Financial difficulty with mortgage repayments - HELP!

purple17

Hi all,

Could really use some good advice on my predicament. I took out a 100% €320k mortgage in Oct 07 with my then partner on a 2 year fixed until Oct 09 and repayments are €1374 (inc TRS).
Since then we have broken up, we have a 1yr old child and i am currently living in the house. Ive decided to stay because dont want to uproot my daughter and also the house is now worth €50k less then what we paid for so kinda stuck with it.
Im now paying the whole mortgage by myself as my ex doesnt want anything to do with it. He's very gullible and thinks we can just let the bank repossess the house or just hand back the keys and they can feck off for the rest of the money we owe. I dont want to do this as u know this wont be good for me in the future with my credit rating or ever getting another mortgage again.
So ive asked the bank (PTSB) to allow my to go to interest only repayments of €1050 (which i can afford) but would only allow me for 3 months. My partner has now reduced the amount of maintence he's giving me to €50 a week so im really stuck financially now so ive asked the bank for a payment holiday which they've allowed me to reduce payments to €500 a month for 2 months(just so i can get on top of a few bills) but after that i dont know what im goin to do.
Ive gone to PTSB and told them everything including written letters and they just seem really unhelpful and basically just said i should bring my partner to court for more maintenance or rent out a room. I am bringing my ex to court for maintenance and renting a room is not an option as my 3rd bedroom is a shoe box and dont want anyone else living wit me with a young child - so please dont suggest this!!!
Is there anything i can do with the bank with maybe working with them to allow me to go from fixed to variable rate as the max monthly i can afford on my own is €1100. I have asked if i can go to variable rate and they just said no or ill have to pay huge penalty which i cant afford.
It just seems they're being really unhelpful and dont really care. I wud've thought they wud've tried to work with me as other option is to repossess the house which i didnt think they'd want to do.
Any suggestions as to what i can do?

ntlbell

purple17 wrote: »

Any suggestions as to what i can do?

The only workable solution is to sell it as quickly as possible.

I realise you don't want to but I can't see any other solution.

purple17

I cant sell as my house is worth €50k less than my mortgage!!!!!!

ntlbell

purple17 wrote: »

I cant sell as my house is worth €50k less than my mortgage!!!!!!

It can be sold, but both you and your ex will be responsible for the balance

I would much prefer 25k of debt than 200k+

20goto10

This is not really the best place to be coming for advice for your situation! For what my advice is worth, you need to find a way of coming up with the cash rather than looking for a way out of it. If I read your figures right you're only €274 short of what you can afford. That figure will rise next week with the budget. If the court proceedings are going to be quick then it would probably be a good idea to take the breaks the bank are offering. I heard on the radio, think it was the last word, that banks will allow 12 months of reniging before they start repossession. But please get professional advice on that...I may have heard wrong.

20goto10

ntlbell wrote: »

It can be sold, but both you and your ex will be responsible for the balance

I would much prefer 25k of debt than 200k+

With all due respect ntlbell, I think thats the scenario she's trying to avoid.

Next time, go out with someone better.

And yes, I would say if you only lose 50k on the house then you're ok. If you wait a year you could lose 100k. Imho, take the hit and get on the housing list.

purple17

Yes i am trying to avoid having to sell and also my ex is a complete immature eeijit and i know for a fact he wont be good for his half of the 25k, so if he doesnt pay then ill be affected too!!
I just thought in this current climate bank would be more than willing to avoid repossession or us still owing them 50k and mite help me with reducing my repayments or switching to variable rate.

purple17

"next time go out with someone better" thats a really unhelpful comment to me know considering ive learnt this the very hard way!! I didnt go into a joint mortgage with this person knowing that they would feck me over!!

ntlbell

20goto10 wrote: »

With all due respect ntlbell, I think thats the scenario she's trying to avoid.

I understand she's trying to avoid it but unfortunately going on the information provided there's not much option bar a winning lotto ticket.

The bank can pursue you for the balance for the rest of your life. Thats why I'm saying to take the hit.

It's rough but it could be your best option.

ntlbell

purple,

Have you looked at your monthly budget to see if there is any scope?

cancelling ntl/sky/phone line/broadband etc

switch electricity provider

etc

is there _no_ room to maneuver?

otwb

Looks like the bank has been flexible already. You are really going to have to make a couple of hard decisions which may include letting that spare room out. If the child is small then you are going to have to move him/her to the small room and have a go at renting out the other room. Just be very selective about who you allow in to your house.

