I lost my job (in banking last year) having bought my home 2 years ago with a very sizeable Northern Rock Mortgage. I'm trying various self employment projects but refuse to claim unemployment benefit, but am really struggling now and can not get any serious buyers for my home.
I spoke to them to today about getting help with my mortgage. But not only is their SVR higher (along with Alliance & Leicester) than just about every other high street bank but they still do not have any information/details regarding the governments announcement re postponement of interest for 2 years to help struggling mortgage payers.
I can't believe that the press/Conservatives are not doing more to highlight this total inaction by the Government and the charging of it's own bank's mortgage holders high rates of interest. The Government claims it's helping homeowners while doing absolutely nothing except raking in the high charges. It's disgraceful.
It seems astonishing that this is still happening, when the government has been trumpeting its various initiatives to help people avoid repossessions. William Hague raised this in PMQs the other day, but more needs to be done to draw attention to this failure within government to deliver on high profile announcements.
31 comments:
Maybe your man should apply for unemployment benefit and then he can take advantage of the govt's schemes. They're not for every tom dick and harry who is self-employed.
If you look at what the government is doing rather than saying you can see they are almost broke.
They put back the (Scottish Pork Barrel / unaffordable and undefendable white elephant project) Carrier project - perhaps to be cancelled post election. The decide we can all drive on the hard shoulder of the motorway, rather than build wider motorways. They claim global warming is real and seas are rising yet no announcements on Nuclear power stations or a new Thames barrier. All these projects would "stimulate" and keep money in the UK economy without break EU rules.
So why aren't they happening ?
The answer may be that the government is financially on the edge and without printing money to buy its own debt would crash.
the only reason the axe hasn't fallen on the public sector is that their votes are needed to keep Labour MPs from getting their P45s. ( Would it not be cheaper in the long run to have a Labour MP scrapping plan and give each one £1 million each just to push off and stop ruining our futures ).
Let's be clear. 'Delivery' is certainly not what this Government is about - except to its cronies.
But "announcing" IS action.
Eye-catching too, ask Bliar.
Alan Douglas
Sentient wv : gadotic
The government has run out of our money - that's why they're printing the stuff. So it's hardly surprising that none of the 'initiatives' are not happening. They are nothing more than window dressing to try and delay the full financail horror that Brown has visited upon us until after June 2010.
The bloke in the article needs to get on and make his work working out how to maximise his advantage under Brown's bonkers and Byzantine benefits 'system'.
I think the Tories have been highlighting. Trouble is if Brown (or whoever) turns around and says "Yes it is up and running" (or words to that effect) then thats really the end of the debate innit? Even if they are lying thru their teeth ...
I've sent Gordon a letter
On the bright side, if - and when - they bring the mortgage holiday in, people will be able to use it in time for the horrific increase in interest rates due in 2010 and 2011!
"New Labour. If we can't leave you homeless by making you unemployed, then we'll do so with QE-based hyperinflation"
New Labour - The 'Say Anything' party.
The most glaring one is their promise to get banks to help small businesses. So far, the help has consisted of charging small firms 20% plus interest on overdrafts and calling in loans. Glad the government is so pro-active in this important area!
It's a Labour Government ..... you have a naiive view that it wont tell lies about these schemes which are designed to provide headlines, not real help.
I asked about the Government's Guarantee Scheme. Possibly we can get access to it - at a rate of 10% over baserate (!) plus they want security on the family home as well.
Iain,
I do hope you pass this onto David Cameron to ask about in PMQs. This government has announced no end of schemes to provide 'real help now', but how many of them are actually up and running?
Funny how, when it suits, free market conservatives no longer eschew the value of personal responsibility.
It is unfortunate that anyone should have difficulty repaying their mortgage but it is a little rich for a banker who has mortgaged himself to the hilt to then blame the government because having lost his job, he now struggles to repay his mortgage.
Actions, consequences.
Jabba must confess to finding a certain delicious irony in a banker getting his financial nuts squeezed.
As for government "help" with other peoples mortages, that sounds to Jabba like other working tax payers footing the bill. Hmmm...no thanks.
I must admit, although I hate this cretinous government, I have little or no sympathy for those who struggle to pay a mortgage/loan/credit card bill or whatever. I live within my means and even the most blithering fool could have foresaw what was going to happen.
