# Help - Mortgage arrrears



## lizannecasey (9 Mar 2009)

Age: 34
Spouse’s/Partner's age: None - separated with two children

Annual gross income from employment or profession: 53k

Type of employment: IS Analyst developer
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
Spending more than I earn

Rough estimate of value of home paid €272,000k in 2007
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 251,000K
What interest rate are you paying? 5.4%

Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc 
Personal Loan €3200
Credit union Loan €36000

Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Personal loan to pay credit card debt. Have gotten rid of Credit card.
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? 0K

Savings and investments: €9000 in Credit union but can’t touch it because of loan
Do you have a pension scheme? yes

Do you own any investment or other property? no

Ages of children: 9 and 5
Life insurance: €37 per month

Mortgage arrears €2492
Mortgage €1396pm (changed to a fixed rate before things started going bad and would cost me €8666 to change to variable)

Personal Loan €3200
Credit union Loan €36000
Utilities 150pm (ESB, Bin charges)
Oil – owe €200. costing approx €100 per month
Childcare 200pw (paid by my ex)
Phone bill €90pm (bill pay with meteor)
Cars (petrol, tax, insurance) 170
Health insurance 105pm
TV/Internet 55pm (sky and 02 broadband – cancelling soon)
Food etc 400pm

I’m panicking about the mortgage arrears. I’m cutting out as much as I can. I don’t go out at weekends. I purchased my house in 2007 on my own and I pay the mortgage on my own. I have my two children to support and I have a good job. When I purchased the house my mortgage was only €950 but then my TRS was capped and it increased to €1160pm. I didn’t realize that the TRS was capped after 8 years of purchasing your first home. My own fault I know but I wouldn’t have bought the house if I knew what I know now. I had to take out a Credit union loan to help purchase the house. I pay back €257 fortnightly straight out of my salary. I got into arrears at Christmas for December 2008 and January 2009. I have paid Feb and march.
I have phone the EBS and to be quite honest I found them very condescending and not helpful at all. All the debt sites tell you to contact the lenders immediately but I won’t be talking to them again. I know I’m behind and I don’t need them making me feel any worse. 
Can anyone tell me what the minimum is that can be paid back? I’ve paid €500 and I agreed that I would pay €500 per month but I won’t be able to. I did take on an evening job in a Gym but because I’m on a high tax bracket it worked out that I was earning €9 for 3 hours work. I had to give €7 to my mam to get a taxi home as she was babysitting for me. The kids were in bed by the time I finished so I couldn’t drive her myself.


----------



## Guest116 (9 Mar 2009)

Oil is high at 100 per month.
Mobile is very high at 90 per month.

You should be able to save 80 euro a month by cutting back on both of the above.

Do you really spend 150 per month on ESB and Bin charges?

Health insurance at 105 per month also sounds very high.


----------



## Mpsox (9 Mar 2009)

have you asked the EBS if they will let you move on to interest only payments for a period of time to allow you perhaps pay back the arrears? I know you may not want to speak to them but you may have no option

Is you former partner making any contribution other then to childcare? If so, can he increase it?


----------



## KFB123 (9 Mar 2009)

I know a case where the EBS are moving a mortgage to interest only. This seems to be the biggest saving you can make and if this goes through I suppose you should try and clear the small personal loan asap


----------



## lizannecasey (9 Mar 2009)

Thanks for the responses.
My oil bill is a bit high. The house I bought was built in 1979. It's a small three-bed semi. It was all I could afford and I wanted a home for my children. Unfortunately it's not very well insulated. I recently got the attic insulated. My brother kindly did it for me. I've turned down the temperature and don't have it on often. I try to light the fire some evenings to save the oil as I've dual central heating. I want to try and pay off the €200 before I get a refill.

My health insurance was with VHI but I recently changed to Hibernian Aviva. My insurance covers myself and my two children. I was paying more with VHI.

I did enquire with EBS about Interest only but they said because I'm only paying the mortgage for just under two years I couldn't do that unless I had lost my job.

Is it worth my time calling into my local branch manager instead of ringing credit control? I know my phone bill is high. I'm on bill pay as my mum is 75 and on her own and I have a daughter who is a type 1 diabetic. I couldn't take the chance of running out of credit if anything happened to them. 

I forgot to mention that I also have an €800 overdraft on my current account. I'm always eating into that. Just can't seem to get on top of things. When I do something always comes up that needs the money. It's like a viscious circle.


----------



## pc7 (10 Mar 2009)

I see you have a 3 bed house, could you put your daughters into one room and rent a room to someone to help with finances.  Could you ask for increased maintenance from your partner 200 for childcare costs would seem very little support.  Can you outline what you have in hand every month before you start paying out.


----------



## lizannecasey (10 Mar 2009)

I have asked my ex for money for things on different occasions for things for the children but he has never given it to me.  Don't get me wrong he does buy them clothes and shoes for when they are at his place and he contributes to the christmas presents and birthdays and school books (we share these costs.  They don't get two sets of presents at christmas or birthdays).  However his mother is the childminder and his dad is not working due to ill health so he pays them the €200 (which is far too much considering both children are at school and only there for about 3 hours every day).  I have tried asking him to give less to her and give me more but he has said he can't.

