Refused re-structured payments without providing details of spouse's income

Hi - I searched for similar threads but couldn't find anything.

To keep it quick as possible -

I have an apartment mortgage, in my name only, for a property purchased before I got married.
I also have a joint mortgage with my wife on our house, purchased after we married.
I've been making reduced payments on the apartment over the last 3 years or so due to my income taking a 50% nosedive in 2008.
I've been rejected in my latest application to continue with reduced payments. The bank is looking for details of my wife's income. At the minute I'm paying €1,000 a month - the interest is about €500. The bank now wants full payment, about €1,500.

Without getting into major detail about income/expenditure, I'm just wondering if the bank are legally within their rights to add my wife's income to my capacity to cover the apartment mortgage - she has nothing to do with that loan, it's 100% in my name only. Maybe I'm being naïve?

I wrote a letter back appealing their decision, about 6 weeks ago, but haven't heard anything and don't expect to.

If I was to cancel my direct debit to them for the apartment and continue to send in €1,000 a month by cheque, could that land me in hot water? I don't want to damage my credit rating.

Many thanks for any help.

You've got to think clearly about this.

You're right that your wife is not a party to this discussion however you have to consider that you are the one asking for favors here.You are asking the bank to vary the terms of your mortgage. The bank is under no obligation to agree to this and is unlikely to do so if it believes that you may be able to afford the full amount.

Its up to you to prove that you are unable to make the payments. If you tell the bank that your wife's income is none of their business, then the bank is perfectly entitled to respond by saying "No" we do not agree to any further reduced payments.

If the bank says "No" then you can either continue with the lower amount and screw up your credit rating OR pay the higher amount.

It might be better to meet them half way, disclose your wife's income but let them know that your wife is not in a position to bail out your apartment for personal reasons.

Unfortunately, these are your choices.

Thanks for the reply Dr. Debt... appreciate the info.

In a similar situation myself. We agreed to give the bank a copy of my husbands P60 to give them a better idea of our joint finances but refused to give his bank statements etc. The P60 was excepted.

I also have a joint mortgage with my wife on our house, purchased after we married.

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Your wife's income and assets are directly relevant here.

You are saying that you cannot meet your contractual repayments on your investment property. Why not? Are you meeting them on your home? If so, you can reschedule your home payments to release money to meet the payments on your investment.

And as Dr Debt pointed out, the bank is not obliged to vary their mortgage with you.

Brendan

JamesH said:

Without getting into major detail about income/expenditure,.

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And what is really really important is your income/expenditure. Not who is legally responsible for what.

I agree totally with Dr.Debts advice.

If people are serious about actually tackling their debt and now the banks seem to have finally woken up isn't it about time that people put all their cards on the table and tackled this with the bank in as honest a way as possible. At the end of that day it's in the borrowers best interest.