Ulster Bank mortgage review issue

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Reuben321

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We have a tracker mortgage on our home with Ulster Bank which was taken out in 2004. We ran into difficulty on the loan in 2008 and by arrangement with the bank we moved to interest only payments. Since then we have had regular reviews with the bank and each time we were asked to pay a bit more towards the capital as well as the interest. Our financial position is not much better than it was in 2008 but we have agreed to the payments each time in an effort to try and keep the house.

In our latest review, last week, despite the fact our financial position has not changed significantly , we were told there were new guidelines issued in recent months and that our figures now show the loan is affordable for us and that we are now to go back to full capital and interest payments , which is essentially a payment more than double the payment we were making. We were also told if we make the repayments for six months they will consider recapitalisation of our arrears of €45 k which arose when our current arrangement expired and we were automatically put back onto full payments. The bank will not consider a mortgage term extension and we have been told we can appeal.

Our house now has significant equity because of the upturn in values and we believe that this is possibly the reason for the change in view by the bank. It is not an option for us to trade down as we would not get enough from a sale and we also would not get a loan from any this bank or any other bank because of our credit problems.

Is there anything we can do as we cannot afford full repayments or can anyone give us guidance on how to proceed now?
 
Well to kick you off, ask for a copy of these new guidelines in writing.

You will have to give some more info, as readers have no idea if your mortgage is sustainable. What income do you have, what is the amount of your mortgage, what interest arte are you on, what are your repayments.

When did you take out the loan, what is the remaining balance, the more info you give the better answers you will get.

€45,000 arrears built up over 9 years is a shortfall of €416 per month is that about right.
 
We are on an ECB tracker rate so that is 0.1% I think at the moment? The loan was taken out in 2004 and because of the financial situation that arose subsequently and the fact we were on interest only repayments, almost all of it is still owed (€400, 000 approx). Our income is around €3900 per month. Our repayments are now going to be €2676 (€1300 prior to this ) and our minimum outgoings are at least €1500- €2000 per month. (We have four children , some with health and educational issues). I hope that makes things a bit clearer.

Thank you for your replying.
 
What's the interest rate you're paying?
400k at 2% interest only is only 666 per month.
What's the term (either original or remaining). And what age are you both?
 
The mortgage is in joint names. The interest rate is ECBR +0.7%. There is about 10 years left on the term and we are both age 53 and 54. We never really made full repayments and we had a previous recapitalisation of arrears so almost the entire loan has to be paid now over the remaining term.
 
One last question - do you have any other debts?
The reason I asked about joint names is because the amount you'd be left with equates to roughly what would be required for a single person. I really can't see how you can afford the increased repayments with a family of 4.
 
We have a term loan debt of about €50k that was with NIB but was sold on several years ago and no action has been taken against us since nor have we received any correspondence on it since so we do not know what is happening with it. We do not pay anything on this loan and the interest was frozen before it was sold on.
 
Assuming the increased payments are unsustainable based on our figures and despite the fact the bank says they are affordable for us, does anyone have any advice or assistance on what we should do now? We have been told we can accept when we get the letter with terms or we can appeal to the ombudsman. We really want to try and keep our home and are hoping that our financial position could improve sufficiently over the next few years to enable full repayments but don't think they are sustainable now. Is an appeal to the ombudsman worthwhile? Should we just accept the terms to enable us move out of forbearance(being recommended and pushed by the bank) and do our best to try and meet the full repayments? We are obviously concerned that if we fall into further arrears that the the bank will force a sale of our home.

Thank you for any advice or assistance you can give us
 
I wonder does anyone know what address to write to get mortgage history from the start up to present day
 
The only reason they would have come to this decision I would think, is that you completed an SFS that showed a surplus and the ability to service the mortgage.A lot of people don’t actually know what they spend month to month and end up doing themselves no favours on the SFS.

Go back to your SFS and look at it again. Also appeal the decision and make a complaint. Ask them if they took the same figures as you put down or did they use their own figures.Next stop, ombudsman.
 
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