I'm trying to get a handle on my money so here is what I have spent since I got paid on Friday (6th March):
Balance on my current account was -€741.39
Wages   €1269.39 left my balance at €528.00
Transferred €690 into my mortgage account ( 2 weeks payments as I get paid fortnightly).  Balance was then €162.00 (€800 overdraft)
Paid €30 off ESB bill
Direct Debit €50 to oil company to pay off bill.
Direct Debit €205.30 to Aviva health insurance (will only be half next month).
€73 for swimming lessons for my youngest child.  Had to tell oldest child she can't go anymore for a while.
Grocery shopping €115.
€37 petrol

Doesn't leave me with a whole lot for the next two weeks.  I'm trying to  live on as little as possible.  I go home for my lunch every day.  I cook dinner every day - no take aways.  I don't go out as can't afford it.  I'm hoping now that I've paid my car tax and insurance and health insurance that I'll get a more clearer idea of what my spending will be.  I'v cut out as much as I can.

I called o2 about cancelling the broadband yesterday.  It's a years contract and runs out at end of may.  It would cost me €75 to cancel it now.  I don't have that to give them so I think I'll just pay the €30 for the next three months and cancel it then. 

I want to cancel sky (€25.00pm).  I'm going to try and get the free to air channels tonight.

I do receive €332 in child benefit every month which I was hoping to use to pay back my mortgage arrears.

Sorry if this post is a bit muddled.  My head is melted with finances at the moment.


----------



## jhegarty (10 Mar 2009)

To be honest I think it's time to get after you ex for more.

I presume a court would award you more than 3 hours baby sitting.

As there has to be something you can do about the phone bill. €90 buys a lot of minutes, how many do you use every month.


----------



## QED (10 Mar 2009)

Does your €53k gross salary in your first post include an annual bonus etc.?

€53,000 / 26 = €2,038 Gross per fortnight

You say that you received €1,269. This means that your net income received is only 62% of gross? Are some payments deducted directly from your salary?

Are you sure that your tax credits are correct? Without knowing the full details, I would estimate you should be receiving another €250 per fortnight.


----------



## pc7 (10 Mar 2009)

Instead of driving home for lunch and using petrol can you bring your lunch in with you? 
No more swimming for either child or extra curricular activies that cost money unless your ex pays. If he won't give you more maintenance you'll have to get him to pay for treats and that. 
Are you shopping in Aldi, your food bill seems quite high, is that for 1 week. Cooking things like stews is really cheap and good food that will do 2 nights dinners. 
Write down every penny you spend it really helps.  Agree with above your take home is very low for what you earn?


----------



## Kate10 (10 Mar 2009)

Hi there,

Your biggest issue is your mortgage.  You need to go and speak with EBS immediately.  I know you were upset the last time you talked to them but there is no point in avoiding the issue. 

The penalty for breaking out of your fixed rate an moving to a variable rate is a discretionary penalty - the bank could choose not to apply it.  I think you need to meet with someone in your local branch and explain your situation.  Bring your statement of means with them showing your income and your expenditure.  Ask them to move you to a variable rate with no penalty.  Explain that it will mean that you can pay off the arrears faster and ensure that you don't build up arrears again.  Their variable rate appears to be 3.63%.  This would seriously reduce your monthly payment to your mortgage while still paying interest and capital.

I know that the bank has no obligation to help you.  On the other hand this is a reasonable suggestion for a person with arrears with no real downside for the bank - yes they will lose out and get paid less interest overall.  On the other hand they will still be paid interest that they would be happy to accept from a new customer.

I think in the current environment EBS would be stupid not to work with you to resolve this.

Best of luck.

Kate.


----------



## lizannecasey (10 Mar 2009)

hi again,
Yes there is extra money taken out of my wages before I get it. Here's the break down.

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]PAYE[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]175.84[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]W/O AT  1.5%[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]31.42[/FONT]  [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]PRSI  PRA1[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]100.12[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]IMPACT[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]14.63[/FONT]  [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]LEVY  DEDUCTION[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]20.94[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif] CREDIT  UNION[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]257.00[/FONT]  [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]PENSION  LEVY[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]152.63[/FONT] 

 [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]S.ANNUATION[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]72.48[/FONT] 
My credit union loan repayment comes out of my salary before I get it.
I don't want to go the court route as my priority is that the children feel as little impact from the seperation as possible.
I asked him to pay towards the swimming lessons but his attitude is that I wanted them to do the lessons so I should pay for them.  That fee covers her for 8 weeks so after that she won't be going.
I do shop in Aldi and Lidl.  My eldest child is diabetic so I have to make sure that I have food that she can eat for regular snacks.  Last weeks shopping wouldn't be typical.  I had to buy non-food items like washing powder and bleach and cleaning stuff which I won't have to get next week.  My shopping would typically be around €80.