Otherwise its trying to sell the house and deal with the debt. 25k over five years should be in the region of €500 pm. You need to get solicitors advice on this...I'm assuming that as your ex hasn't been paying anything towards the mortgage there may be legal avenues that you can explore re getting his % ownership of the house reduced if you do decide to keep the house.

Akrasia

purple17 wrote: »

"next time go out with someone better" thats a really unhelpful comment to me know considering ive learnt this the very hard way!! I didnt go into a joint mortgage with this person knowing that they would feck me over!!

Your best option probably is to sell asap.

You'll be lucky to get away with only 50k of a loss on a 3 bed semi with an unusable third room, but the its better to take a loss now than to keep spending over a grand a month on interest payments (without touching the capital) for a home that is worth less than half of what you paid for it.

Raskolnikov

purple17 wrote: »

I am bringing my ex to court for maintenance and renting a room is not an option as my 3rd bedroom is a shoe box and dont want anyone else living wit me with a young child - so please dont suggest this!!!

No offence, but you need to get realistic here.

There is no silver bullet for you in order to keep this house. It doesn't sound like the bank are willing to be flexible on the repayments; therefore you need to find another way of generating the extra money, otherwise you will start to go into arrears and possibly default. At best, you'll never be able to get a loan for years. At worst, you'll lose the house.

In my eyes, renting a room is your best option here. It's tax-free, a fairly steady income and looks like it'll be just enough to help cover the shortfall in your mortgage payment. If you're worried about the kid, you could always pitch the rent at a lower rate in order to get someone who you'd be comfortable living with. Another possibility would be to get a student in who would only stay during weekdays. I don't suppose the father of your baby could take one of the rooms?

If renting a room isn't an option, is there anyway you could have family mind your kid while you work? This will cut down on childcare costs. Other than that, there's not really much else you can do. Start shopping in Lidl/Aldi, cut the Sky/NTL/Eircom, ditch the car, etc.

Seriously though, re-examine the rent-a-room option. It's your best hope at not winding up in court.

Raskolnikov

Akrasia wrote: »

Your best option probably is to sell asap.

You'll be lucky to get away with only 50k of a loss on a 3 bed semi with an unusable third room, but the its better to take a loss now than to keep spending over a grand a month on interest payments (without touching the capital) for a home that is worth less than half of what you paid for it.

There's a chance the bank might refuse to allow the property to be sold. Also, I'm not even sure she could sell for €50k less than what she paid.

bladespin

purple17 wrote: »

I cant sell as my house is worth €50k less than my mortgage!!!!!!

Afraid that's looking like the only real option available, much easier to pay back on €25k. Wait around and it'll be worth €150k less than the morthgage.

Akrasia

Raskolnikov wrote: »

There's a chance the bank might refuse to allow the property to be sold. Also, I'm not even sure she could sell for €50k less than what she paid.

you're probably right, she's probably lookin at a loss of at least 40% of the value of her house. Bought at exactly the wrong time. The only chance she has of minimising that loss is to sell asap and to advertise the property at significantly cheaper than the other similar houses in her locality.

The OP needs to think about whether or not the sacrifices she will have to make to keep the home are worth it and she might be better off getting out and accepting that she's going to have to come to an arrangement with the bank to repay her share of the negative equity.

Raskolnikov

Akrasia wrote: »

you're probably right, she's probably lookin at a loss of at least 40% of the value of her house. Bought at exactly the wrong time. The only chance she has of minimising that loss is to sell asap and to advertise the property at significantly cheaper than the other similar houses in her locality.

The OP needs to think about whether or not the sacrifices she will have to make to keep the home are worth it and she might be better off getting out and accepting that she's going to have to come to an arrangement with the bank to repay her share of the negative equity.

Like I said though, the bank might block the sale if they are uncomfortable with the original poster having over €100,000 of unsecured debt hanging over them. Also, with that amount of debt, it's possible that the original poster might not be able to afford renting.

If this is a home she is happy spending the rest of her life in, then I would do what I could to keep the house.

ntlbell

Raskolnikov wrote: »

If this is a home she is happy spending the rest of her life in, then I would do what I could to keep the house.

