Removed from house deeds, but left on mortgage?
Discussion
Bit of a messy one this, so I'll try and explain it as best I can!
Before I got together with my partner she owned a house together with her ex. They split up less than a year after buying, he stayed in the house, she left. She obviously wanted to come off the mortgage and he wanted her name off the paperwork to. They hadn't owned the house for very long, and they bought it with 120% mortgage (the 20% was used to consolidate his other loans). So when they split it was all still in negative equity, and to keep things simple they agreed that she would transfer the whole lot over to him (house and mortgage) and his 'new' girlfriend. At first the mortgage provider refused on the grounds that his new girlfriend's income wasn't sufficient (non existent in fact) to take over the mortgage, but within a year she was working and mortgage company were happy with it.
He got a solicitor to draft the transfer forms and they both signed them and that was that. Pretty sure she had verbal confirmation from the solicitor, and we thought she'd received a letter confirming it had all completed successfully, but now we can't seem to find it, but it is quite possible that it ended up going to a previous address and we'd since moved. This was back in early 2008.
Since then, we've been keeping track of our credit records with the online service 'annualcreditreport.co.uk'. She signed up for it in September 2008, and everything looked fine at the time - there was either no mention of her previous mortgage, or it had been marked as settled. I'm sure we've checked her credit records sporadically since then, and nothing unexpected was showing.
Today she logged in and, lo and behold, the mortgage has reappeared on there as her being the account holder! It doesn't mention that it is jointly held, but further on it also reports that she is 'financially associated' with both her ex and his new girlfriend. It almost looks as though/implies that all three of them are currently responsible for the mortgage. The information is up to date, showing that payments up to the present (made by him, obviously) are all in order.
There are some things that look a bit odd in the details (but fit with the chain of events), for example it states that the first payment was made two full years after the mortgage was taken out - this was the point in time where she should have come off it. And it's complicated further as it appears to show the extra 20% of the 120% mortgage as a separate loan that was settled at the time she thought she'd been removed from the mortgage (as expected). Both are listed as having a 35 year duration.
At this stage we can't tell if the mortgage provider believes she really is still involved with the mortgage, or if the credit reference agencies have made a mess with the data somehow. Obviously, the next step (tomorrow) is to contact the mortgage company and ask them if she is still on the mortgage. Made more difficult as we don't have any records of the mortgage at all (and certainly haven't received any statements or anything from them), so no account or reference numbers to quote.
In the mean time, I've just downloaded the title deeds from the Land Registry website, and they don't mention my partner at all - just her ex and the new girlfriend from the date the transfer happened. But it also mentions that the mortgage providers charge dates from the previous date of the property purchase, when they were together.
The solicitor's letter regarding the transfer was reasonably clear:
"We have received consent from [mortgage provider], who have a secured charge on the property and so the property is to be transferred subject to mortgage. On completion of the transfer, you will be released from your mortgage obligations".
So on the face of it, it looks like my partner has been taken of the title to the house, but left on the mortgage.
If this is the case, is it possible that the mortgage lender employees made a balls up (intentional or not) to create this situation (bearing in mind that it was right at the time when this particular bank got nationalised, and there were loads of job losses)? And if she is on this mortgage still, is there any way to get her name/responsibility removed, or is she going to have to sweat it out for the next 30 years? She hasn't contacted her ex yet, so we have no idea if he is aware or not.
On the other hand, if the mortgage company acknowledge that her name is no longer associated with the mortgage, how does she go about getting the credit records corrected? Am I right in thinking that the mortgage provider are best placed to correct the credit reference agencies?
Frustrating thing is, we just starting to look for mortgages for us to get on the housing ladder, just hope this doesn't scupper it.
Before I got together with my partner she owned a house together with her ex. They split up less than a year after buying, he stayed in the house, she left. She obviously wanted to come off the mortgage and he wanted her name off the paperwork to. They hadn't owned the house for very long, and they bought it with 120% mortgage (the 20% was used to consolidate his other loans). So when they split it was all still in negative equity, and to keep things simple they agreed that she would transfer the whole lot over to him (house and mortgage) and his 'new' girlfriend. At first the mortgage provider refused on the grounds that his new girlfriend's income wasn't sufficient (non existent in fact) to take over the mortgage, but within a year she was working and mortgage company were happy with it.
He got a solicitor to draft the transfer forms and they both signed them and that was that. Pretty sure she had verbal confirmation from the solicitor, and we thought she'd received a letter confirming it had all completed successfully, but now we can't seem to find it, but it is quite possible that it ended up going to a previous address and we'd since moved. This was back in early 2008.
