Bearing in mind that the market is very soft at the moment, you may need to undercut the current crop of houses in order to get your sale. How many other houses are for sale on daft.ie or myhome.ie in your area? Have you had any viewings yet?
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Our house is priced very well in comparision to other houses in the area, they are asking for a lot more for what they have on offer. We only have the house on the market just over a week and have already had a viewing.
 
Re: Advice,Start Mortgages threatened legal proceedings, Help!

In answer to all of the quotes:
There is roughly around 100K equity in our home.
We contacte our local TD because they can give great advice on how to help in situations like this and what to do with regards to the Legal end.
We remortgaged because of my husbands bills but had the original broker processed our remortgage at the regular rate we wouldn't have been paying out nearly 3K a month (but I don't think there are many out there paying this amount on a mortgage of 320). Its the mortgage that is killing us. I am only working contract (although still searching for a fulltime position) even if I did we still wouldn't be able to do anything without payslips. I lost my job last year and was out of work for nearly 6 months - that has nearly killed us ! This is one of the reasons why we are in the position that we are in. We can't claw back the lost salary no matter what we try to do !!
 
Re: Advice,Start Mortgages threatened legal proceedings, Help!

Thanks, but we remortgaged because of my husbands bills but had the original broker processed our remortgage at the regular rate we wouldn't have been paying out nearly 3K a month
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Presumably this was the lowest rate available to you at the time due to lack of documentation like payslips. If you thought it should have been lower at the time, why did you go ahead with the remortgage?
 
Re: Advice,Start Mortgages threatened legal proceedings, Help!!

mcloughlin36 said:
Our house is priced very well in comparision to other houses in the area, they are asking for a lot more for what they have on offer. We only have the house on the market just over a week and have already had a viewing.
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Sounds like you're doing well so, it's a tough market so you're willing to discount your price to get the sale. Hopefully you'll get it sale agreed within the 2.5 months so.
 
Re: Advice,Start Mortgages threatened legal proceedings, Help!!

ClubMan said:
What sort of legal bill could the home owner face in this sort of situation? And presumably if there is no equity left then they could be further out of pocket?
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We advise defaulting borrowers that they face additional legal costs of around €3,500, that is on the basis that they don't contest the proceedings. If they do fight then the figure will increase significantly.

They could be chased personally in a negative equity situation but that is unlikely.
 
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