my cousin has a home with a small mortgage . He borrowed £25k over 8years from Abbey. he's now half way thru term. his rate is tracker so its 1.54% presently . the monthly payment is £ 324pm.ideally he would like to stay on this rate however, after they agreed in principle of a further top up loan, they are now reluctant to do this .citing that they ' would prefer to see the account running for another 12 months before advancing any further monies '. (??)

my cousin has a variable income as a driver ,as jobs come in they are allocated - he does 60 hours on call around london for between 18-20k per annum. so he has high equity and moderate income.10 weeks ago we approached abbey and 5 weeks ago my parents paid off his £1300 arrears built up from last october so they agreed in order to get the loan-this was to be repaid on completion.

I am his cousin ,colin and am in H.M Forces. im stationed in portsmouth and have been given a new post in central london for the MoD. i earn £21,000 with a automatic pay adjustment to £26,000pa in july .

As my cousin needs some stability with his payments and i need to live as close to central london it makes good sense to live with my cousin and give him some more stability to ensure that he doesnt build up arrears again or be forced to sell up because the credit crunch is seriously affecting him to the point he needs to sell up at whatever market coonditions are -

So do we have a case to take higher up the chain of command , the branch manager is away for two more weeks or should we take the entire loan to another lender ?

this is the scenario which abbey agreed to - i have no adverse credit history and all my Royal Navy pay slips , our solicitor is primed and ready to do transfer of equity and my parents kindly advanced the £1,300 solely on the premise that they would complete on the basis i was a good bet which subsequently i am.

The home hasnt had anything done to it since 1991 appx. so it needs re- plastering , redecoration ,lighting , new suites in the kitchen and bathroom ,carpets , furniture ,etc to the value of £50,000 .he's used to it i like ship shape. theres £6,500 on his cards so that would be added to the 50,000 as debt consolidation.

Since oct he has seen less money and with the economic downturn his income diminishes which why he has built up £1300 arrears . the abbey mtg advisor said of the case that if the arrears are paid off upfront and my credit points are good then there should be no problems.

My cousin had it valued at 425,000 18 months ago so now conservatively speaking it should be worth £375,000.its behind Belgravia police station . what is the best way forward and what loans would you say to look at ?

thanks for your help today

colin