Husbands secret debts - insolvency

[Scythe]

hi,

I would really appreciate some advice on my situation
I didnt know about most of this until august of 2019 and I’ve been in shock but also battling GDPR and a husband with zero memory due to meds, so forgive me if I’ve omitted anything obvious to you guys.



Income details
Net monthly : €1025. I am a carer to our child with autism and receive half rate careers allowance
Income history: I have not worked outside the home since we moved to rural Ireland in 2006.
Net monthly income partner/spouse: 1632 - my husband is on disability allowance
Income history: he had a bad work related accident in 2004, worked back at same job different method until 2009, the became sole trader, this proved to be a disaster. Due to his injury he retrained for two years to work at different logistics company but his health is bad so he had to stop work, he had auto immune condition now and anxiety disorder, on lots of medication so unable to work or look after our child alone.
Amount of child benefit received 280 pm included in above income
Amount of Mortgage Interest : none now

Personal circumstances so we can calculate your reasonable living expenses
Do you need a car for work or do you use public transport? Car needed.
Number of 4 - 11 years old: 1
Number of 12 - 18 years old: 1
I also have my adult son living with us he is 22 and just returned to Ireland because of covid so he has no income at all.
Monthly childcare costs: zero
Medical costs : 60-80 pm

Home loan
Lender: Was UB but they sold it to Pepper in December 2019
Amount outstanding:
Value of home: 175,000
Interest rate: tracker rate
Monthly repayment 775.80
Amount in arrears zero

Summary of discussions and agreements with the bank
Investment property - Delete if not applicable
Lender: UB to Promontoria to Oyster to Link to Receiver
Amount outstanding: 190,000
Value of home: 200,000
Interest rate: 4.5%
Monthly repayment
Amount in arrears
Monthly rent received

Credit Union
Amount of shares 200
Amount of loan outstanding 0000


We have no credit cards or loans or finance on anything. My car is old but paid for.

Other savings and investments
Do you expect any lump sums in the medium term future?
Redundancy, inheritances, injuries awards. No

How important is retaining the family home to you? THIS IS PARAMOUNT

Any other relevant information
My husband had been keeping a lot of these things to himself over the years, he had actually got his investment property up for sale when the company who bought the loan took it over and appointed a receiver. They would not speak with him or an insolvency practitioner that my husband paid 650 euro to. The receiver kept the property for over two years all the time getting the rent and then sold it for 22% less then every other property of its type in Dublin in December 2019. He told me told this new company Link now want 60k off him, he’s got no assets bar the family home. But I have just spent months unraveling this web of arrears and just before xmas cleared 20k arrears he had allowed to happen on our family home. ( gift from family) UB sent a letter offering 15k to leave our home, that was how I found out about arrears.
I am not on the mortgage as we had two children when buying the house so it actually went against us when applying. I just gave him my deposit money and he got the mortgage in his name.
I was not his wife or partner when he bought investment property.

This may sound harsh but I’m tired of clearing up this mans financial mistakes and it impacting our family. I live super modest and cut my cloth , have no debts, other than household bills that I’m aware of .

I am scared , Ive 3 children here and one who will need his home forever, I have lived like a pauper for years because of the bad money mgmt of my husband and unable to let him mind the children has meant I cannot leave the home much at all. I really thought that after years of barely eating I had gotten my house secure and now he hands me a letter wanting 66k from him. They will go after my home, I can’t actually take this anymore, I need to make sure my child does not end up homeless as an adult and keep this home without debts or arrears, now he lands this into my lap like some dumb teen. I’m livid and scared, can anyone please tell me something positive or some way out of this financial slavery. Most of the mortgage on this home has been paid using my children’s allowance and disability payment for my child, but then I find out that for years UB were doing deals with him reducing the payment so Ive no idea where the balance went during that time.

i know most women won’t be in this situation as normal husbands probably don’t lie by omission as much but I need solutions rather than pointing fingers now, I do not want anything to impact my family home. How do I safeguard my home .?

thx for all replies

 

[Pinoy adventure]

This sounds like a right mess.
Best of luck

 

[dovetail]

Perhaps try to contact MABS helpline for free advice as a starting point?

