[Solved] Child Maintanance or Mortgage

Hi mate,
That's a tough one - it all depends on how flexible your lender is regarding your mortgage.
Most will class the mortgage as being priority over other bills/loans and will encourage you to talk to other lenders to say you have financial difficulties.
They will want to know why you are struggling to pay the mortgage and they will probably put you onto one of their team members to assess your financial situation.

If you ask your ex for a bit of breathing space to pay maintenance, again, that all depends on whether she relies on the payment to support with bills etc. Is she likely to agree or not?

She is living with her parents and has more money left to spend than I. 🙁 She is also very difficult and I fear will revel in the situation and cut me no slack.

Im on the phone with CMS now getting theyre take.

I am alos going to speak to the mortgage company.

It is a joint mortgage so she is also liable if I fail to pay the mortgage.

🙁

Regards,

Dave

Is the maintenance a family based arrangement or is it managed by CMS?
Will be good to talk to them to get their view.

The bank won't give a s*** who pays the mortgage aslong as the payment is made. I tried to get my wife to pay half when she moved out but when I called the bank they said we are both liable to pay and any arrangement that is made between the two parties is nothing to do with the bank - they just want the payment.

I guess if you don't pay, they will write to you both at the address as she is still on the mortgage. It could turn a bit nasty for you if you are failing to pay the mortgage mate - just becareful on that one

I've been though the same mate. If its only for 1 month I've found my mortgage company to be very flexible as long as they receive part of the payment and you agree to pay the remainder. I've been paying a joint mortgage on a property with negative equity for over 3 years. All the mortgage company need is an assurance that the debt won't increase.
Do you have a repayment mortgage? Your mortgage company may allow you to pay interest only which will free up some income. While I was at it I also got permission to rent a room.
I've not had to pay maintenance through csa/cms, but I doubt they're as flexible.

Hi,

I agree with Gary, I would guess that the mortgage company would have a payment holiday in place that you can request or as said as long as they recieve some of the payment then they should accept that, what they want is money paid, again as said they don't care where or who it comes from, but the main priority and I think I am right in saying this, is that they have a duty of care to help you when money gets tigh so they should have something in place. The trouble would come if you couldn't pay and didn't make contact with them to arrange alternatives as they would just see that as failure to pay.

Good luck.

GTTS

Rent a room is worth while considering - as long as it's just one room, the government allow you to get an income of over £4k per year without having to pay tax on it.

I have requested a "financial difficulties" pack from the mortgage company and am waiting a call back from the CMS.

I also mailed my former and told her of the situation and asked what she wanted me to do. She wanted me to explain what I have spent my money on this month or pay her the maintanance?? It was solicitors fees.

She then sent her solicitor a mail saying that this was a ploy from me to give her a bad credit rating. I responded and said it wasnt and why would I want to give myself a bad credit rating.

Anyway I took the decision to pay the mortgage and not her maintanance so I will have to see where that leaves me in the big scheme of things.

It seems that her and her solicotor are out to rinse me of every penny they can get with taking me to court again for additional maintanance on top of CMS.

Regards,

Dave

Hi Dave, you remind me of me. Welcome to a world where the rules you know change but nobody tells you. You must understand that the priority now is your child and your ability to provide financial support. Be prepared to be told to pay extra maintenance and be prepared to be fully responsible for your mortgage.
I was left with a joint mortgage and loans that I could not afford. No longer having a family enabled me to work every hour I could and get the finances back in order, but I could not pay maintenance as well. Of course, this was the right thing to do, I was obviously taking responsibility and it was clear that my ex was not. WRONG! My ex had moved in with her parents, and with their support was caring for our child. SHE WAS TAKING RESPONSIBILITY. I had actually taken advantage of our family home and at the same time shown an increased income available for maintenance. If I do not keep up with payments it is likely only to be me that goes to court as my ex is now a single mum on a low income and is not worth chasing by the lenders.
I hope this puts your position in perspective.

One other point worth considering - if it came to the worst, and you went bankrupt, any outstanding debt on the mortgage would be written off, whereas child maintenance (through CMS) isn't, so you'd still have any maintenance arrears to pay, plus CSA will be more brutal in chasing you than a mortgage company. I'd have a word with your solicitor, but I'd say that paying maintenance is the higher priority.

I went to the bank last week and arranged some additional funds by way of extending a loan that I have with them and so paid the mortgage and the CM.

Just need to make sure it is all covered going forward. Solicitors fees caught me out this month.

Regards,

Dave

Hi,

That's good news mate, not that you have to be further in debt to pay, but that you have managed to pay the both, it will keep them off your back for a while.

GTTS