NORTHERN ROCK-BEWARE!!

[andrea1968]

HIYA EVERYONE-I HAD BEEN ON A DMP FROM FEBRUARY TIL END OF AUGUST.I HAD A MORTGAGE AND UNSECURED AMOUNT WITH NORTHERN ROCK.(TOGETHER MORTGAGE)DMP PAID THE UNSECURED AMOUNT EVERY MONTH-THE AMOUNT HAVING BEEN AGREED WITH NORTHERN ROCK.NOW-THE PROBLEM WAS I HAD TO CANCEL THE DIRECT DEBIT FOR THE MORTGAGE AND MAKE CARD PAYMENTS AS EVERY MONTH THEY TOOK PART OF MY MORTGAGE PAYMENT AND PUT IT ON THE UNSECURED-THUS PUTTING ME IN ARREARS.EVERY MONTH I RECEIVED A LETTER SAYING I HAD MORTGAGE ARREARS- I RANG THEM AND THEY PUT IT BACK TO MY MORTGAGE.NOW NORTHERN ROCK DECIDED TO TAKE 380.00 OF MY MORTGAGE PAYMENT AND TRANSFER IT TO MY UNSECURED THE LAST DAY OF AUGUST-JUST BEFORE MY IVA STARTED. I HAVE NOW RECEIVED MY MORTGAGE STATEMENT STATING THAT THEY ONLY RECEIVED 117.89 AND NOT 497.00-WHICH I PAID.I AM NOW WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO RING ME BACK-YET AGAIN- FROM NORTHERN ROCK(THEY ARE LOOKING FOR THE MONEY).SINCE FEBRUARY I HAVE RECEIVED ARREARS LETTERS STATING I OWE ANYWHERE BETWEEN 500 AND 1500 POUNDS-I HAVE NEVER MISSED A MORTGAGE PAYMENT-EVER!!!!
I WANT TO WARN ANYONE ON DMP OR IVA-CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK YOUR STATEMENTS IF YOU ARE WITH NORTHERN ROCK-THEY WILL SPLIT YOUR PAYMENTS ON DMP IN PREFERENCE TO YOUR UNSECURED LOAN NO MATTER WHAT PAYMENTS HAVE BEEN AGREED ON THIS.
NOW I AM ON IVA I HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT-BUT SINCE FEBRUARY IT HAS BEEN A NIGHTMARE EVERY MONTH MAKING SURE WHAT I PAY ON MY MORTGAGE GOES TO MY MORTGAGE-AND NOT WHERE NORTHERN ROCK DECIDES WHERE IT SHOULD GO!!!
ANYONE ELSE HAD THESE PROBLEMS WITH THEM-LET ME KNOW ON THIS POST.
FINGERS CROSSED MY MORTGAGE WILL BE UP TO DATE BY THE END OR THE DAY!!![:)][:(!]

[Andrew Graveson]

Hi andrea1968.

You make a very good point that will be of interest to people in IVAs and debt management plans who have a Northern Rock Together arrangement.

Northern Rock's systems do allocate payments proportionately between unsecured and secured debts included in the Together product. They ususally have the same account number.

However they can also override this so the problem should be fairly straightforward to rectify. Your debt management operator should have been able to assist you with this at the time and it seems strange that the issue continued for so long.

[andrea1968]

HIYA-NORTHERN ROCK SAID IT WAS THE COMPUTERS FAULT AND PAYMENTS WERE AUTOMATICALLY RE-ALLOCATED AND DID ADVISE ME TO RING BACK EVERY MONTH AFTER I HAD MADE THE MORTGAGE PAYMENT TO ENSURE THE ACCOUNTS WERE CORRECT. DAFT THING WAS THEY WERE ONLY GETTING 15.00 LESS ON THE DMP THAN BEFORE-SO THE SHORTFALL WASNT HUGE. I JUST CANNOT UNDERSTAND WHY THEY ARE HAPPY TO CAUSE CUSTOMERS TO GO INTO ARREARS ON THE MORTGAGE AND EXPECT US T0 CHASE THEM TO CORRECT THINGS ALL THE TIME.