Can we push the Gov't about the transparent reporting of minister's interests. It's a disgrace
The current scheme is a bit complicated.
It only applies to those who've lost income either as a single earner or as an earner in a two earner family and only if they can prove that it isn't a permanent loss of income to ensure that they can take the mortgage back on at the end of the scheme.
The borrower and lender have to convert the mortgage to interest only and they borrower still has to come up with 30% minimum of each monthly interest payment. The rest gets added to the total still owed and has to be paid back in the future.
If you're looking at long-term unemployment for whatever reason then you won't get onto this scheme. You also still have to have enough income coming in to pay a minimum of 30% of the interest charges and to have savings of less than £16,000.
Since the "reader" looks like he's long term unemployed the two year repayment holiday and partial interest holiday is out of his reach anyway.
The "Mortgage Rescue Scheme" is another unfulfilled promise.
Check this out to see what I found.
http://lobbydog.thisisnottingham.co.uk/2009/03/people-still-wait-for-mortgage-help.html
In an attempt to appear dynamic/successful the Govt always raises expectations of what it is doing.
The only result can ever be disappointment. If they were just straight with us in the first place…
I agree with P Smith and Rab C Nesbitt (though I do not claim his foresight) those who mortgaged themselves to the hilt in pursuit of ever growing property values should take the hit and downsize - however painful. The truth is they are only losing value they never had anyway. I have always tried to live within my means. I own a property, have an affordable mortgage, and old car. My kids ask why others have bigger and better and have put up for years with my excuses about living within the family's means. This government does have a lot to answer for but it is pensioners like my dad who worked and contributed all of his life who is now seeing his meagre savings eroded in front of his eyes and who because he has more than £16,000 saved cannot get a penny of help.
Its all very strange, because the government seems to have engineered itself a mini boom within this asset price crash -around my way the pubs are packed and the shoppers are shopping. There is no discounting of anything with a ticket price of less than £100.
So long as you have a job you're OK.
The 46% working in the public sector HAVE NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD in cash-flow terms.
I should have said:
....So long as you have a job and have NO savings your OK.
I agree completely with Rab C Nisbett and yes the downturn could be foreseen, except by those who didnt want to.Did they think it was going to go up and up forever????...get real
My sympathies however are with the savers who have been hammered by Gormless (and useless) Gordon in order to give ALL the help to the reckless, feckless and stupid..but being NuLab they will have reasoned the savers will mostly be Tories and the rest will be so grateful to Gormless......well you get the rest....
Sympathy??????...not from me
So why will this reader in question not apply for unemployment benefit? Is it simply a case of pride coming before the fall?
I certainly don't have any symapthy. I've had to take out JSA before - I didn't especially want to, but I had to. Besides, you shouldn't feel too guilty about taking out benefits if you've worked. At least you've contributed to the tax system, you're just taking a bit back for yourself. Nothing wrong with that.
Has anyone worked out, on average, how long it takes for this Government to actually do something that it says its going to do?
It could simply be that it hasn't acted on this issue because it is simply just incompetent and may get round to actually doing something after maybe having an inquiry into why it hasn't done something.
Tone made me - that's true, but only for now. With the current state of public sector finances growing more extreme by the day, heavy commitments to the banks and inflationary boosts to the money supply, there will soon come a crunch point where any government will simply have to "let people go" in quite large numbers. I think an incoming administration in 2010 will have to sack about 25% of the government payroll. The same is going to happen throughout the world.
Despairing Liberal said that we will - "have to sack about 25% on the public payroll"
Yes, but they have us by the short and curlies
Just think of the redundancy payments and pension plans that they have created for themselves!
"I lost my job (in banking last year).."
Good.
Mark Twain said, "History does not repeat itself but it sure does rhyme." so should one be surprised that "Labour is not working" again.
I blogged on Monday about Mandleson's argument with the BOE over help for the car industry in a similar vein.
http://delphiusdebate.blogspot.com/2009/03/mandleson-and-boe-in-car-finance-spat.html
I agree that William Hague found a weakness in Labour that should be exploited.
Unfortunately David Cameron hasn't and the only reason I can see he doesn't go for the jugular on this one is he would use aspirational soundbite politics once in power himself.
Post a Comment