# in arrears and agreement ended-what to do now.



## suzinurse (19 Jan 2012)

first i'd like to say i am writing this on my phone as hav no internet so apologies for poor grammar and spacing etc. We purchased our house in 07 for 305,000euro. Payments were always high but manageable as both had ok wages. From april 11 our situation changed and hubby was out of work until now. I was also put on 3day week and big drop in income. Could only pay 300euro a month and this was agreed wit lender. We are now 8,000euro in arrears and i am on illness benefit due to depression. Bank want us to go interest only for 6months at 1,022 which after food bills and all necessary household bills and bank loan that has been restructured as devised on sfs we would have 40euro a week left to cover any extras. I don.t know what to do or how much more i can take. We can't trade down or sell the house as its worth 110,000now and would stil be liable for the shortfall.plus we would hav to find somewhere else to live and still be liable for shortfall if voluntary surrender. We hav a 6month old baby and it breaks my heart to think we are living on a pittance and can barely provide for her. I am still wearing maternity clothes as i can't afford to buy new ones. Its just depressing me. I am in arrears wit esb bord gais and all direct debits this month are being returned as unpaid so i am being charged for this too which isn't helping. We are now looking at uk bankruptcy laws to get more info but just don.t know where to turn to next feel like i am in a dark tunnel that there is no way out of..any advice greatly appreciated.thanks


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## RichInSpirit (20 Jan 2012)

*SVP Saint Vincent de Paul*

Hi Suzinurse. 
Get some help from SVP. That's what we give them money for. It's entirely confidential I'm assured .


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## wbbs (20 Jan 2012)

Also, have you applied for mortgage interest supplement, make enquiries with social welfare or citizens information service.   I would also advise contacting MABS if you have not already done so, there is a bit of a wait for appointments.


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## Bronte (20 Jan 2012)

Suzi there is always a way out of everything.  There are lots of people in your situation who have come on here and the striking thing is that people seem to be struggling to pay the mortgage at all costs and not paying utilities and food and clothing bills.  People have their priorities wrong.  You should pay your food and heating and esb bills first and then see what you can pay to the mortgage.  Your husband, yourself, your child and your mental and physical wellbeing is more important than what any bank tells you to do.  I think also you desperately need to buy some clothes, go to Penneys, there have fab stuff for reasonable prices.  I think you also should contact Mabs, you cannot deal with the bank on your own.  If you post up the figures of your income and expenditure you may get other advice on here.  You probably also need to talk to someone other than your husband, have you a clear headed relation who can help you with dealing with the bank and give you a listening ear.  

For UK bankruptcy advice, there are a whole lot of theads on here on that.


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## Wishes (21 Jan 2012)

Bronte said:


> People have their priorities wrong.  You should pay your food and heating and esb bills first and then see what you can pay to the mortgage.  Your husband, yourself, your child and your mental and physical wellbeing is more important than what any bank tells you to do.  I think also you desperately need to buy some clothes, go to Penneys, there have fab stuff for reasonable prices.  I think you also should contact Mabs, you cannot deal with the bank on your own.



Agree.  People are misinformed and the banks nor Government are doing anything to ease their distress.  There are so many people out there in the OP's situation.  The amount of friends I have who are going without basic heating is staggering.  They are paying their mortgages before clothing, heating and food.  Absolutely shocking to say the least.


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## z107 (21 Jan 2012)

If I was in this situation I would do this.

Stop paying the mortgage, or pay a token amount each month.
Live my life as normally as I could, buying food and whatever the baby needs. I would look at moving abroad, and spend time looking for jobs in another country - probably the UK. When I found a new job, I'd move abroad and then start bankruptcy proceedings. You're probably never going to pay back a mortgage of that size so consider payments as simply a means to stall repossession. (pay as little as possible!)

It'll probably take a few months (or maybe years, the way things are going) for your house to finally get repossessed. Might as well put this to your advantage.

I would do this for the following reasons:
1. €300k is a lifetime of debt. Even if you pay this back - what will you be left with? Why slave for the rest of your life? Some people who can pay back their mortgage are deliberately defaulting.
2. You have to live, and try to have some kind of quality of life!
3. Consider what future you, and your baby will have in Ireland. The State is bust, and for the next few years things are going to get steady worse.
4. Charity is a short term solution. I believe you have to find a solution that you can work towards, where you are not relying on charity.

Remember also that, unfortunately, you are far from the only ones in this situation. 
I also recall in the 80s where an acquaintance in England handed back the keys. It didn't seem to be such a big deal at the time. They sold their stuff, and moved on with their life.

This is just my opinion. I'm not qualified to offer you advise.


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## colm5 (21 Jan 2012)

I would have to agree with umop in the previous post. Lifes to short, and your mental health is more important than a mortgage repayment.


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## Luternau (21 Jan 2012)

My sympathies to you and your family. This is not right. Life is too short to worry about this. As others have said, go out and buy yourself clothes, in Pennys or other places. Buy good food etc. You can be certain that the money you are toiling to pay the bank is just going into a black hole or being wasted on stupid adverts purporting to say that they are in business-when they are not. 