Home

www.mabs.ie

Their phone lines operate 9am-8pm Mon-Fri! Tel: 0761072000 (there is a 'request a call back' function at the bottom of the web page also).


For your returned adult son without income - he could apply for social jobseekers / unemployment benefit. Perhaps he could even apply for temporary Covid-19 unemployment benefit if he has a letter from his employer? not too sure how this would work for Covid-19 affected employments that were outside the state - but perhaps worth a try?

MyWelfare, Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection - Online Services

<p>If you are unemployed, and looking for work you may be entitled to a weekly Jobseeker's Payment</p>

services.mywelfare.ie

 

[Saavy99]

Scythe, it's very sad reading your post and I'm sorry you having such a difficult time right now. I concur with the poster above, contact MABS, they will be best placed to advise you here.

Try not to worry too much about losing your home as long as repayments are being made, it will be near impossible for any receiver to take it from you.

 

[Scythe]

Thanks so much for replying folks, I’m still in shock I think. Will contact Mabs again see can they help X
my son applied for jobseekers so that should help him out until he can get a job up in Dublin , thx again

 

[elcato]

They will not take your home from you. That is safe so don't worry about that. My understanding is that your husband owes 66k and they are sending you letters threatening to take your home ? Is this correct ? Firstly you should send them back a letter stating that you have no means to pay this currently due to the medical prognosis of your husband. Tell them you will pay sometime in the future and to stop wasting their time asking for blood from a stone. Don't take any phone calls from them, politely tell them everything needs to be in writing and hang up. You could go to MABS but only take their advice if it is suitable for you and you are not starving yourself in the meantime. I re-iterate, your home is safe so stop worrying on that part. No company in the world would chance bringing you in front of a judge and have you explain your circumstances. They would be laughed out of court if you will excuse the expression.

 

[Scythe]

ElCato - an investment property was sold by receiver for quite a bit below market value, the 66k is the deficit including fees etc that they say my husband owes now. I am worried that they will try to attach it to my family home, would this make my mortgage unsustainable . Just very confused atm .

thank you so much for all your advice and calming words, I really appreciate it.

 

[elcato]

the deficit including fees etc that they say my husband owes now. I am worried that they will try to attach it to my family home, would this make my mortgage unsustainable

Under no circumstances agree to pay this by re-mortgaging your home. Let them swing for it. The worst case they can do is put a charge on your house for the amount outstanding but even that is a lot of hassle for them. In that case the charge can be clawed back if/when you sell within the next 12 years. An unlikely scenario at the moment from what you have said already. As I said before, don't engage over the phone and don't agree to any deal until you are in a position to pay them. Your home is safe.

 

[Scythe]

Thank you for clarifying that, it’s a relief of sorts, I have no intention of selling my home, I have fought long and hard to keep it and now have it without any arrears and am paying full amount without any major problems, until this. I will speak with a solicitor this week and Pepper, as I need to know how to get my name added to this mortgage. I’m so thankful to you for taking the time to help with this, it’s really calmed me down.

 

[elcato]

I will speak with a solicitor this week and Pepper, as I need to know how to get my name added to this mortgage.

Why do you feel the need to do this ? You are married so in the eyes of the law you both are 50% share of the home should anythng happen.

 

[Scythe]

My husband has a habit of forgetting to show me post relating to our finances, he sometimes forgets he even got post, if I’m not on the mortgage I don’t get the letters, as UB said.

I am also going to make a complaint to FO, UB purposely tried to make my family homeless, they refused the full monthly payment, and refused to let my husband clear his arrears for 3 months, during that time their Receiver refused to engage with my husband.