----------



## Bronte (10 Mar 2009)

I think the suggestion to go back to the EBS is a good one.  Maybe you need a bit of support on your side, to argue your case, can you go to MABS they are supposed to be excellent at negotiating with creditors.  I'd normally agree about not trying to rock the boat in relation to your ex but you really need to think about this.  Also not sure that I would count money paid to his mother as childcare costs as the same as maintenace to you for bringing up the children.  Maybe it would be cheaper for you to put them in childcare and receive the maintenance instead.


----------



## shoppergal (10 Mar 2009)

I'm not sure if you can mention other forums on here but there's a UK site called [broken link removed] that has a forum in it called moneysaving oldstyle. It's great for ideas on how to reduce grocery bills and there's people on there feeding families of 5 for 50 quid a week. Easier to do in the UK I know but you might get some useful tips.


----------



## shirley_d (10 Mar 2009)

Try switching to Airtricity, 13% cheaper than ESB and you can set up a monthly payment plan that evens out the cost.

I agree with other poster, can you spend less than 90 euro on your phone, educe you package, look into networks that Offer diffrent things. like free to certain numbers. Do you have a house phone as well as a mobile?


----------



## lizannecasey (11 Mar 2009)

No I've no land line phone just the mobile.  I've changed my plan so hopefully next month it will be cheaper.  I've made an appointment to speak with the EBS manager in my local branch.  going down to him at 12 today so fingers crossed I'll get something sorted with him.  If I could get the mortgage arrears sorted it would be a weight off my mind.
Ran out of oil this morning so that'll be another €300 for a minimum fill and I still owe the €200.  I had to agree to pay that so I could get the oil deleivered.
Maybe if I do the lotto I'll win and all this will disappear!!!!!!


----------



## Froggie (11 Mar 2009)

Your Credit Union should let you withdraw shares, I would think that they would be more than happy if you had 10% of the outstanding loan ballance held in shares. So ask them can you withdraw €5400 which would leave €3600 in shares. 

Restructure your CU loan, Repayments on €36,000 over 5 years are about €165 per week, and about €95 P/W over 10 years. (€90 extra to spend per week at least)

My wifes O2 bill used to be €100+ per month until I changed it to "O2 & Landlines" and a text bundle, now her bill is €45 per month.(€10 per week saved)


----------



## Kate10 (11 Mar 2009)

Well done Lizanne on making your appointment.  Make sure you have all your figures straight when you talk to the manager.  Try to be clear on what you need to get out of the meeting and be prepared to fight your corner!  Very best of luck with it.

Kate.


----------



## lizannecasey (11 Mar 2009)

Ok i went to the Manager in the EBS and he was very nice.  He suggested that he would talk to credit control and see if I could change to Interest only for a while to free up money to pay the arrears.  I mentioned to him about the credit union and my shares and he suggested that I go there first and see if they would let me withdraw money from my shares as that would be better.  As it happens his sister works there so he said if I had any trouble that he could have a word with her to see if she could do anything.
Following on from this meeting I went to the credit union and I asked them about it.  My loan is just over €35000  and I have over €9000 in shares. My arrears are €2280.42 exactly so I've asked for €2300.  The lady at the counter said that she didn't see a problem but it has to go to the committee.  That happens on Monday evening so I'll know on Tuesday.  Fingers crossed.


----------



## jhegarty (11 Mar 2009)

lizannecasey said:


> Ok i went to the Manager in the EBS and he was very nice.  He suggested that he would talk to credit control and see if I could change to Interest only for a while to free up money to pay the arrears.  I mentioned to him about the credit union and my shares and he suggested that I go there first and see if they would let me withdraw money from my shares as that would be better.  As it happens his sister works there so he said if I had any trouble that he could have a word with her to see if she could do anything.
> Following on from this meeting I went to the credit union and I asked them about it.  My loan is just over €35000  and I have over €9000 in shares. My arrears are €2280.42 exactly so I've asked for €2300.  The lady at the counter said that she didn't see a problem but it has to go to the committee.  That happens on Monday evening so I'll know on Tuesday.  Fingers crossed.



Very good. 

A prefect example of why dealing with the problem head on is always the best course of action.


----------



## callaghanj (13 Mar 2009)

Dont panic....you are not in serious mortgage arrears and no one is going to take you to court for this level. Just start chipping away at the arrears by paying say 100 euro extra each month the quicker you can repay them the better. You could also ask the CU to reduce their payment to enable you to get the mortgage arrears cleared. I'm sure the CU will be very accomodating dut you will need to ask to speak to their debt adviser to sort it out. Interest only mortgage break for 6 months is another option. Overall your problems can be easily resolved and dont let anyone tell you otherwise.


----------



## minion (15 Mar 2009)

I think you're doing the right things.  But the whole maintenance thing stinks to high heaven.  You need to see a solicitor about that.  There is no need for the children ever to know you had to go the legal route about getting maintenance, so it should have no effect on them, bar a better life for them.


----------



## lizannecasey (18 Mar 2009)

Quick update.  Credit Union will give me the money from my shares to pay off the arrears.  Thanks a million to everyone for your advice as I wouldn't have even tried that unless I had posted on this board.


----------