The problem with a lot of these sort of threads are is the poster putting the restriction on the one thing that could solve the problem

some people want to be helped but won't do anything to help themselves.

gurramok

Get to MABS, they can assist you with good advice for your situation.

Akrasia

Akrasia wrote: »

you're probably right, she's probably lookin at a loss of at least 40% of the value of her house. Bought at exactly the wrong time. The only chance she has of minimising that loss is to sell asap and to advertise the property at significantly cheaper than the other similar houses in her locality.

The OP needs to think about whether or not the sacrifices she will have to make to keep the home are worth it and she might be better off getting out and accepting that she's going to have to come to an arrangement with the bank to repay her share of the negative equity.

50k over ten years is alot less than 1-200k over the same period.

House prices are not picking up in the next 5 years. Take this guys advice.

cormac_byrne

Maybe rent out the whole house and you rent somewhere cheaper / smaller (or move back home, if that's an option).

Your Mortgage rate should drop in Oct when it goes variable, If your ex could be forced to pay more maintenance, then maybe the sums could add up to to allow you to keep the house.

If you don't think you can juggle things to meet the payments, or can only do so with help from an ex (who may turn out to be unreliable at paying up), then best option is to sell sooner rather than later.

Because unless there's a recovery in house prices, the longer you leave it the bigger your debt will be. Also it will get more complicated determining how much of the debt belongs to you and how much to your ex.

EKRIUQ

I took out a 100% €320k mortgage in Oct 07 with my then partner on a 2 year fixed until Oct 09 and repayments are €1374 (inc TRS).

You’re on a fixed rate at the moment until Oct 09 then your mortgage should fall to €1,126 per month by today’s rate and with your tax relief that should get you to the €1,000 and a much more manageable amount for you.

Oct is only 6 months away, so you’ll have to come up with the shortfall until then, the two months holiday makes that 4 months if I was in your position I’d try to get the money from some where to keep your house, credit union, credit card, or loan form someone.

The suggestion of the rent a room although not ideal could help and it may be only for a few months but at least theirs light at the end of the tunnel and puts you in more of a bargaining position with the bank when you have figures.

Are you claiming back all the tax you can, go to the revenue website and see can you claim back relief for, refuse charges, medical expenses there may be others which you may be entitled to.

SIDENOTE: This is a difficult situation for the OP, they just want to hold on to their home, telling her to sell buy a lotto ticket and she made wrong decisions isn’t really helping.

EKRIUQ

EKRIUQ wrote: »

You’re on a fixed rate at the moment until Oct 09 then your mortgage should fall to €1,126 per month by today’s rate and with your tax relief that should get you to the €1,000 and a much more manageable amount for you.

Oct is only 6 months away, so you’ll have to come up with the shortfall until then, the two months holiday makes that 4 months if I was in your position I’d try to get the money from some where to keep your house, credit union, credit card, or loan form someone.

The suggestion of the rent a room although not ideal could help and it may be only for a few months but at least theirs light at the end of the tunnel and puts you in more of a bargaining position with the bank when you have figures.

Are you claiming back all the tax you can, go to the revenue website and see can you claim back relief for, refuse charges, medical expenses there may be others which you may be entitled to.

SIDENOTE: This is a difficult situation for the OP, they just want to hold on to their home, telling her to sell buy a lotto ticket and she made wrong decisions isn’t really helping.

If anything, interest is going up mate..

Senna

EKRIUQ wrote: »

I’d try to get the money from some where to keep your house, credit union, credit card, or loan form someone.

For christ sakes could you offer any worse help than advicing someone to take out more debt to pay off current debt.:rolleyes:

OP a poster above said to contact MABS, that is the most helpful reply you have got (although i agreed with others also). MABS are set-up to help people in your situation and its a free service. They can give great advice and can even talk to the bank on your behalf.
http://www.mabs.ie/

dny123456

"The problem with a lot of these sort of threads are is the poster putting the restriction on the one thing that could solve the problem

some people want to be helped but won't do anything to help themselves. "

Lot of very un-useful and just plain silly advice on this thread. Quite incredible, you can almost hear the condescending tone of some posters, looking down on the poor OP, who was unfortunate to buy along with a unsuitable partner at an unfortunate time. Why be so nasty, does it make you feel better?

OP, would you consider letting the whole house, and then renting somewhere smaller/cheaper for yourself and your daughter?

