NRAM - Worth taking legal action against them?

[Maz75]

I am currently an NRAM account holder, with a together mortgage comprising a £98,000 mortgage and £18,000 unsecured loan. I have not missed any payments or been late, but I have breached my mortgage t & cs by letting the property without their consent. I asked for it and they refused, back while they were still Northern Rock. I have already posted about this so I won't go into the same details here; only to set the background for this post.

 

I am concerned with the fact since their recent government directive to get the 'bad' debts off their books they are working on a different incentive basis than other mortgage companies. NRAM need to make anything over 10p to the £ to get a profit, (for that is how much of the value was passed on to them) so they do not have the same aversion to instigating repossessions as other lenders do, not to mention complete disregard of the cost to the individual or business.

My issue is not with the fact I do not want to pay what I owe, nor with my poor decision of getting this mortgage in the first place. I accept that and have been paying without fail for 9 years.

 

So when they find me in breach of my mortgage terms & conditions their aim will be to instigate a repossession. Not to reach a solution that is best for me and them, in regard to maximizing their profit. Not being driven by this fact, like other mortgage lenders, puts all NRAM account holders in an extremely vulnerable position. The goal and they want us off their books, that and nothing else.

 

Irrespective of whether this was a good or bad mortgage, the terms and conditions on their part, and the expectations on my part, made by signing with Northern Rock, a mortgage company in 2007, are not the ones I'm faced with now. I am not trying to justify the fact that I have broken my terms, or shirk my responsibility for the choice of mortgage and money owed. But to say that when I took out the mortgage, I was under the (mistaken) expectation that I would forever be dealing with mortgage lender, with all the common incentives that come with that; I want to keep my house, they want to get their money back. That I fear is not the case anymore. We are now simply numbers on a spreadsheet and the odds are stacked.

 

There is nothing right or fair about this; and plenty of other NRAM account holders are facing starker and greater financial issues than me. Many are castigated for their choice in the first place, which is not only unhelpful, but in my opinion missing the point. No one is asking for special treatment than any other person who holds a mortgage. But we bought a product with the expectations that we would have the same benefits afforded to all mortgage holders for the life of that product. NRAM are not a mortgage provider. They are an organization that hold 'bad" debt.

 

Equally I have an issue with the term "bad" for there are plenty like me, who have never defaulted but will be faced with repossession on other reasons. They are bad, because they want to get rid of us and shut NRAM down. By no longer requiring NRAM, a continued reminder of a massive economic disaster, the economic policy will be hailed as a success and the bad old days behind us. Whereas other mortgage companies would help people if they got into temporary difficulties NRAM will not, causing the debt to therefore be "bad". Being the contributor, if not, the instigator, of this viscious circle gets them their favored result much quicker - sell the debt to management company, still make a profit and get it off their balance sheet - success.. All I would like is to be treated the same as any other mortgage provider would.

 

I heard today of various people wanting to bring together a group of account holders who wish to fight NRAM and their practices, 100 is the minimum required. I have signed up. It is being led by bank specialist who is willing to fight it on the behalf of the group for free if we can get enough NRAM customers on board. If you are interested please let me know and I'll pass your details on to him.

[TimetogoRAM]

What's the name of the group fighting them please?

[vicgreen100]

I can also help too, I have a well documented case with NRAM, which I took to the FOS. I can't PM as this is my first post so please PM me as I can't post my email. Thanks, Victoria

[djbraders]

Hi there.

 

I'm currently having similar issues with NRAM and would be really interested in finding out more about the group trying to fight then.

Any info you could forward me would be gratefully received.

 

Thank you.

Darren.

[djbraders]

Hi Victoria.

 

Any chance you could share your info with me??

[caro]

If this group would like to email admin@consumeractiongroup.co.uk with details of their plans, perhaps cag can ensure caggers are aware and help if the plans have merit. Until this is done I am closing this thread.

 

Hope to hear from you soon.

 

Apologies to djbraders, but it seems to be a while since the OP posted. In the meantime if you'd like to start a thread outlining your problem, I'm sure others will do their best to advise. Maybe the mortgage or legal forum depending on your problem.