What has this country come to when incompetent banks and pursuing borrrowers to despair, destitution and depression, while at the same time these same institutions would not be in existance if it were not for the fact that someone came to their assistance-us, the people of Ireland. 
The reason government put us to the pins of our collar to provide this support was we were told that a healthy functioning banking sector was of systemic importance to the economy.

Surely normally functioning, healthy consumers are just as much of systemic importance to any economy than a bust banking sector? It is time that we as a nation of consumers requested a process that will rid us of this terrible scurge on society-banks trying to get their pound of flesh-and that means a bankruptcy process similar to that of the UK. God knows when it suits us we copy every thing they do anyway. It is not right that businesses can liquidate and but ordinary citizens cannot. The banks took a risk-not jsut the customer. This ineqity of process, where banks get support and customers dont, is not right.


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## Bronte (23 Jan 2012)

Luternau said:


> Surely normally functioning, healthy consumers are just as much of systemic importance to any economy than a bust banking sector? .


 
Doesn't look like it though.


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## suzinurse (30 Jan 2012)

Hi,

Thanks to everyone for the advice.

Just getting onto a computer now as couldnt reply from my phone for some reason.

Rich In Spirit-thanks, I have contacted the svdp,am awaiting a call out from two of their members,esb have threatened to cut me off as I can only pay €25 off my electricity per week and they want €65,bill is at €520.

Wbbs-thanks,I had applied but was refused as husband works more than 29 hours per week at the moment. Am also awaiting an appointment with MABS but have received a lot of advice over the phone.

Bronte-thanks for advice also, I have filled out a new sfs with the bank and have offered to pay €700 per month until things improve however on the sfs they would not take arrears into account so I'm still struggling to clear the esb and gas arrears. Once we get word back from back to see if they accept that amount I will know then if can get some clothes etc,if they reject it as the lady in the bank thinks they will, I am just going to buy myself new clothes and pay off my arrears and pay the bare minimum to our lender for February. My dad and my brother are also helping me out with finances etc as I am usually the one that looks after bills etc but given how I've been feeling a lot has slipped behind. Thanks Wishes, I agree, we are putting our mortgage before bills and heating and electricity which is stupid but even mabs have told me the roof over our heads should be the number 1 priority.

umop3p!sdn- We have both looked into moving away,unfortunately as much as we would love to my husband has a child from previous relationship so it would be very difficult to do this. I have been following the press announcements over the last week and if things get much worse we will have to look at one of these options when legislation is passed. Also I would hate my daughter to miss out on seeing her grandparents however if its our only option and we could go to uk for a year to be able to start over our lives again we will do it. Husband has aunt in uk and there are a lot of jobs in his industry so he would prob find work. Thanks colm5 you are right its just a very difficult decision to make.

Luternau-thank you, As mentioned before I do intend to hopefully sort clothes etc this month if possible. I'm more annoyed that the bank won't let me clear my arrears first to try to get straight again as I have done everything they have asked of me. At least if the arrears are gone I dont have a constant worry that I will be cut off which they say they will do unless i pay €65 per week which as long as I am paying the €700 to the mortgage I can't do.

Bronte I will fill out an expenditure form when I can, just down in the internet cafe and can only stay a while with baby. Thanks


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## 44brendan (30 Jan 2012)

" The roof over our heads is our number 1 priority".
I don't agree with this statement. In my opinion it should be "a roof over our heads is our number 1 priority". Assuming that your current house is in negative equity, you need to accept that your mortgage is unsustainable in the long term. Continue paying the Bank what you can afford. Arrears with ESB are also a priority and put them ahead of any mortgage arrears. Also prioritise living expenses etc. You need to work towars surrendering this house to the Bank (assuming you have no equity in it) and moving into more affordable rented accomodation. Your circumstances are such now that you should not worry about legal proceedings. They can't get blood from a stone and you must prioritise yourselves and your family!!
Look towards ridding yourselves of the burden of this property and starting out afresh in rented accomodation. Once you get rid of the worries and start prioritising the necessities life should improve. Despite what you might think, no Bank wants to penurise you. All of the threats etc. are a process and if you can't pay, the legal system can do little to you. Best of luck!


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## Bronte (31 Jan 2012)

Well Suzi it's good to hear back from you and even better that you have your dad and brother helping you.  That's exactly what you need. It's only natural that things have slipped after having a baby ( it took me 6 years to get back on track !) 

Re the ESB, I got an advert recently from them and they have this new system of meters, it doesn't seem to cost anything (you'll have to check it out) and maybe that will suit you.

Re a computer, that can't be easy going to an internet cafe with a baby, I think that libaries offer computer/internet access for a nominal amount.  

That is excellent news that your husband has an aunt in the UK, that may be an option for you then, you'd only have to do it for about a year to 18 months, depending on the figures you both ought to look into it.  Not sure yet on the new legislation being of any real use to people but should learn more in the coming weeks.  Remember the UK is really easy to get back from so your husband can keep in contract with his first child.  And it's easy for the grandparents to travel to the UK.  I don't think you'd literally have to sit in the UK for 365 days, you could come back and visit your parents with the baby for a couple of weeks from time to time.  One year of pain in your life might be worth it in the long run.  

If you want more advice on figures, in addition to the help you're getting, do up the figures on a piece of paper at home and then when you get access to a computer you can quickly type them in.  Glad that you are in a happier place now and getting support.


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