Act Quickly When You're Facing Repossession
We understand that finances can be difficult at times. A holiday like Christmas can be a struggle, and you may be overwhelm with gift shopping, and the pressure to make family and friends happy.
If you feel like you're dealing with financial difficulty, and beginning to feel the pressure of keeping up with your mortgage payments. It can be a very stressful time. If you find yourself falling behind on your mortgage repayments, don't panic - this doesn't mean it's too late to stop repossession.
Before your home gets repossessed, there are certain steps every lender must take in order to get your home.
First of all, if you have missed any mortgage repayments, it is crucial that you speak with your lender as soon as possible. The worst thing you could do is avoid them, and pretend it isn't happening. The sooner you speak to them; the sooner a solution can be arranged.
After this, your lender must go through the 'pre-action protocol', which are the conditions put in place before a home gets repossessed. Repossession is the absolute last resort, and must be treated as so.
The lender must:
- Tell you exactly how much you owe, including any interest.
- Consider a request from you to change the way you pay your mortgage.
- Respond to any offer of payment from you.
- If they turn down your offer of payment, they must explain their reasons within 10 working days.
- Give you 15 working days written warning if they plan to start legal action, because you haven't kept up with the repayment agreement.
Your lender might also suggest certain options to help you keep your home, and get you back onto being able to afford your mortgage repayments. For example, they may offer to extend your mortgage term, which would mean that the monthly costs would go down. Or, they may simply agree to accept reduced repayments for a certain period of time.
However, you have to bear in mind that the lender's solutions may not be the best for you. Also, through accepting these mortgage repayment changes, you have to make sure you can actually afford to keep up with it.
You have to act soon, because you can prevent repossession. If you wait and avoid speaking to your mortgage lender, it may be too late to solve the problem. Once your home starts becoming repossessed, it is difficult to amend the situation.