What are your repayment plans?

What are your repayment plans?

12:54 PM, 6th December 2013, About 11 years ago 58

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Are mortgage lenders having a campaign to ask interest only mortgage borrowers “what are your repayment plans?”

In the last 24 hours I have been contacted by two people, with different mortgage lenders, both telling me a very similar and disturbing story.

The first was my plumber, he popped around to see me yesterday. He has a relatively small interest only mortgage with Bank of Scotland secured against his home. The mortgage has 5 years to run which will take him to age 60. He had been contacted the day before by Bank of Scotland who advised him they were recording the conversation and took him through security before asking him how he intended to repay his mortgage. This alone made him nervous! The purpose of the call was to establish how he was going to repay the mortgage in 5 years time. The reason he popped around to see me is that he felt quite intimidated because he didn’t know what to say to the bank and wondered whether he ought to refinance? However, he’s paying 1% over bank base rate and it would uneconomical to change. Is this what the bank wanted him to do? What are your repayment plans?

I asked him why he felt intimidated and what his plans are. He told the bank he didn’t know how he was going to repay the mortgage and made his excuses to get off the phone. When he had the time to reflect on the discussion he realised that what he had told the bank might trigger the alarm bells and became worried about what happen next.

He gave me the true picture which seemed perfectly feasible. The truth is that he has several options but hasn’t decided which to take. That sounded perfectly feasible to me so I asked him what his options are. He said …

  1. Downsize
  2. Sell up and live abroad
  3. Refinance

I said “so what’s wrong with that?”.

He said he felt under pressure to provide a definitive answer as the bank only seemed focussed on increasing his payments to a level whereby his mortgage would be cleared within 5 years. mmm!!!

This morning I received a readers letter from a lady who is a residential borrower of Mortgages Express. The scenario she described was very similar but she is worried because she also has several buy to let mortgages on an interest only basis with Mortgage Express.

I would be very interested to hear from anybody who has experienced something similar recently. Please leave a comment below and let me know which lender you were contacted by and whether your loans are personal mortgages on your home or BTL’s. I would also like to know what the outstanding term is because both people who have contacted me to share their stories have said their mortgages have 5 years to run.

I’m wondering whether these stories are pure coincidence in their similarities and timing or whether the mortgage industry have somehow colluded or been instructed to make these calls by their regulators and/or professional bodies.

My response to a call of this nature would be that “I have several options and will let you know which I decide to take in due course”. If the mortgage lender asked me to spell out what those options are my response would be “sorry, I don’t think that’s any of your business. However, what I will say is that I have always honoured my contract with you and intend to continue to do so”.

Over to you ….


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Mike W

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17:16 PM, 6th December 2013, About 11 years ago

I have had several calls from my bank(s) and credit card companies over the last 18 months. My standard reply to them is that you are calling from a withheld number. I have no way of identifying you and I am not going through any 'so called security' check with an unidentified person as I am not allowed to by my bank. And if they were my bank they should know better not to phone me in this manner. Obviously if the matter is serious or urgent my private bank manager will call me but since I know him and his mobile number that is not a problem.

However I have become more concerned over the last 18 months as a result of a dispute with a mortgage provider. They record all calls but when asked to provide transcripts they only provided the transcripts that they wished to present. As a result I now record all my telephone calls. There are some simple devices you can get on the web.

It is quite funny because quite a high percentage of banks don't like it. I have even had one terminate the call because I told them (as required in law) that I was recording the call. It is quite useful too when dealing with those nuisance calls about PPI, or some scrappage scheme, or computer problem fixers too.

I don't like doing business by telephone unless I can have a record.

If I were asked the question I would simply state that I had a plan. What it is is none of there business. According to my paperwork I am supposed to have a plan. I do have one. End of subject.

Colin Childs

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17:30 PM, 6th December 2013, About 11 years ago

All part of the new Lending Responsible culture. Given we had a period of time where the granting of credit was both lax and excessive. Hardly surprising that the new culture appears draconian to many people.

As an example. NRAM (Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley) still has some 550,000 mortgage holders. Incidentally of which around 250,000 are BTL. NRAM has estimated that around 80% of borrowers have no repayment vehicle at all in place. The average interest mortgage is for around £157,000 and sits on an LTV of in the region of 75%.

Average interest only mortgage redeemed in 2012 was for £53,000. By 2020 this rises to around £120,000.

So taking a birds eye view rather than getting bogged down in the semantics of individual cases. There is a problem to be addressed. Which the FCA has started to tackle.

Shakeel Ahmad

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18:15 PM, 6th December 2013, About 11 years ago

Agree with Caz. Enjoy the money & the left over in my case is going to a charity.

The lenders should be well aware in so far BTL are concerned that it is/was a business loan & in the event that they have to call the funds at the end of the term of the mortgage they will not be throwing out the wife,kids & the pets.

Jonathan Clarke

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18:41 PM, 6th December 2013, About 11 years ago

I like turning the security questions back on them. Before I divulge any details of me I ask them what is the address of the property and the account number they want to discuss . They say they cant answer because of data protection. Its great fun.

I haven`t received any calls yet. But if I am I will ask - is a condition of the mortgage to have an investment vehicle to pay it off. And if not do I have a legal obligation to tell them my plans . I expect their answer to be no on both counts which means I can get on with my day.

user_ 1346

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19:31 PM, 6th December 2013, About 11 years ago

Obfuscated Data

user_ 1346

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19:33 PM, 6th December 2013, About 11 years ago

Obfuscated Data

Paul Goulder

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22:52 PM, 6th December 2013, About 11 years ago

HSBC visited me ,he came from Lincoln
To ask me how I proposed to pay off the loan in seven years time.i thought he was joking.
But after all he is only the messenger
From the dumb dumbs at the top

philip allen

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0:50 AM, 7th December 2013, About 11 years ago

I recently received an (annual) letter from Intelligent Finance. My (annual) response has been the same. I will sell or remortgage away from IF as they no longer offer mortgages. This year I suggested a third option, given that the property was sold to me at an outrageously over-inflated price in 2006 and is in negative equity of about 50k, that the bank could buy it back at the price they sold it to me. I asked them not to thank me for my generosity but to just deposit the funds in my account and I would clear their mortgage immediately.
I've yet to receive a response.

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10:31 AM, 7th December 2013, About 11 years ago

Hi Philip,

Forgive me, but I am a bit confused by your response.

As far as I am aware, the bank did not sell you a property at a hugely over-inflated price. You purchased a property at a hugely over-inflated price!

So, on that basis, surely it is the valuer who over valued your property who is to blame?

You might find this an interesting read to quote in future letters:

http://www.propertytribes.com/landmark-ruling-gives-banks-hope-recover-massive-property-t-9197.html

Look for the bit in bold!! 🙂

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10:43 AM, 7th December 2013, About 11 years ago

Mark,

Sorry but I do not agree with your comment about savings in a bank vs. paying down a mortgage.

Paying down mortgage debt in a low interest rate environment is one way to mend the roof while the sun is shining. Interest rates ARE going to go up.

Debt "snowball" method is discussed here:

http://www.propertytribes.com/debt-snowball-method-t-8946.html

When markets change, those who are highly leveraged can find that things start to go wrong very quickly and savings languishing in a bank will quickly run out.

Secondly, when you take into account tax and inflation, 3% in a savings account is actually a minus amount and your savings are diminishing.

@Jonathan Wilson

I agree with you that anyone who has taken out a mortgage should be aware of how much time is left. However, there are many "financially unsophisticated" people out there who have no clue about anything ... literally ... and this begs the question as to why they were loaned money in the first place!

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