Family forced to sell home after mortgage payments increased from £295 to £1,511 a month | Personal Finance | Finance

As mortgage rates increase by over £500, once couple have had to sell their family home just to release financial pressures.

Tina Reynolds and her husband bought their family home in 2007 however Mrs Reynolds has seen her mortgage skyrocket to 11 percent and she has been unable to re mortgage due to existing debts.

After months of sleepless nights, Ms Reynolds was forced to put their family home on the market for £300,000.

Their interest-only mortgage had increased almost five times following the consecutive base rate rises.

To keep up with the increase to her payments, Ms Reynolds was using credit cards to pay for her family’s food and selling clothes as her mortgage payments and bills were leaving her without spare money.

Over the past 16 years, their mortgage payments with lender Rosolite Mortgages have increased from £295 in 2007 to £1,511 today, including a smaller second mortgage they took out two years ago.

Their remaining mortgage commitment is £205,000 and their second mortgage £35,000.

Mrs Reynolds told iNews: “It’s been challenging. My husband suffers with anxiety, and this has caused us a lot of sleepless nights. It’s made him quite poorly.

“I had to take some time off work because it became too much and I couldn’t think straight.

“I’ve got a constant butterfly feeling in my stomach. It’s a horrible feeling. I don’t feel secure in any shape or form. It’s like waking up everyday with a black cloud over you and you’re looking for a bit of sun but there isn’t any.

“We’re not living, we’re just existing. There’s no sign of this ending.”

After seeking advice 10 months ago, the couple were pushed to to sell their home for £300,000.

Mrs Reynolds said: “We put the house on the market today which is really sad because it’s our family home.

“We’ve lived here 16 years, the kids have been brought up here. We don’t want to move, and the kids certainly don’t want to move but we don’t have a choice now. We can’t sustain the mortgage payments any longer. It’s ridiculous.”

To cut costs, Mr Reynolds walks to work to save fuel money, and the couple has cancelled their gym memberships.

The options Mrs Reynolds has considered now are renting, shared ownership or taking out a loan. However, the family is concerned their age could affect a shared ownership mortgage, their house will not sell, or the security of renting may be too low.