Bonus Vs Kensington Mortgages

[Bonus77]

I know I can claim for the DD return fee of £20 per time with Kensington, but can I also claim the £50 for "arrears fee"? I dont think I received any real service, apart from a different department handled my account.

 

I am looking to also send a SAR to discover my true bank charges, and maybe even ask them to justify charging me a 6% fee which came to over £5k after 2yrs into a 3yr tie in.

 

Fingers crossed, I can get some money back.

[caro]

Do you know what they did to earn this arrears fee? Was it a service or a penalty. If there is any element of penalty in it, then claim the whole £50.00.

[Bonus77]

Im pretty sure it was a penalty! I think their excuse when I phoned was that the account was monitored manually, so maybe they will attempt to pass it off as a service.

 

I had a £110 charge for a guy to come out and assess my situation, but i wouldnt try to reclaim that.

[Lizzy]

I am going to try and claim mine back with the Birmingham Midshires. If they can justify the £50 AS A TRUE COST OF THEIR TIME AND EFFORT let them explain it. They are not supposed to profit from it. Ask them in writing for proof of manual intervention.

 

Lizzy

[Bonus77]

Sent out my Data protection act today recorded. So it all starts here.

 

I am reclaiming my charges to start with, but will also send a letter requesting a breakdown of the 5K redemption penalty (6%) I also got when i cashed out of my mortage 2yrs into a 3yr fixed period.

 

Its terrible that companies like this prey on people who cant afford massive deposits or have bad credit historys and exploit every penny they can out of them.

[jamorgan]

Hi Bonus,

 

I'm glad I found you!

 

I also am a victim of ERC totaling £7149.64

I took out a mortgage with Kensington at Skipton (Now they call them selves MAS) back in 2004.

 

My husband and I came out of the 2 year fixed deal after a 12 month due to the rate rising from 6.% discounted to almost 8.9% in the first year.

 

I sent a standard letter 20 days ago that I found in the forum libary.

 

Got a reply today from MAS Plymouth stating they unconditionally refute my claim and that the ERC are clearly stated in the mortage offer and it was our responsibility to read and fully understand these charges, but they have failed to supply me with a full break down of there costs and losses.(which i asked them to supply.

 

They also sent me a copy of my mortgage offer highlighting the % of charges that we would incure if we redeemed early.

 

Any advise or guidence would be greatly appriciated, as i'm not sure were to go from here.

I'm not sure how much refund (if any) we are entitiled to.

 

Thanks for your time and good luck!

 

Jude

[Bonus77]

Hi Jude,

 

I will of course help as much as I can, but keep us posted on your progress.

 

Just to update my story, I received a call from Kensington today asking what exactly I was looking for so they could get the information to me sooner. I said I was after complete mortgage statements detailing charges, original offer pack( so I can check what i signed ) and notes relating to my account including any manual intervention.

 

Hopefully that will speed things up.

[catherinebear]

Hello there Have just read your thread we were going to have our house repossessed as we could not keep up with the increased interest payments with Kensington. We eventually sold 5 months short of the early settlement clause and took the matter to the Financial Ombudsman. However, it does not look hopeful, I had had the property adapted because I was disabled and told them in view of this it seemed grossly unfair we ended up paying them back £17,000 more than the amount of the original loan! Would love to hear from you as to how you are getting on.

 

Catherine

[jamorgan]

Hi Cathrine, Hi bonus

 

Just a quick up date.

 

Sent SAR letter today requesting information, as I have 2 Statements missing and one of those is the final settlement one.

Also sent a letter to the co-ordinator who replied to my first compaint letter informing her to escalate my claim to stage 2 (what ever that means)

BLOODY BULL**** if you ask me.

I also pointed out in this letter that they have not supplied me information as to the breakdown of the massive EARLY REPAYMENT CHARGE as i requested.

 

However I Been advised to exhaust the internal complaints procedure for this company (take my compaint to stage 2 etc). Not that it would yield any positive results but it would show a judge should the matter reach court (bring it on) that you tried all within your capacity to resolve the matter in an amicable manner.

 

Also had some usefull advise DO NOT bother with the Ombudsman as they are useually in favour of the banks and not much help at all.

 

I cannot believe that people like kensington and other finance companies have been able to get away with there actions for so long and it's time now for it to a stop.

The likes of Kensington and the Abbey have caused nothing but mysery, stress heartace and more indebtedness for me and my familly, in what should have been a joyfull first year in my new home.

They have cost us around £15,000.00 in charges (5,220.00 of which has now been refunded by Abbey after I took them to court).

So lets stay hopefull and push as far as we can with these B****rds.

