Mortgage Charges - What to claim for

[sunseeker]

Has anyone had any success with mortgage charges and what charges would you consider to include within a claim.

 

I am about to take on my previous mortgage company as I know they have charged me for being in arrears and late payments.

 

I also want to claim for the Redemption Statement charges applied as these are £130 for each statement (I've had three in recent years due to my situation) which can be produced within a day or two. I honestly can't see how this is a fair and reasonable charge!!

 

Cheers.

[alanfromderby]

Certainly the late payment and arrears charges. The statement charges, I would say, may be more difficult. Although it seems an extraordinarily large figure for something that shouldn't be too difficult to produce.

[sunseeker]

Cheers Alan,

 

Have just drafted up letter now but will include request for redemption costs.

 

I was lucky to get my mortgage changed last month as the redemption statements went up to £150 from May 1st!!!

[alanfromderby]

It is worth pushing the point certainly - keep us informed of what they say.

[dalesteel]

Hey check this one out guys! and girls!

 

I am a self employed builder. I took out a mortgage with Halifax PLC through my mortgage advisor, on the basis i could transfer the mortgage to another property. I tried to move house and was told that i couldnt transfer my mortgage because i was late payin my mortgage (not behind), and because i had my bank account with the Halifax, they sed i had some bank charges on there. However if i was with another bank like HSBC they wouldnt know what my account conduct was like. The next thing i know, i cant transfer my mortgage and i get hit with a 3K early repayment fee.... What do i do?

Dale Steel

[sues35]

Check out your T&C on the mortgage and the advisor paperwork

[Witsend]

A previous employer used to provide me with my salary cheque on various days towards the end of the month. Obviously this would not allow me to set up a DD payment, as I could never guarantee the funds were in my account at any specified date. So to avoid additional charges from my bank for returned DD’s, I would transfer payments via ‘on-line’ banking once I knew the cheque had cleared.

My query is that the mortgage company (GMAC) would charge me £30 every time I had DD returned, but when I cancelled the DD and when I transferred ‘on-line’ they now charge me a standard fee of £15 per month for not having a DD setup. This plus a monthly £50 late payment fee seems a little harsh. Any one any ideas??

[zootscoot]

The late payment fees are certainly a penalty for breach of contract and therefore unlawful.

 

Never heard of any body charging for not having a DD set up before, but if in your mortgage contract you agreed to pay by DD, a transfer to online payment could be seen as a breach of contract. It depends on the terms of your agreement. If it is in the agreement I can't see that it costs them 15.00 to receive your money on line rather than through dd so I should imagine it would count as a penalty and therefore unenforceable.

 

Certainly worth making a claim for both and see how they try to wriggle out of it!

 

Hope this helps

 

Zoot

[superfly6973]

Hi,

 

I have heard that is it possible to claim back on 'exit fees' when you change lenders but is it possible to claim on the 'arrangement fees' that banks charge when agreeing a fixed rate deal for a number of years, the other question I have is when the has deal has expired is there a charged for moving on to the bank normal rate.

[andyford2000]

I have just changed my mortgage but with the same lender, they have charged me a fee off £399 product transfer fee for changing over to a fixed rate mortgage which has been added onto my mortgage.

 

£399 added to mortgage which has 15 years left to run, I wonder what the interest would be on that. is this lawfull too.

 

i was told thats what it would cost, expensive if you ask me to press a few buttons on a keyboard

 

help

[superfly6973]

can anybody help with these two questions

 

thanks

[zootscoot]

Hi,

 

Arrangement and product transfer fees are not payable on breach for contract and therefore are outside the law on penalties. They are simply a fee for a service and therefore unfortunately the lender can charge what they like.

[un1boy]

The late payment fees are certainly a penalty for breach of contract and therefore unlawful.

 

Never heard of any body charging for not having a DD set up before, but if in your mortgage contract you agreed to pay by DD, a transfer to online payment could be seen as a breach of contract. It depends on the terms of your agreement. If it is in the agreement I can't see that it costs them 15.00 to receive your money on line rather than through dd so I should imagine it would count as a penalty and therefore unenforceable.

 

Certainly worth making a claim for both and see how they try to wriggle out of it!

 

Hope this helps

 

Zoot

 

A lot of companies are doing this now - BT charge £4.50 per bill for not paying by DD, no matter how you normally pay. I normally pay online or phone by debit card and have never missed a payment. They never used to and they did not even write to inform us that they would start to, it just appeared on my bills - nontheless, they still charge £4.50 - I am sure that it's not right.

[mags112]

My mortgage company has charged me late payment fees of £40 per time on a number of occasions. I think this is unfair and want to try and reclaim them. I have all the details to hand. However, I have been able to find a template letter for reclaiming bank charges on the net but not one for reclaiming mortgage charges. Can I use the same template as for bank charges or is there a specific one I could use?

[welshcakes]

Hi Mags

 

There seems to be a growing interest turning to the question of lawfullness re the admin charge for a refused monthly DD etc.

 

Having read up on a few threads such as http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mortgage-companies/59031-barry-swift-court-date.html I can't really find any current 'scholl of thought' as to whether or not it is worth attempting to have these monthly arrears charges refunded.

 

Am waiting with baited breathe!

[Lindsey0796]

Hi,

 

I am currently paying back mortgage arears of £1600, however I have £3800 worth of charges on my arears account too, they want £5400 in total. I pay a mortgage of £422 and arears of £310 each month. Its a Repayment mortgage! They are charging me interest on the arears, the arears are made up of 4 months of mortgage interest and a monthly charge from them of £115 litigation fee and the interest and other random charges! Surely to charge someone in arears more than twice what they actually owe is verging on criminal!

 

I am persuing this and will let you know how I get on! try using this website: Mortgage charges | free legal help from Govan Law Centre, Glasgow, UK

They have all the letters on there for you, you just have to amend dates!

[sunseeker]

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