Mortgage Arrears and Simple Interest - Is it fair? Took out a secured loan for £10,000 6 years ago. After initial application was accepted we were offered an extra £6000 which we agreed to. At the time I was concerned that we had been issued with two loan separate loan agreements - I wasnt happy with this and voiced this to the loan advisor and was basically reassured that this was just an administration technicality and would not make any difference. He even sent me argos vouchers as a sweetner. 12 months later my husband left me and our business collapsed leaving myself and 30 of our staff redudant. I was absolutely financially destitute. He financially abandoned me and ever since I have been fighting one legal battle after another, keeping the wolves from the doors. I have single handedly paid off all our joint debts. 5 years later and I have made the necessary 72 repayments but I am left with a balance of just over £4k. This includes interest, charges and simple interest. What I need to establish is it it all fair. Loan payments where late from December 2007 to May 2008 by around 2/3 weeks. I was charged £50.00 collection charges on each loan. From May 2008 - June 2009 I could not make any payments whatsover.House was put on the market as I saw this as my only option. £50 charge on each loan per month was applied. June 2009 agreement was reached, I reinstated payments and started to pay off the arrears. Continued to apply charges, but agreed to reverse them if I maintained the agreement. April 2010, cleared the arrears. Asked about the charges and they advised I could pay them off at the end of the loan. Im now at the end of the loan and still owe just over £4k. They have reinstated the charges made from June 2009 - 2010 but no more. I have several questions: Was it fair to charge me on each loan account - I was paying £100 per month in charges? Surely there is no more work involved in chasing payment for two accounts as oppose to one account? Was the amount that they charged me a fair amount - it seems very high? Also because I have had so much information off them (in one month I had 10 pieces of correspondence) I have overlooked that they have also been charging simple interest on the charges! As a result, I didnt realise that by leaving these charges until the end of the loan period, I was still being charged interest on them. I was treated appauiling by this company, I was never shown any sympathy, in fact I almost felt bullied by their "callers" and felt that they "harrassed" me at an extremely difficult time. I responded to every call they made - I gave them every bit of information I could, but unfortuantely for a long period I could pay them no money and therefore did everything I could to sell the house. When circumstances changed for the better I offered them the maximum I could afford which included paying the full monthly payments plus a further payment towards the arrears . I was advise that it was not enough and that the arrears would have to be paid within in minimum period of 12 months. They therefore took me to court for repossesion. Thankfully it was not granted and was adjourned on the terms I had previously offere them. Despite this however there are legal fees also on my statement, which could have been avoided had they accepted my proposal. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi everyone. I'm after a bit of help. I have just found out I can claim back the charges on my mortgage. I have requested a statement from my mortgage company who odly have sent one out without charging me. However there is a problem. I took my mortgage out in 2007 with future mortgages, the mortgage was then sold to Engage credit. The current company engage have sent a letter saying, "we acknowledge receipt of your recent enquiry requesting copies of your mortgage statements. Please find enclosed the requested statements. Unfortunately, we have not been able to provide statement from 1 April 2009 up to 31 March 2010 as this was not provided to us by your previous lender." My concern is that the statement ending 31 March 2009 shows a balance of £153,783.69 The statement that starts on 1 April 2010 shows a starting balance of £156,346.89 This means that £2563.20 has appeared on my mortgage total and I have no statement to show why. At present my fees balance on the mortgage stands at £2068.81. Could someone please give me some advice as to how to proceed. Firstly how do I go about recovering the charges I can see applied to my account, and secondly what do I do about the missing statement and the sudden leap in money over a year. I find it very convenient that in the years missing period there is a sudden leap in my balance. There are some legal costs on the account from them trying to take me to court to repossess after 2 months arrears, which was paid on the day of the court hearing. thanks in advance james

My wife left the house to set up a new life 4 years ago, the divorce went through almost immediatly however the financial part has just been settled. My position so far is I have my own business which hardly makes any profit and no capital but has commercial property valued at £200000, I also have a joint mortgage on the marital home valued at £220000 currently occupied by myself my 22 yr old daughter and 16 year old daughter (still in education). The financial settlement outcome was a court order that I continue with the mortgage payments and bills until my youngest daughter is 18 or we sell the house then my ex wife will receive the equity on the house ( approx £55000) The house is on a repayment mortgage but as soon as my wife left 3 years ago the mortgage company agreed to put me on interest only (£360 per month) on a temporary basis, however they are pushing for going back to repayment £990 per month which I cannot afford, in any case the increased amount would benefit my ex wife. I have always kept up with the interest only payments but the mortgage company have now become aggressive and threatening legal action which I would assume repossesion. The house has been up for sale at a reasonable price and both my ex and the mortgage company are up to date with proceedings so far. My aim is to stop any legal action until the house is sold, my main worry is that the house will be repossesed and my ex will not get her equity Can anyone help ?

