My Mortgage Fees Were Refunded!!!!!!!!

[carriexs87]

A while back I asked about getting mortgage redemption fees back from Leeds and Holbeck (4800 pounds) - well thanks to all the advice I got from this site I wrote to Leeds and Holbeck and they agreed to refund all the fees minus the interest they lost out on for the 2 months (I was tied in for five years and cancelled the mortgage 2 months before this was up). All this was completed within 2 weeks and I'm just waiting for my check to be posted out!!!

 

Thanks to all who gave me advice esp. robertxc whose quote I used in the letter to the bank. So anyone else with early redemption fees - try and get them back - I did!!

 

Now I'm just waiting on those other pesky banks to refund my charges.....

Still, this has given me the courage to go on!!!!!

THANKS!!!!

[Seminole]

Well done!

 

Was there any admission of liability in their letter? I would assume not but I'm ever the optimist!

[Robertxc]

Talk about serendipity! Sitting next to my laptop as I read this post was a letter from GMAC detailing my redemption penalty (£5400!!). I was just composing my opening letter to them in my head! Any chance you could let me know how you worded your letter?

[dinghy]

A while back I asked about getting mortgage redemption fees back from Leeds and Holbeck (4800 pounds) - well thanks to all the advice I got from this site I wrote to Leeds and Holbeck and they agreed to refund all the fees minus the interest they lost out on for the 2 months (I was tied in for five years and cancelled the mortgage 2 months before this was up). All this was completed within 2 weeks and I'm just waiting for my check to be posted out!!!

 

Thanks to all who gave me advice esp. robertxc whose quote I used in the letter to the bank. So anyone else with early redemption fees - try and get them back - I did!!

 

Now I'm just waiting on those other pesky banks to refund my charges.....

Still, this has given me the courage to go on!!!!!

THANKS!!!!

 

Not to be too blunt about it... But that's £4800 that you didn't think you had a hope of retrieving without this site... Which is in dire need of financial assistance to keep it up and running... I think you know where I'm going...

 

 

 

 

Totally at random... 5% of 4800 = 240 !!!!!

[norvernrob]

Brilliant stuff!

 

My remortgage is just about to complete, and I'm being stung for £3900 early redemption penalty. I wouldn't mind some of that back!

[carriexs87]

Well done!

 

Was there any admission of liability in their letter? I would assume not but I'm ever the optimist!

 

Sorry, no. They even had the audacity to say that if you had came to us sooner we could have came to an arrangement before now.....even though I had written AND phoned, but at least they coughed up!!

[carriexs87]

Talk about serendipity! Sitting next to my laptop as I read this post was a letter from GMAC detailing my redemption penalty (£5400!!). I was just composing my opening letter to them in my head! Any chance you could let me know how you worded your letter?

 

This is the part of my letter that I think clinched it:

We were contracted to stay in the mortgage for 5 years, but had to cancel 2 months short of the deadline and subsequently had to pay early redemption charges, which we now feel were excessive and unfair. In Common Law you can only recover liquidated losses stemming from a breach of contract - that is, money which it has actually cost you to end the contract early.

 

To quote The Govan Law Centre: "[bank] charges represent a penalty and are therefore irrecoverable at common law. In the Scottish case of Castaneda and Others v. Clydebank Engineering and Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (1904) 12 SLT 498 the House of Lords held that a contractual party can only recover damages for actual or liquidated losses incurred from a breach of contract. This is also the position in English law: Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage and Motor Co Ltd [1915] AC 79."

As we were only 2 months from the end of our contract we feel that the losses that you incurred were well below what you actually charged us.

Therefore, we request that you refund the following to us:

[Seminole]

Did you get to the stage of issuing a court claim?

[carriexs87]

NO!!! I was quite shocked. I sent the letter out, within 3 days I had a reply stating it was with their mortgage manager, then 4 days after that I got a reply from him offering the money - I couldn't believe they gave in so easily!!! That has to be a first. So I have to sign a from and they will post out the money.

[Robertxc]

I wonder if the mortgage lenders are aware of what's happeing to the banks with their charges, and are feeling jumpy about it.

[norvernrob]

Sorry to hijack the thread but it is on the same subject.

 

My discounted rate finished last month and I am now paying the full rate, yet the redemption penalty still runs for another year. Am I right in thinking that it is actually costing the Mortgage company nothing as the discounted rate has finished?

[Robertxc]

It doesn't 'cost' the mortgage company anything. Don't confuse 'not making as much profit' with 'suffering a loss'. the two things are entirely different. You can only use the law to recover a 'liquidated loss', which means that if they charge you £5K to get out of your mortgage, they would have to demonstrate that it has actually cost them that to do it.