 

Good luck keep me posted, hope you reply sooner than I useually do

Judex

[Treacle's Dad]

hi folks, i took out a mortgage in august 2001, nearly 5 years ago to the day (spooky). redeemed the mortgage in mid august 2003 because the rates has went up with the legal thiefs. there was an earlyredemption penalty charge of 4%. sickening that they push and manipulate the rates to suit themselves then hammer you with a massive redemption fee if you want out early.will be sending my d.p.a. to the address on the forum and let them have the headache and stress for a while. anybody had any success with kensington? let me know. T.D

[Bonus77]

Okay, I received my SAR today. Contained statements, offer letter which reminded me of the ridiculous rate I was charged, and notes relating to my account. All neatly presented in plastic wallets.

 

So.. firstly, I have a total of £160 in charges on returned dd's and £150 in charges on Mortgage Arrears Fee.

 

I am looking through the diarys kept on my account, and I certainly have plenty of entries in the diaries, does that mean that I shouldnt bother trying for the arrears fees? Of course I will be reclaiming the returned dd fees.

 

Okay.. next point.

 

I took the mortgage out on the 28th March 2002 and remortgaged just over 2yrs into a 3yr tie-in on the 29/04/2004. It was for an inital 7.6% (kensington variable rate), discounted by 1.25% until may 2003.

 

They then whacked on a early redemption charge of 6% - £5364.65 plus a redemption fee of £125.

 

So.. advice on what to do now? Im not sure how to work out how much Kensingtons real loss was... any ideas?

[gizmo111]

I took the mortgage out on the 28th March 2002 and remortgaged just over 2yrs into a 3yr tie-in on the 29/04/2004. It was for an inital 7.6% (kensington variable rate), discounted by 1.25% until may 2003.

 

They then whacked on a early redemption charge of 6% - £5364.65 plus a redemption fee of £125.

 

So.. advice on what to do now? Im not sure how to work out how much Kensingtons real loss was... any ideas?

 

I think it is up to them to tell us that - and as they will not tell us exactly what these charges then they can only be classed as unfair penalites. Would modify prelim asking for break down and refund. Also what is the difference between a redenption charge and redemption fee?

[Bonus77]

I think it is up to them to tell us that - and as they will not tell us exactly what these charges then they can only be classed as unfair penalites. Would modify prelim asking for break down and refund. Also what is the difference between a redenption charge and redemption fee?

 

So, If I sumbit a prelim about the charges for arrears and returned dd fees to claim that back.. then submit one asking to justify the redemption charge/fee?

[gizmo111]

So, If I sumbit a prelim about the charges for arrears and returned dd fees to claim that back.. then submit one asking to justify the redemption charge/fee?

 

thats what I would do - as charges are provedto be unlawful but redemptions are still muddy waters

[Bonus77]

Forgot to update, but I sent a prelim in last week for the charges (£310) and will soon be following up with an ERC prelim of some sort some time tomorrow.

[Bonus77]

Okay, inspired by Zoot's success, using his fantastic ERC prelim template, im going to start the ball rolling on this one.

 

Oh, received a reply to my letter about the charges saying they would answer my concerns within 14 days.. Yeah! Like im going to wait for them! ha ha.

[Louisk]

Hi Bonus77

 

I am also claiming the arrears fee (£650), Kensington intially offered to pay up saying it was for 'commercial reasons' - that is it would cost too much to defend, however they asked for confidentiality which I refused, so its off to court.

I ve noticed a few people start threads regarding Kensingtons arrears fee but then disappear - I guess they take the money and run, beginning to think I should have done the same!

[Bonus77]

Okay, sending my LBA for the charges. Can I send the standard LBA or should it be modified for mortgage charges and not bank/credit card charges?

[Bushman]

I would adapt the letter to your requirements and show mortgage charges etc, otherwise it will only confuse.

[Bonus77]

Cheers Bush,

 

Slightly modified LBA sent out today for the charges!

 

Response asking for 14 days from the date of their letter for the ERC reclaim prelim I sent. Of course, I will be going according to my timescale, not theirs.

[Bonus77]

I recevied a letter today stating that they beleive their charges (£310, not ERC) are fair and legal, and they are not going to be refunding anything.

 

Can I proceed to MCOL now or should I wait out the full 14 days after the LBA before issuing?

 

I guess theres a good chance that if my ERC claim for £5+ goes to a court claim, they will attempt to roll the cases together will they?

[Les Gunn]

Hi Bonus77,

 

Yes, wait the 14 days, so it's a clear 4 weeks before you issued the MCOL to show the court you were reasonable with your time.

 

Good luck - i've got one on the boil at the moment.

 

[paddym]

stick to your timescales that way if you do go to court judge can see youve been reasonable and given them time to respond to your letters !

[Bonus77]

Thanks Paddy,

 

Okay, its time to send my ERC LBA.. again, do I stick with the template or modify to suit?

[Bonus77]

I need to send an LBA for the ERC. Does anyone have a template I can use?