[andrea1968]

JUST RANG THEM AGAIN BECAUSE THEY NEVER RING BACK-THEIR IVA DEPARTMENT IS LOOKING AT MY ACCOUNTS-SEEMS THEY MAY HAVE GRABBED THE MONEY BEFORE THE IVA WAS FINALISED-NOT HAPPY.HAVE TOLD THEM ENOUGH IS ENOUGH-MORTGAGE PAYMENT DUE NEXT WEEK AND UNTIL MY ACCOUNT IS BACK UP TO DATE I WILL HOLD THE MONEY TIL THINGS ARE SORTED.

[liamjames]

Hi Andrea,

I wouldn't recommend non-payment of the mortgage, as if you default on the secured part of the loan you may risk losing your home.

I'm glad that they have accepted fault though, and good luck getting everything sorted.

[andrea1968]

I WILL PAY THEM-ITS JUST SO ANNOYING WHEN I KNOW THAT THE MOST IMPORTANT BILL IS THE MORTGAGE-AND ITS UP-TO-DATE-BUT ALL I SEEM TO GET BACK IS ARREARS LETTERS AND SOME SNOOTY INDIVIDUAL DEMANDING TO KNOW WHY I HAVENT KEPT MY ACCOUNT UP TO DATE.

[MelanieGiles]

To be fair to Northern Rock, they get very concerned internally when this happens, and in my own experience are usually very happy to rectify the problems when brought to their attention.

There have been a few redundancies at the NR head office recently, so perhaps they also have a resource issue.

[andrea1968]

thanks melanie-i didnt hear anything back yesterday,maybe today it may be resolved.My iva is through illness,as we managed all our accounts fine previously,and there was always plenty of money left at the end of the month.I think i have become oversensitive since losing my income,normally i would have shrugged something like this off and let them sort it out.It seems that the NRAM section of northern rock is running low on resources-as my problems did start when the company split-around the same time as my dmp started i think.the discrepancies with my account have been going on for months now-but on the plus side at least now they hopefully will leave my mortgage alone.I do hope though that anyone else dealing with them does have a good look at their statements.

[Andrew Graveson]

Our experience is the same as Melanie has described. We've found Northern Rock to be helpful in dealing with this issue that they acknowledge can be created by the payment allocation process that they run.

[Tillergirl]

I am in the process of entering an IVA and have a Together Loan Mortgage with NRAM. I read previous threads on here detailing how NRAM split the payment when you do not pay the full amount and contacted my IVA firm for advice. They agreed I should pay both the mortgage and unsecured loan to avoid issues with mortgage arrears - providing I could afford to. As such I have maintained full payment to avoid any issues with mortgage arrears.

[andrea1968]

hiya-our problems arose because of the dmp-the amount that we were paying northern rock on the unsecured was agreed to be fair by them-yet the problem of them re-allocating payments ran from february to August.I am still waiting to find out if my mortgage has been corrected to 0.00 arrears-their iva department is looking at this-i cannot understand why as the extra they took from my mortgage was pre-iva(by a couple of days).My ip cannot get involved with secured loans and i have to sort this out myself.Best thing is i havent had any problems other than this since the iva started-all phone calls and letters ceased immediately the iva started!Never mind-these things are sent to test us!!!!Good luck tillergirl-Nothern Rock(nram)voted yes for my IVA and they had the majority vote-fingers crossed for you and hope all goes smoothly!!![:)]

[andrea1968]

NORTHERN ROCK JUST PHONED-MORTGAGE ACCOUNT NOW SORTED-THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR INPUT-A PROBLEM SHARED AND ALL THAT-TILLERGIRL HOW FAR ALONG ARE YOU IN THE IVA PROCESS???DO HOPE ALL GOES WELL FOR YOU-WE CAN HAVE A VIRTUAL DRINK WHEN YOU GET A RESULT-CANT AFFORD A REAL ONE!!!!!CHEERS

[Tillergirl]

hi andrea1968,

I am due to have the telephone meeting with my IP on Friday to confirm everything.

Thanks for your posts - they've been interesting to read as somewhat relevant to my situation.

Will be needing a 'virtual' drink the day of the creditors meeting!!!!!!!!!!!!

[andrea1968]

good luck tillergirl-hope everything goes to plan!