Had we buckled and surrendered our home we would have been entitled to zero state help as they had not disposed of the rental property. UB were wanting to pay him 15k to become homeless, because he’s a disability and they knew they were talking circles around him. I was not aware of that until he showed me the letter offering us money to leave and become homeless.

 

[TLO]

The reason UB offered 15K was because your husband has a tracker mortgage. Tracker mortgages have really low interest rates, which is good for your husband but bad for UB.

 

[TLO]

The biggest problem appears to be that everything is in your husbands name, and it appears as if he is barely, if at all, capable of managing his own affairs. It might be wise to consult your own solicitor to see if anything can be done to protect your own position.

 

[elcato]

@Scythe Could you edit your first post now to make it clearer so that posters here could help. Sometimes people ignore posts when they are a bit confusing. The below part is

How important is retaining the family home to you? THIS IS PARAMOUNT
Which of the following best describes your situation?

I don't care about keeping the family home.
I would like to keep it, but will get rid of it if it means I can get rid of the mortgage associated with it.
I really want to keep the family home even if it means having a large mortgage and negative equity for years to come.

 

[Scythe]

Spoke with two solicitors today both said nothing to worry about as far as my name not on mortgage, as it’s the family home, but neither think it’s a legal issue, more financial issue. I hope that’s the truth.

Mabs and Equality commission both had more to say on the issue, including the discrimination against my husband due to his disability by UB. Why would they not accept his money , from speaking with my husband they would have known he has a mental impairment and my guess is exploited it.

He’s not innocent in all this he should have admitted to me earlier that when speaking with the bank he couldn’t understand them really. Regardless I guess I’m the one having to deal with it.

The second insolvency service he paid 650 to have also done absolutely nothing for him bar take his money.

The first, took all of his paperwork and initial 150 and after a month emailed him to say, sorry can’t help my wife had a baby and I was busy, never heard from him again and refused to return my husbands documents.

I’m really livid at all these professionals today as I’m finding he did try to get help and all they have done was take money from him and allow the situation to escalate.

I really appreciate all your advice guys, I’d be lost without it. Thanks so much

 

[Scythe]

@Scythe Could you edit your first post now to make it clearer so that posters here could help. Sometimes people ignore posts when they are a bit confusing. The below part is

Sorry I’m a dunce on the iPad
there is no edit option on the bottom of that post so I’m clueless as how to erase that portion

Mod note: I did some editing.

 

[elcato]

Most of the mortgage on this home has been paid using my children’s allowance and disability payment for my child, but then I find out that for years UB were doing deals with him reducing the payment so Ive no idea where the balance went during that time.

Send a letter to them requesting all information and records of payments since the start perhaps. I presume you are still dealing with UB for the home mortgage.

 

[Thirsty]

Send a letter to them requesting all information and records of payments

Mortgage is in husband's name, am willing to bet bank have declined to respond to queries from @Scythe quoting GDPR.

 

[Scythe]

Send a letter to them requesting all information and records of payments since the start perhaps. I presume you are still dealing with UB for the home mortgage.

No UB accepted a lump sum payment from my family to clear all arrears and then sold the mortgage to pepper. They knew my husband was a vulnerable customer and yet offered no solution other than leaving our home. I presume that’s why UB wouldn’t accept the money from my husband last July when he offered to pay arrears, they told him “ it’s not as easy as that ”, and he believed them. I suspect they had earmarked our mortgage to sell on to pepper at a huge reduction no doubt. I rang them in September after they had rejected his appeal and got the arrears paid off in one phone call. GDPR has been a nightmare, but I think I have tracked down contact details and documents for all involved, banks , receiver, etc and I have FOI letters drafted to them all. I have also secured a disability rights advisor as they think my husband was deliberately discriminated against by UB so I need to get copies of everything for them too. Mabs have also said they would help, UB deliberately tried to mislead him into loosing his home.

thx so much for the edit elcato

 

[Thirsty]

@sythe - its a Data Access Request you want. Freedom of Information won't apply here.