FAQ

I am in arrears and the financial institution is demanding that I pay the whole of the arrears immediately but I do not have it all. Can you help?

This is a common tactic the financial institutions use to scare you. We may be able to help but we need to find out more about your situation.

If the financial institution repossesses my property, how much extra will they add on to the costs?

That is hard to say because different institutions have different charges & fees. You can be assured that you will have significant legal charges that in many cases will be 10’s of 1,000’s of dollars.

 If the financial institution repossesses and sells my property for me, will I get some money back from them if there is more than enough equity to cover their costs?

Yes you will but unfortunately if the financial institution sells your property for you, they do not care if you have a fair amount of equity in your property. They only care to recover their costs. We have witnessed many properties being sold by financial institutions at up to 40% below the value.

Their priority is not you, their priority is them. As long as they get back all their costs, they do not care what your property sells for. If you are in this situation, we believe it is wise to try to sell the property yourself.

What happens if they sell my property and it does not cover all their costs?

If this situation arises, they will come after you for the remaining balance.

Why is the loan I have going up in costs and interest so much?

There can be many reasons. If you are in arrears financial institutions charge you a default rate. This rate can be up to 10% more than the standard rate you are on. They will keep you on this rate until the arrears is paid back in full.

They will also charge you for the solicitor’s fees and costs which as you would already be aware, are extremely expensive.

Also, they will continually charge you legal fees to have letters and correspondence sent to you. This can be up to $500 at a time which is significant considering they may send you many letters and correspondence during this period.