All Barclays SAMs loans were sold directly by their Mortgage Specialists in the Branch network and all were supposed to be done on what used to be called an 'Execution-Only' basis (i.e. no advice was given). For what it's worth, it was classified as a 'Millenium Product' by the Government back when the turn of the Millenium was cool and was exhibited at the Millenium Exhibition at the Millenium Dome. To be honest, there was nothing wrong with the product per-se (or, indeed any product), but if you do have an option to pursue this it is most likely that you will succeed if you are able to identify mis-selling i.e. did they actually 'advise' your parents to take out the loan? If not and, from what you say, your mother doesn't meet the hardship criteria, then there is little likelihood that you will succeed. H

I can guarantee you that I am not and nor have I ever been employed by Future Mortgages or Engage! I'm just someone who has experience with this sort of transaction - that's all there is to it - and all of this information can be found if you look hard enough - Google shows you some things but there are other places such as Reuters, PA, etc. I'd also say look at the principles involved more than the detail since these are the rules that lenders have to abide by. H

Hi all - first time post. I have experience of the sort of deal that seems to be going on here and hopefully I can set the record straight about the things that are probably going on. I'm not trying to defend anyone but am going to try & dispel some of the myths and misinformation that's on this thread. Engage Credit Limited are owned by Deutsche Bank who have been registered with the FSA a lot longer than 2008. DB are a pretty reputable company and both companies are registered & authourized by the FSA. While this is no guarantee, it does give a great deal of confidence that both organizations are being monitored on a very regularly basis with regular meetings (at least quarterly) with their FSA 'handlers'. The note on the FSA register that Engage cannot hold client monies has nothing to do with mortgage lenders. This is intended to cover companies who hold funds in trust for clients. Engage will have no need for this since they do not accept deposits, do not manage client investments and do not act as solicitors and so will have no client accounts. You would have hoped that a registered and competent mortgage broker would have known that. Nigh-on all mortgage contracts (i.e. mortgage offers to me & you) written since about 1990 will have a clause in them that allows the lender to transfer assets to a.n.other lender. None of us really have much choice with this since a) we could have refused to sign the contract & gone elsewhere and/or b) almost every other lender would have had a similar clause. Future Mortgages are not selling all of their accounts to Engage so not everyone would have got the letter. From the press release that was released at the end of September it seemed to represent about a quarter of their book. The chances are that Deutsche Bank simply didn't want to buy all the cases in one lump because of liquidity or capital constraints/availability. Citi closed Future Mortgages to new business in early 2008 as part of a public global strategy to reduce its mortgage assets. Therefore it is no surprise that they have sold some of it. I don't think that Citi has ever sold any of the Future Mortgages book to another company before - they would have sold the mortgage accounts to you & I to keep on their own books. If a big organisation such as Citi couldn't be efficient with their funding costs then no one can - despite the credit crunch. Believe me, no lender wants to take a property into possession. It crystallizes a loss on their portfolio, places loads of extra governance burdens on them and a load of work. Repossession really is a last resort. That's it. The FSA don't govern how solicitors work. It may sound a bit obvious but that's the Law Society's job. Now this is the most important bit: Any transaction of this type means that the terms & conditions you all have with Future Mortgages will not change now that they have been transferred to Engage. This includes what interest you are charged. How your interest is calculated is written into your mortgage offer and since this forms part of the 'inducement to sale' when you took out your mortgage, they can't change it. So, if your fixed rate moves to a LIBOR tracker when it matures, it still will. If they don't do this the FSA will slap them down pretty quickly. So you really shouldn't get your knickers in a twist about that. You can choose to believe what I've written or not but I work with this sort of thing day in/day out in detail. Hopefully for most of you it will put your minds at ease. Cheers Hypothecation