[chrismc]

NO!!! I was quite shocked. I sent the letter out, within 3 days I had a reply stating it was with their mortgage manager, then 4 days after that I got a reply from him offering the money - I couldn't believe they gave in so easily!!! That has to be a first. So I have to sign a from and they will post out the money.

Do you think it happend so quickly because you only had 2 months left to run and there is no way they could legitimatley justify the redemption penalty for only two months worth of time left?

 

It would be nice to hear or know why they gave in so easly?

 

Chris

[norvernrob]

It doesn't 'cost' the mortgage company anything. Don't confuse 'not making at much profit' with 'suffering a loss'. the two things are entirely different. You can only use the law to recover a 'liquidated loss', which means that if they charge you £5K to get out of your mortgage, they would have to demonstrate that it has actually cost them that to do it.

 

 

Well, put, I was looking at it the way the OP got it back, by just paying the interest for the 2 months that was left on the redemption tie-in.

[lickthewallfatboy]

we were with Birmingham midshires until about 3 years ago.We had just changed to a fixed rate mortgage,and circumstances changed quickly in that after about 2 months,we had to move.Sold the house and BM hit us with a rather stiff penalty for clearing the mortgage.

 

Would I have any comeback as regards getting the money back,and if so would some kind person care to give me a contact address so I could chase this up?

[thunderpuss2k]

Would I have any comeback as regards getting the money back,and if so would some kind person care to give me a contact address so I could chase this up?

 

If you sold, the account is settled, and all is fine and dandy - ie you don't owe them any money - then I can't imagine there'd be any comeback..?

 

Address-wise, I've got:

 

Birmingham Midshires

PO Box 81

Pendeford Business Park

Wobaston Road

Wolverhampton WV9 5HZ

[lickthewallfatboy]

If you sold, the account is settled, and all is fine and dandy - ie you don't owe them any money - then I can't imagine there'd be any comeback..?

 

Address-wise, I've got:

 

Birmingham Midshires

PO Box 81

Pendeford Business Park

Wobaston Road

Wolverhampton WV9 5HZ

 

thanks fo the address-rings a bell now you mention it.

 

Maybe I wasn't being too clear when I said "comeback"-I really meant will I have grounds for getting a refund?

[thunderpuss2k]

thanks fo the address-rings a bell now you mention it.

 

Maybe I wasn't being too clear when I said "comeback"-I really meant will I have grounds for getting a refund?

 

Ah ok, thought you meant their heavies knocking on the door and stamping on your flowerbed?

 

I'd go for it if I was you.. afaik they have to prove that the redemption charge is an actual loss that they sustained by you paying off the debt early. If you can get hold of a copy of your redemption statement that would be fab, as you might find some 'other' charges on there - like this mystical 'vacating fee' I have on mine.

[Robertxc]

Erm, don't mean to sound stupid, but if the "Vacating Fee" is for the administrative bits for closing a mortgage, what's the redemption fee for?

[norvernrob]

Forum clock seems to have gone haywire and my posts are all over the place!

[thunderpuss2k]

So the £150 is a fee for their administration costs to end the mortgage early.

 

What is the £4000 for then?

 

Early repayment charge, apparently.

 

Nope, I still don't get it. Think it's time to write a little letter..

[norvernrob]

So the £150 is to cover their costs of ending the mortgage.

 

What is the other £4000+ for then?

 

 

I have basically the same on my statement,

 

Early repayment and deed release fee - £190

Early redemption fee - £3800ish!

[thunderpuss2k]

So the £150 is to cover their costs of ending the mortgage.

 

What is the other £4000+ for then?

 

 

I have basically the same on my statement,

 

Early repayment and deed release fee - £190

Early redemption fee - £3800ish!

 

It's for early redemption isn't it? Surely you can see the value for money there?

 

Maybe we need a separate 'sue your mortgage company' sub-forum or something..

[thunderpuss2k]

Wow, I nearly fell off the chair when I saw this thread! I sold my house last November, and amongst other figures on the redemption statement I had £56.44 late payment interest charged, £462.75 'miscellaneous fees', £150.00 vacating fee, and a £4,388.36 early repayment charge.

 

Already served a DPA request on them a few weeks back and it's been delivered, so just waiting for their reply.. however in the meantime, anyone fancy a guess on whether I'd be able to get back any of this? Quite happy to donate 5% to the forums if I win, would be 10% but I need the cash

[Seminole]

What's a "vacating fee". Are they charging for you to move out of your own home or are they "vacating" an agreement?