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I'm in the process of selling my house, with the aim of redeeming the mortgage and buying somewhere cheaper outright with the remaining equity to ensure I live mortgage-free and rent-free from now on.
I've been on JSA for a while now and the DWP have been paying the interest direct. I did struggle to pay the shortfall on the rest of the payment for a while from my savings but these have now depleted and I'm no longer able to service this.
I did apply to the mortgage company several months ago to go interest only but the original letter, with financial statement, seems to have been lost so I re-sent it by recorded delivery a couple of weeks ago. I'm now being told they need a particular form filling in although as far as I'm concerned I've sent the information they require.
The thing is that I stopped the top-up payments a few months ago and have recently been receiving letters asking for the arrears to be made up and saying they "may" apply a £40 a month arrears charge. It's unclear at the moment whether they have applied such charges or not and I'm asking for a breakdown of their figures.
I already stated in my initial letter that such an extortionate sum is well in excess of the actual costs incurred and that I would put the account formally into dispute and seek to recover any unfair charges plus costs plus interest in the small claims court if they do attempt to apply them. I also reminded them that the OFT takes a dim view of banks taking measures that put people in difficulties into even further difficulties by applying such charges.
I'd appreciate some advice on how to proceed from here, especially if they choose to refuse to make the account interest-only. I'm getting plenty of viewings for the house at the moment, so I do think there's a reasonable prospect of selling at or near the asking price. I can ill afford to have silly charges added by the mortgage company on completion though. Do you think I would have a leg to stand on regarding recovery of these charges in small claims if it comes to that?
Also, I have a UE credit card that has since been bought up by the mortgage company's parent company. Do they have any legal means of attempting to add this debt to the mortgage without first obtaining a CCJ?
I've been on JSA for a while now and the DWP have been paying the interest direct. I did struggle to pay the shortfall on the rest of the payment for a while from my savings but these have now depleted and I'm no longer able to service this.
I did apply to the mortgage company several months ago to go interest only but the original letter, with financial statement, seems to have been lost so I re-sent it by recorded delivery a couple of weeks ago. I'm now being told they need a particular form filling in although as far as I'm concerned I've sent the information they require.
The thing is that I stopped the top-up payments a few months ago and have recently been receiving letters asking for the arrears to be made up and saying they "may" apply a £40 a month arrears charge. It's unclear at the moment whether they have applied such charges or not and I'm asking for a breakdown of their figures.
I already stated in my initial letter that such an extortionate sum is well in excess of the actual costs incurred and that I would put the account formally into dispute and seek to recover any unfair charges plus costs plus interest in the small claims court if they do attempt to apply them. I also reminded them that the OFT takes a dim view of banks taking measures that put people in difficulties into even further difficulties by applying such charges.
I'd appreciate some advice on how to proceed from here, especially if they choose to refuse to make the account interest-only. I'm getting plenty of viewings for the house at the moment, so I do think there's a reasonable prospect of selling at or near the asking price. I can ill afford to have silly charges added by the mortgage company on completion though. Do you think I would have a leg to stand on regarding recovery of these charges in small claims if it comes to that?
Also, I have a UE credit card that has since been bought up by the mortgage company's parent company. Do they have any legal means of attempting to add this debt to the mortgage without first obtaining a CCJ?
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