Since then, we've been keeping track of our credit records with the online service 'annualcreditreport.co.uk'. She signed up for it in September 2008, and everything looked fine at the time - there was either no mention of her previous mortgage, or it had been marked as settled. I'm sure we've checked her credit records sporadically since then, and nothing unexpected was showing.
Today she logged in and, lo and behold, the mortgage has reappeared on there as her being the account holder! It doesn't mention that it is jointly held, but further on it also reports that she is 'financially associated' with both her ex and his new girlfriend. It almost looks as though/implies that all three of them are currently responsible for the mortgage. The information is up to date, showing that payments up to the present (made by him, obviously) are all in order.
There are some things that look a bit odd in the details (but fit with the chain of events), for example it states that the first payment was made two full years after the mortgage was taken out - this was the point in time where she should have come off it. And it's complicated further as it appears to show the extra 20% of the 120% mortgage as a separate loan that was settled at the time she thought she'd been removed from the mortgage (as expected). Both are listed as having a 35 year duration.
At this stage we can't tell if the mortgage provider believes she really is still involved with the mortgage, or if the credit reference agencies have made a mess with the data somehow. Obviously, the next step (tomorrow) is to contact the mortgage company and ask them if she is still on the mortgage. Made more difficult as we don't have any records of the mortgage at all (and certainly haven't received any statements or anything from them), so no account or reference numbers to quote.
In the mean time, I've just downloaded the title deeds from the Land Registry website, and they don't mention my partner at all - just her ex and the new girlfriend from the date the transfer happened. But it also mentions that the mortgage providers charge dates from the previous date of the property purchase, when they were together.
The solicitor's letter regarding the transfer was reasonably clear:
"We have received consent from [mortgage provider], who have a secured charge on the property and so the property is to be transferred subject to mortgage. On completion of the transfer, you will be released from your mortgage obligations".
So on the face of it, it looks like my partner has been taken of the title to the house, but left on the mortgage.
If this is the case, is it possible that the mortgage lender employees made a balls up (intentional or not) to create this situation (bearing in mind that it was right at the time when this particular bank got nationalised, and there were loads of job losses)? And if she is on this mortgage still, is there any way to get her name/responsibility removed, or is she going to have to sweat it out for the next 30 years? She hasn't contacted her ex yet, so we have no idea if he is aware or not.On the other hand, if the mortgage company acknowledge that her name is no longer associated with the mortgage, how does she go about getting the credit records corrected? Am I right in thinking that the mortgage provider are best placed to correct the credit reference agencies?
Frustrating thing is, we just starting to look for mortgages for us to get on the housing ladder, just hope this doesn't scupper it.
Is she definitely still named on the mortgage? Or is it just bringing it up as she is still down as being Financially Associated with her ex? I've seen it before where an ex's credit commitments were showing on an applicant's credit file but the applicant wasn't named on them....
And yes, whilst it's coming up on her credit file, it's going to scupper things until it's not showing.....
And yes, whilst it's coming up on her credit file, it's going to scupper things until it's not showing.....
According to the credit reference check website, yes they definitely think she is still named on the mortgage. It shows all the details they have on file for it, including all the payment history right up to date. They shouldn't be showing sensitive data like that for someone else's finance (even if she did used to be involved in it). And it's showing that she is still financially associated not just with her ex, but also with his new girlfriend!
The mortgage advisor we spoke to this morning said that the names on the deeds and the mortgage should be exactly the same, so the fact she was removed from one should mean she has actually been removed from the mortgage as well. So, hopefully it'll be relatively quick and easy to resolve.
The mortgage advisor we spoke to this morning said that the names on the deeds and the mortgage should be exactly the same, so the fact she was removed from one should mean she has actually been removed from the mortgage as well. So, hopefully it'll be relatively quick and easy to resolve.
Having spoken to annual credit report, they advised that the information was provided by CallCredit, and that it can only be based on information from the mortgage lender. Checked that it is shown on her CallCredit report (which it is), and then phoned the mortgage provider (NRAM). But they are saying that they have no record of her name on any mortgage account, and obviously they wouldn't discuss her ex's mortgage (to the extent that they wouldn't even admit it's existence), which is what you'd hope and expect.
So that leaves no where else to turn to - both lender and credit reference agency are buck passing. The only thing I can think of is a written complaint to NRAM with print outs of the credit report. Hopefully someone more senior than 'computer says no' team will investigate it.
So that leaves no where else to turn to - both lender and credit reference agency are buck passing. The only thing I can think of is a written complaint to NRAM with print outs of the credit report. Hopefully someone more senior than 'computer says no' team will investigate it.
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