Hello! I have just started putting together all my bits and pieces to start a claim with GE to have my admin charges, etc refunded back to me. I have had them send me a full statement covering the six years of the mortgage and have just calculated the fees alone (over GBP3,000). I have some questions that I would be so grateful for some help with... 1. Do I need to send off for a SAR even though I have this statement? If so, what do I do with all the SAR info when I get it? 2. How do I claim back the additional interest charges as they're almost as much as the charges themselves? 3. Exactly which template letters should I be using in order to make this claim? I followed the links I saw in similar threads but got quite confused when I got to the actual links. Sorry for posting a thread that I know you've probably seen a bunch of times before. I really do appreciate any and all help you could give me!!! Rebecca

We received a letter from Nat West last year, we have a charge on your house and want £265,000 when its sold. Not asking for possession now! Oh, and it was addressed to my sister who has not banked with NW since 1984. This was the start of a nightmare, and when I turned detective! Our house was bought in 1973 on a 45% deposit and 55% mortgage with the then Alliance Building Society. The person who paid the deposit was my sister a single woman who pre Equality act could not have a mortgage on her own, our parents names had to go on it. We are still in the house, but with a massive problem we need some assistance with. This is bizarre, and linked, there are three parts to this. In 1983 my sister decided to have a further advance on the mortgage for home improvements, the solicitor who did the conveyance did the legal work for Alliance this was called a second charge, paid for by my sister. This £8k was paid by cheque to the local Nat West branch. She had a career ending car accident within a few weeks and asked for the money to be returned. The money has been missing ever since. No one at Alliance has ever discussed it, and we have been to the FSO twice. They charged her arrears for not paying the extra mortgage. In 1989 the mortgage was extended to 49 years from 25 years. On the first Ombudsman outing in 1986 it was discovered Alliance were sending documents to the wrong address. We had discovered prior to that the conveyance and mortgage agreement had the address of another house on them. Alliance said it didn't matter. They had sent out a mailshot saying they were extending terms, which we did not get. The copy we were given does not make sense. But was sent on a reply if you don't agree basis and we did not reply so have been told we accepted it. Alliance were not at all nice over my sisters accident, and made it clear they wanted to repossess. They tried twice and each time it was thrown out. Each time we tried to find out about the missing money they would not give any info as one parent had died in 1989 (age 71) (same solicitors did will), and the other had dementia, Alliance hid behind the DPA. They let slip there was a charge and my sister thought it was the second charge. We did a DSAR and were given some paperwork, clearly not all. Anything relating to our parents was not provided. Move on to 2012, the second parent died (age 90), which coincided with the Nat West letter. We immediately contacted Nat West, and they were very patronising and unhelpful. They had a charge, no we could not have the paperwork. Back to the FSO. Nat West opted to time bar the complaint, but did say the charge was for our parents overdraft in 1983. They had turned an overdraft for two pensioners into a charge on a house they had not paid for, without my sister knowing about it. The same solicitors have lost the other parents will, and while looking for a copy in the loft, I found a briefcase which forcing open had some letters in it. In 1983 they had a £2,500 overdraft and only a state pension, it has to be charges. They were both ill with cancer then and not up to Nat West. I found court documents, Nat West had taken them to court and refused to wait for legal aid to come through. The documents show Nat West lied to the court about who owned and paid for the house, my sister according to them resided with them, and did not own any of the house let alone pay for it (from her Nat West account at the same branch). We know my sisters accident solicitor wrote to the court for them asking for time for the legal aid to come through. And I found a letter dated after the hearing from legal aid which had not been agreed even then. By that time it was too late! Alliance have provided some limited paperwork, including an offer of a charge from Nat West in 1983, the same time as the further advance charge and it looks like my sister signed it. On the second page is a handwritten document detailing the property. The first thing I noticed is the address is the same wrong address as the conveyance and mortgage agreement. This address is only on those two documents. In the briefcase is a letter from Nat West to my sisters accident solicitor saying the local Solicitor (the same one as the house purchase, did wills, and the further advance and much more over the years) gave them a charge document to drop round to the house to get her to sign, and she had seen a solicitor first. Nat West had come to the house after the accident, but the document they asked her to sign was to return the £8k, and no she did not see a solicitor first, and nor was she left a copy. Other documents provided by the Alliance DSAR and the documents found, make it clear the local solicitor was acting for Alliance, the family and Nat West all at the same time in 1983. They had a copy of the house conveyance on file and it was in 1984 that it was noticed the address was wrong. A letter puts the £8 in the hand of the Nat West manager in 1984 exactly one month before it went out of date. Another letter in the case from 1986, states the Alliance solicitor told the accident solicitor the £8k was never paid. I think the cheque was never cashed. Alliance are not keen on establishing that! I can prove Alliance started arrears proceedings knowing my sister had not had the money because of the letter from Alliance to the Nat West manger 5 months after it had been received, he was asking what it was for. The covering letter does not specify which account to pay it into. So, here we are. Alliance have refused to do anything about anything because of the DPA and my parent with dementia. Now its a long time ago, and they did nothing in 1986 when there solicitor told ours it had not been paid out. When the first parent died (in an Combat Stress care home) the solicitors dealt with the estate, and did not let on about the Nat West charge they did (did I say the handwriting matched work done for us)! Nat West say they have a charge and want the money, but will not give any details, claim its time barred, will not even tell us what interest they are charging, and will not look for our £8k last seen in the hands of their manager. The local court no longer have the details but say we can go back with the documents we have found including the affidavit, which we can easily prove is a lie. My sister is a pensioner her self now, our legal insurance don't want to know, and she cant get legal aid, can any one help with what to do and how to get help with this? If this goes on the total value of the house will be lost over an overdraft we knew nothing about for someone that did not have a financial input into the house, and is dead.