W
WRIGHTZER
Guest
Hi All
To begin with both myself and my partner had bad credit histories so we applied to Start Mortgages and in Sept 2006 they gave us a mortgage.
We knew the interest rate was high but figured with the country going well we would be able to remortgage with another lender once our credit ratings were ok. We were also told by the above lender that if we maintained our repayment record for 3 years we would be eligible for a reduced interest rate. This was a verbal declaration so we had nothing in writing. We at the time thought no more about this and continued to maintain a perfect payment record and after 3 years we asked about the reduced rate but were told that no such facility was ever offered by Start Mortgages.
At this stage the economy was in the midst of recession and even though we were disallusioned with the response we had no choice but to continue making repayments. There was only one wage coming in so this combined with the other loans and bills was fast becoming a major struggle. We continued to make full repayments up until June 2011 and prior to this date we contacted the mortgage company to let them know we were going to have problems paying the mortgage. They sent us out the MARP documents to fill out. We filled them out and sent them back.
It took up to six weeks to get a proper response from them. We were not in arrears at this stage. Our payment at the time was 1080 euro and they offered us interest only which made a difference of 120 euro. At this point we had paid almost 76000 euro in payments with approx 4000 euro coming off the principal. The Marp procedure had recommended that we could afford approx 550 euro.
We challenged the interest only option so they then offered to let us pay approx 550 euro for three months with a view to renegotiating all our other debt with our other creditors, which basically meant we would pay the other creditors less to give the mortgage company more each month. At the highest interest rate we paid approx 1650 euro and we are fully aware that eventually our rate will go back up to this level or higher as interest rates rise and we loose our TRS. We found this unacceptable as we wanted to pay all our other creditors in full. And even if we continued to pay our mortgage with full
repayments for up to fifteen years we would still only pay just over 10000 euro total off the principal.
We decided based on this not to pay anything.
I know this is not the way forward but we are at our wits end. We want to hand back the keys. We know that once we hand back the keys that they will still pursue us for the outstanding balance and any costs incurred by the lender also. We also know that because we signed a contract the law is on there side.
The main query that we have is has anybody ever successfully negotiated a deal with Start whereby they take a write down on the outstanding balance considering that the property is now worth a lot less so by that rational if we have to take a loss why should'nt they after all they took a risk lending at those interest rates.
And also you cannot get blood out of a stone. Its not that we do not want to pay our debts but we are really at breaking point and do not want our health and well being to suffer any more. Any advice on the best approach to take would be greatly appreciated. Even to get to talk to somebody who had handed back the keys and what there life is like after they did so. I am sorry about the long winded explanation but i was just trying to give some backgroung to the situation. We are really worried that if they pursue us for the full outstanding amount combined with having to pay rent on another property after we hand back the keys on the mortgaged property that we will never be able to have anormal life. We just want to raise our children like everybody else and give them a good start in life and hopefully not make the same mistakes that we did.
Best Regards
To begin with both myself and my partner had bad credit histories so we applied to Start Mortgages and in Sept 2006 they gave us a mortgage.
We knew the interest rate was high but figured with the country going well we would be able to remortgage with another lender once our credit ratings were ok. We were also told by the above lender that if we maintained our repayment record for 3 years we would be eligible for a reduced interest rate. This was a verbal declaration so we had nothing in writing. We at the time thought no more about this and continued to maintain a perfect payment record and after 3 years we asked about the reduced rate but were told that no such facility was ever offered by Start Mortgages.
At this stage the economy was in the midst of recession and even though we were disallusioned with the response we had no choice but to continue making repayments. There was only one wage coming in so this combined with the other loans and bills was fast becoming a major struggle. We continued to make full repayments up until June 2011 and prior to this date we contacted the mortgage company to let them know we were going to have problems paying the mortgage. They sent us out the MARP documents to fill out. We filled them out and sent them back.
It took up to six weeks to get a proper response from them. We were not in arrears at this stage. Our payment at the time was 1080 euro and they offered us interest only which made a difference of 120 euro. At this point we had paid almost 76000 euro in payments with approx 4000 euro coming off the principal. The Marp procedure had recommended that we could afford approx 550 euro.
We challenged the interest only option so they then offered to let us pay approx 550 euro for three months with a view to renegotiating all our other debt with our other creditors, which basically meant we would pay the other creditors less to give the mortgage company more each month. At the highest interest rate we paid approx 1650 euro and we are fully aware that eventually our rate will go back up to this level or higher as interest rates rise and we loose our TRS. We found this unacceptable as we wanted to pay all our other creditors in full. And even if we continued to pay our mortgage with full
repayments for up to fifteen years we would still only pay just over 10000 euro total off the principal.
We decided based on this not to pay anything.
I know this is not the way forward but we are at our wits end. We want to hand back the keys. We know that once we hand back the keys that they will still pursue us for the outstanding balance and any costs incurred by the lender also. We also know that because we signed a contract the law is on there side.
The main query that we have is has anybody ever successfully negotiated a deal with Start whereby they take a write down on the outstanding balance considering that the property is now worth a lot less so by that rational if we have to take a loss why should'nt they after all they took a risk lending at those interest rates.
And also you cannot get blood out of a stone. Its not that we do not want to pay our debts but we are really at breaking point and do not want our health and well being to suffer any more. Any advice on the best approach to take would be greatly appreciated. Even to get to talk to somebody who had handed back the keys and what there life is like after they did so. I am sorry about the long winded explanation but i was just trying to give some backgroung to the situation. We are really worried that if they pursue us for the full outstanding amount combined with having to pay rent on another property after we hand back the keys on the mortgaged property that we will never be able to have anormal life. We just want to raise our children like everybody else and give them a good start in life and hopefully not make the same mistakes that we did.
Best Regards