Also am I right in saying that you have a semi holiday for 2 months (ie. 500 a month)... that'll bring you up until end of May. Your fixed period will end in October, so you will automatically switch to variable in 5 months at that time. The saving of paying just 500 for two months, will give you around 1000 in savings, which will nearly pay for 1 month. So you just have to make it through the remaining 4 months, before you can get onto the more affordable variable rate. I know you said you didn't want to sublet the spare room, which is fair enough as you don't when they will leave and it doesn't feel like your home anymore. However, could you maybe take Spanish/Japanese students for digs during the summer period? It might give you the extra cash to let you make it through the four months?

cls

Rojomcdojo wrote: »

If anything, interest is going up mate..

Only when the economy picks up.

SarahMc

Why can't your child move into the box room, and rent out the second larger room?

Alternatively have you looked into hosting foreign students? I did this when, as a single parent, I was reluctant to have a tenant.

ntlbell

dny123456 wrote: »

"The problem with a lot of these sort of threads are is the poster putting the restriction on the one thing that could solve the problem

some people want to be helped but won't do anything to help themselves. "

Lot of very un-useful and just plain silly advice on this thread. Quite incredible, you can almost hear the condescending tone of some posters, looking down on the poor OP, who was unfortunate to buy along with a unsuitable partner at an unfortunate time. Why be so nasty, does it make you feel better?

?

Look,

If you want peoples help and the first thing out of your mouth is "don't advise me to do XY and Z"

when XYZ is the actuall answer to the problem.

I don't see what advise is silly.

When things like this come up you don't need to be patted on the back and be given "aww ye poor thing" you need to make serious desicions and make them fast.

The easiest solution would be to move the child into the box room or her own room and rent out the rooms

it doesn't make me feel better to see people in these dreadful situations.

calling the OP "the poor OP" THAT is condescending.

This a grown woman that made grown up descisions and is a grown up situation that needs a grown up answer not "aww ye poor pet have a cup a tea and it'll be grand"

cop on to yourself.

ntlbell

cls wrote: »

Only when the economy picks up.

considering they have 100% mortgage which is probably over 30 years or more and are two years into I would iamgine the OP is going to be in the same sitaution when interest rates are hiked back up

bobbbb

The way i see it you're going to have to take some decisions you may not like.

Even though you dont want to, you seriously have to look at renting a room or 2. Even to a relative. Or even convert your living room to a bedroom for a while. You've got to be flexible and take action instead of saying what you wont do.

If you lose the house you will have to rent a much smaller place and will have no room anyway.

You also must go to a solicitor about your ex.
Even if you do get the mortgage back on track by yourself then he'll still own half the house. He may not run away then, he'll be back when you have paid much of the mortgage off yourself to get half of the house. Also get the solicitor onto him about maintenance.

bobbbb

bobbbb wrote: »

The way i see it you're going to have to take some decisions you may not like.

Even though you dont want to, you seriously have to look at renting a room or 2. Even to a relative. Or even convert your living room to a bedroom for a while. You've got to be flexible and take action instead of saying what you wont do.

If you lose the house you will have to rent a much smaller place and will have no room anyway.

You also must go to a solicitor about your ex.
Even if you do get the mortgage back on track by yourself then he'll still own half the house. He may not run away then, he'll be back when you have paid much of the mortgage off yourself to get half of the house. Also get the solicitor onto him about maintenance.

/thread.

purple17

Hi all

Really appreciate all your advice. If you seen how small my house and the position of my bedrooms you'd understand why renting out a room wasnt desirable for me. The 3rd box room is at the front of the house and the 2 other bedrooms are right beside each other at back of the house so wud baby in room next to me. I will consider renting to students mid week as i really wud love to stay where i am and would live with the incovenience to get me through.
I was basically just asking for advice cos im a bit disheartened as to how bank are reacting. Wud they just be pushing back on me and maybe might be more helpful if i went to mabs and got them to get onto them. Just thought they'd prefer to help as much as possible rather than repossess house or have me part paying off mortgage by selling house and still owing them money!!

Thanks again, ill get on top of things somehow!!

ZYX

Rojomcdojo wrote: »

50k over ten years is alot less than 1-200k over the same period.

Not necessarily a lot less. If she gets approval for an unsecured loan of €50,000, which is a huge if, she would be expected to pay at least 10% interest a year. Her mortgage rate would be more like 4%.