I see that Doyin22 used MCOL - is that the online filing method? Is there any particular advantage/disadvantage to filing an online claim (£2394)? Matt

oh sorry - the similar threads are underneath. Thanks!

Can you point me in the direction of some recent successes please?

£2,394

Does this now mean I should continue with my ERC claim against the Halifax? I have had the standard fob off letters and have given them 2 or 3 months. Or are we still awaiting Morgy's appeal?

done

I assume this is just their name for 'Early Redemption Fee'. What it implies is that there is a cost involved to them for you ending your mortgage early and this helps towards clawing it back, i.e. a standard ERC. If you look at other threads you will see this is not easy to reclaim at the moment.

You should be able to claim some of the £225 discharge fee after the FSA investigated the banks' inordinate increase in this area. If this amount differs from the fee quoted in your original paperwork when you took the mortgage out, you can reclaim the difference. Matt

After sending two reminder letters, I received a fob-off letter from Halifax, albeit a polite one, in which the now standard defence of "it's not a breach of contract" was traipsed out. Funnily enough they claimed not to have my first letter, even though I sent it next-day registered and got proof of signature from Royal Mail! Is it worth sending a further letter to argue this point based on points in draft directions or just wait for the winds of change? No proceedings have been instigated at this point. matt

If you read your terms & conditions, most banks seem to restrict the maximum amount you can pay off, so if you have an Early Redemption Charge you will still pay a pro-rata amount if you pay off more than they allow. My current mortgage allows no more than £500 a month over the normal payment to be paid off without incurring some amount of ERC.

If you read your terms & conditions, most banks seem to restrict the maximum amount you can pay off, so if you have an Early Redemption Charge you will still pay a pro-rata amount if you pay off more than they allow. My current mortgage allows no more than £500 a month over the normal payment to be paid off without incurring some amount of ERC.

The banks are still being crafty though! The Halifax refunded me £100 from the £175 they charged, but wouldn't repay the £50 for 'deeds transfer' which was charged separately. According to the article this is supposed to be included in the overall charge.

Does anyone have a copy of Halifax's terms and conditions covering the period 2002-2006 that can be uploaded to the site?

Zoot Are you only including sub-prime lenders on this list or high street lenders as well? matt

Thanks for this tip! £100 is on its way! However be warned - they will not refund the deeds postage fee. Still pushing them re ERC though. mattfromnotts

Zooman I have never stated that I am going against the advice on here and pursuing a now obviously risky claim - I am merely stating that there is a flaw in your argument that one type of charge is unjust and another is appropriate. matt

O.k. - when you take out a current account, you do so to avail yourself of a free ipod, better rate, overdraft facility etc. etc. You do this in the full knowledge that if you go overdrawn you will pay £25 in charges and further charges if the situation is not rectified. You are benefitting from this contract. How do this situation differ from an ERC? In both cases the consumer is aware in advance of the outcome if they breach the overdraft/mortgage contract and in both cases a penalty is applied. The argument is exactly the same in both cases, yet in the case of the overdraft charges you are asserting that they are unfair, but those suffering from ERC charges deserve everything they get!

Zooman Whilst not fundamentally disagreeing with the above points raised in regard to ERCs, this still does not justify the nature of the charge being unfair to the consumer in the way it is presented, which is the basic tenet to the vast majority of these claims. The original argument, which to my mind still stands and has not been disproved in any of the cases that have been lost, is that a financial institution cannot justifiably argue that withdrawing from a mortgage on day x will cost them £2,000 for example, but 2 days later costs them nothing and that this does not represent a penalty charge to the consumer for exercising their right to seek another product. Whether this can be viewed as a breach of contract is another matter and seems to be the crux of the defence's legal argument in some of the above cases. There may be some movement and retrospective compensation after the FSA's report on mortgage fees on February 28th 2007, but their investigation is focusing on extra admin fees such as deeds despatch and 'exit' fees, rather than ERCs themselves. With this in mind, surely we would all be better off contributing a sum of money to a fighting fund and bringing a class action against the banks, so that we are able to mount a proper legal challenge that would settle the matter once and for all?

Thanks. I will wait to see what they say, but if they have cottoned on to any of the problems other people have been having, I'm assuming they will be unwilling to negotiate.

I'm confused! If there is a set court for claims under a certain value, i.e. £5k, then on what grounds can the case be moved to a higher court?

I have read carefully the above advice and have a question - I have yet to hear the initial response from Halifax from my 14-day letter re ERC. As far as I can see I have nothing to lose by continuing to negotiate up to the point where I have to put a claim in. As the claim is small compared to a lot of other cases on the site (under £3k) and the claim is not against a specialist mortgage company but a bank, is it still worth issuing a claim in the small claims court? If costs cannot be awarded against me, what is the possible disadvantage? Especially considering Zoot and others have already won full compensation from Halifax for the same thing? matt

Hi Barry Does the Part 18 CPR request apply to claims in the Small Claims Court as well, or is it only applicable to County Court? Mattfromnotts

p.s. don't forget to start a thread so we can keep track. Matt

Good luck! Feel free to use the letter - it was a variation on Zoot's standard one anyway. Send it to the Trinity Rd. address but send it special delivery - that way you can track when and to whom it was delivered and start your count from then. Matt;)