buildings insurance with your lender, any problems?

[maybelline]

I had my buildings insurance with my lender for several years (GE Money) and it now seems that this has been described as a debt and I have paid charges every month of £40 for this, I admit to being ignorant of how this works but is it a debt, there was no mention of it when I was asked if I wanted my insurance to stay with them (as far as I know) is this a common practice. I have now moved my insurance to a seperate provider which is a third of what they were charging but I did not realise I was paying extra charges on top.

 

this is about GE Home Lending and reclaiming unfair charges.

[Bookworm]

So reclaim them. (not the insurance payments, the charges!)

[maybelline]

I have asked for a schedule of the charges to date to be posted to me. I have a fairly recent copy of my full account statement which does show charges for the whole time DWP were part paying my mortgage. It was being paid in full each month, split between me and DWP but the DWP payment was sporadic and it appears I have paid charges, either way it is a £40 per month payment month on month for several years. when the information comes from them I will add them up and send a prelim letter. I was shocked to find the insurance charge thing out today, I will be interested to see how this has been charged also. I thought insurance was added to the mortgage loan amount not charged seperately as a debt, anyway, thanks for your response.

[paddym]

you really do need to wait until you get you statements back from your mortgage company at present you dont really know what you have been charged if i were you i would wait until you have recieved everything from them you never know you may be surprised by what you discover !

[maybelline]

yes, will definately wait for the statements, surely a £40.00 charge whatever it is for is way over and above any costs they could realistically incur as a result of the refused dd and that is why people are claiming them back?

 

if not a refused dd but for being in arrears isnt this also the same argument as with the banks and overdrafts, automatic extortionate charges as a penalty.

 

the unfair contracts argument, even though they list their charges, still apllies.

[maybelline]

PS Is GE Home Lending the same company as GE Money?

[maybelline]

you really do need to wait until you get you statements back from your mortgage company at present you dont really know what you have been charged if i were you i would wait until you have recieved everything from them you never know you may be surprised by what you discover !

 

yes, you are right, discovered an awful lot!

[maybelline]

collated all the up to date info and sent my prelim letter:)

[paddym]

so what did you find ? how much are you claiming ?

[maybelline]

claiming approx £1500, there were some charges that I felt might have had some kind of intervention so did not include them, seems to be made up of admin fees monthly.

[maybelline]

received reply today - and to think I left some charges out!!?? they have given a detailed description of why they think all their charges are fair and lawful under terms and conditions, returned DD's, litigation(which I did not include) buildings insurance? (which I had with them so paid but they say this cost them to arrange) solicitors costs (which I had not claimed anyway) most of the charges they say cover the expense of - writing letters, making phonecalls, the admin cost of the BACS system and the charges from their bank for each returned DD?

 

I have not heard any defence so far that the BACS costs them £40 or indeed any of the above.

 

They end by saying they are closing the file and 'giving' 8 weeks for response.

 

It looks to me like I need go over the charges again and recalculate, including the ones I missed first time round.

[maybelline]

I dont expect the bldgs ins premium to be returned obviously but I refer to the additional charges placed on the account just for it being with them, similarly the sols cost, although I recall at the time the courts said they did not expect them to pass the costs on to me (but they did anyway)!! I need to get back in touch with the court to see what paperwork they have on that issue?

[paddym]

you can amend your schedule of charges right up until MCOL stage !

[maybelline]

thanks paddym, looks like I need to:)

[maybelline]

just looking at charges listed -

 

lit.referral fee - pops up now and again alongside montly arrears charge and returned dd fee, so almost £100 in charges in one month period! also

 

dn fee - assume this is default notice and admin fee, soon adds up!

 

I see I have been charged over £300 for building insurance but several months ago I changed to a much more reputable and cheaper insurer but had to pay GE £25.00 for doing so, but the full fee is still on my account, surely I should have some part refund?

[maybelline]

LBA in post.

[maybelline]

preparing my N1 for this claim to take into court next week, do I adjust the wording currently in templates, I wonder.

[maybelline]

token offer from GE to reverse some of the charges, approx half?

[maybelline]

Hello, I need to rename this thread as maybelline v GE, just filling in my N1 to take to court, I meant to do it earlier but got bogged down in other stuff, my query is, they have made a part payment, i.e. reduced the charges on my account by one thousand pounds, so when I fill in the value of the claim do I put he original sum and deduct the payment or just start from now, claiming the remaining sum, we have to redo spreadsheet I imagine so the interest works out correctly?

[maybelline]

have come to a standstill on this at moment. not sent N1.