How do I stop the bank from taking my home?

Act now! Okay, act as soon as you've read this blog post. If you find yourself in a sticky financial situation and you're scared you won't be able to make your home loan repayments or you've missed a few bond repayments, you're going to want to keep reading...

If you haven't yet missed a bond repayment:

• Contact your bank and explain your financial situation to them. They will try and offer you a few solutions to help alleviate the financial burden. This may look like:
• Extending your bond term. If your bond is currently over 20 years, the bank may suggest that you extend the period to 30 years to help save on your monthly instalment.
• If the extending of the bond term is not a feasible option, they may suggest helping you sell the property.

If you have missed a bond repayment:

Respread of your arrears

• The bank could offer to respread the amount you are in arrears by over a few months so that you can repay a portion of your arrears amount and your bond instalment each month. If you are already battling to keep up with your home loan payments, this won't be a practical solution. 

Payment holiday

• Depending on the bank, they may suggest a payment holiday. This could be for a portion or the entire bond amount for a few months. 
• It's important to note that if you do take this option, it will mean that you will accumulate interest and service fees so that when you do start paying after the payment holiday, so your new bond repayment will be more than the original amount. Again, if you are already struggling, this won't really be a solution for you.

How to protect your house from repossession?

If you are struggling to make your bond repayments, and you do not want to go the routes the bank offers, you should seriously consider debt review at Meerkat.

What is debt review?

Debt review is a debt relief programme that helps consumers like you who are struggling to pay for all their debt. This is great because it's not just for your home loans- if you're struggling to pay for all of your debt, debt review can provide relief.

How does the debt review process work?

A Debt Counsellor will assess if you are over-indebted. Over-indebted is someone who is struggling to pay for all their debt obligations with their current income. If you are struggling to make your monthly payments, you will very likely qualify for the process.

Once they have determined if you are over-indebted, they will then work out a new restructured, reduced debt repayment plan for you. This repayment plan will consolidate all your debt so that you will only have to worry about making one monthly repayment. They are able to do this because they negotiate with your creditors regarding the interest rates on your loans. This means you could end up saving on your total debt amount in the long-run.

The best benefit of signing up for debt review at Meerkat when you are afraid to lose your home? When you are in the process, the law legally protects your assets like your home and your car from repossession. This means that the bank can no longer threaten to repossess your home.

Also, instead of worrying about constant rising interest rates, when you are in the process, your new low interest rates are FIXED.

Don't wait for another interest rate increase to wonder how you will pay for the new increased bond and car instalment. Remember, skipping monthly payments can eventually lead to credit lenders taking legal action against you.

Protect yourself and your family from the bank repossessing your home. Go under debt review at Meerkat today.

Who is Meerkat?

MyMeerkat FSP is an authorised financial services provider (FSP 50979). We also are a registered debt counsellor NCRDC 2613. And, we've been voted as one of the Top 10 Large Debt Counsellors in South Africa!