YOU HAVE YOUR SAY
EVERY week Money Mail receives hundreds of your letters and emails about our stories. Here are some of the best from our report on how a couple face being evicted by Santander because they can’t repay their interestonly mortgage. THEY have been treated really badly by their lender, Santander. In this day and age, you expect lenders to have more empathy, for their senior citizen customers, but it seems to be the opposite. In one word it is greed! V.S., by email. WE, TOO, are being forced by our mortgage lender to sell our home of 15 years, which we adore, and move into rented accommodation. They tell us they are not prepared to extend an interest-only mortgage to people over 75, even though we have never missed a payment.
This is a national disgrace. It will cost far more for the state to support thousands more like us if this situation continues. R.A., by email. THIS couple may have paid the interest, but haven’t made a single payment towards reducing the capital. I had to struggle to pay my mortgage, and never expected any help with it — I just went without luxuries. I don’t think Santander is being unreasonable. S. P., Haywards Heath, W. Sussex. UNLESS you’re expecting a large inheritance or can save enough to pay off the capital part of the loan, avoid interestonly mortgages or you’ll end up like this unfortunate couple. J.L., Blackburn. IT DOES seem this couple had a lot of bad luck with illness and job losses. But when they moved to interest-only, they should have tried to make overpayments along the way. V. C., Brentwood, Essex.