Abbey change of heart helps family

By Francis Baker and Andrew Verity
BBC Two's Truth about Property

The problems with Sarah's mortgage multiplied very quickly

New parents Andy and Sarah Sawbridge are facing big financial pressure.

They were proud of their Sheffield home when they bought it, pleased to get a foot on the property ladder and relieved to have a permanent place for their young son, Troy, to grow up in.

When Sarah stopped work after Troy was born, Andy's job as a fibreglass laminator brought in £300 a week, comfortably enough to manage a £400 a month mortgage.

Other debts they had incurred - such as a loan for a car Andy needed to get to work - were well within their means.

But now the family is facing hard times, and all it took to turn their lives around was a simple DIY accident.

Two years ago, while Andy was decorating their bathroom, he shattered the bone in his hand. He could not work and their income dropped to just £80 a week.

They started struggling to keep up repayments on their mortgage and by the beginning of this year, they had run up arrears of £1,400.

"We would always pay them something but it hasn't been the full amount because we never had the full amount to give them," Andy says.

"And then - they're shouting at you for money."

Classified ads

They started selling anything they could to meet each monthly payment.

"We put everything we had in the free ads, we put our camera in - we got two hundred pounds for that. Andy's tools, too." says Sarah.

Presenter Andrew Verity meets Sarah and Andy Sawbridge

Andy's tools, worth £1,000 are crucial to his ability to work in his chosen trade. But they were forced to advertise to sell them to try to meet demands for repayment.

In March, Sarah finally found work, but by then it was too late.

Their mortgage lender, Abbey, had lost patience and issued a notification of legal proceedings, the first step towards repossession.

The Sawbridges' arrears had reached £2500, and Abbey continued with proceedings despite the fact that Sarah now had a weekly wage coming in.

"All they say is we'll add that to the notes," she explains after a phone call to the lender asking them to change their minds.

"But they're not going to stop the letters coming, they're not going to stop the phone calls coming, they're not going to stop the proceedings coming."

'Bad mess'

A repossession order followed and a court date was set for 10 May.

The Sawbridges were distraught, they were about to lose everything they'd worked for.

And then the Sawbridges got a lucky break. A letter came from Abbey out of the blue.

"It was just another letter from Abbey and we dreaded opening it and then we opened it and I just had to read it over and over again," she says.

Andy continues: "They are stopping the court action and they're appointing us with someone to help us out with it all. We haven't been this happy for a long time."

Since then, they've had their payments cut to £290 a month with a simple change to an interest-only mortgage.

"If they'd only done that a while ago, we wouldn't be in half such a bad mess," Andy says.

More help?

Could this change of heart be due to pressure being put on lenders by the government at the moment?

Is it a quid pro quo for a £50bn package to help with the consequences of the credit crunch, that banks and mortgage lenders are being told to treat borrowers more sympathetically?

Abbey maintain that repossession is a last resort and that they are always prepared to work with customers to find a solution to their problems.

Whatever the reason for their change of heart, the Sawbridge family are looking forward to a happy summer in their own home.

The Truth About Property is broadcast on Monday, 12 May and Tuesday, 13 May at 2000 on BBC Two.