MSE News: Thousands of Santander mortgage holders could get payouts after blunder
Comments
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Two_steps_forward... wrote: »Well, that is one way of looking at it. But tell me this - when you took out your mortgage were you told what the cap margin was? Were you ever told during the course of the mortgage? Our mortgage offer did not mention it. My feeling is that most people were completely unaware that such a thing existed until all of this blew up.
I think the lenders regarded it as something that was kept solely in their domain, too complicated for mere mortals to understand. So for me, keeping the SVR under the cap margin or going over it? I would never have known.
But... If I had received a letter saying what the cap margin was, what its purpose was, that they were going to increase it and what this could do to the interest rate I was paying, I would have jumped!!!
The key is, what would you have done if you had known that despite interest rates falling, you were very likely going to be paying a higher rate than the market average very soon? Our expectation was that the SVR would fall throughout the first half of 2009. It did not.
I do tend to read ts&cs (I'll read anything!) and although I can recall reading about a lower limit to the rate payable (never to be less than 1% or something.......how I laughed (I was probably paying 14% or something at that time)) I cannot recall seeing anything at all about an upper limit/cap.
When the rate wasn't coming down in line with the base rate, I just thought that it was tough luck, I was stuck on what they put me on and that was that. In my mind was the fact that I was nearing the end of the mortgage so I just grinned and bore it.:(
Now that I know that I could have done "something" about it, I am glad that they are taking action.
The one thing that I do know (because I had the original paperwork at the time) is the fee for finishing the mortgage off. When the mortgage was taken out in 1986, the fee for paying it off was £25. When I actually paid the last bit off in 2010, it had grown to £750. That is one heck of an increase and I cannot see the justification in such a HUGE increase. I popped that aspect into my questionnaire too.
I shall be very interested to see what they come up with and if there is anything else about to crawl out of the woodwork!:snow_grin"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow........":snow_grin0 -
Hi,
Just wanted to tell people about our experience so far, we had a letter giving us the "balance of probabilities quote". I was quite detailed in the questionnaire giving all our personnel financial circumstances at the time. I phoned them and advised them that the letter had not given any evidence that our circumstances had been looked at. They had a paragraph saying that we must have been ok because we have continued with the mortgage even though we advised us them that we had to go on a debt management shortly after the deception happened. If at that time we had been given that info we on the "balance of probabilities" would have sold up released the large equity in our house and payed off our debt. (I had a big back op sept 2009 so no wages/sick pay for a number of months). I asked for them to send me a copy of my questionnaire as I was going to the ombudsman told me ten days, waited 15. I phoned them again and they said again they would send another copy that was 10 days ago and still waiting.
I am going straight to the ombudsman now re: my original complaint plus now a complaint of very poor customer service/ mal- administration. I hope they realise that this game of misdirection and seemingly the same template letters being sent out suggesting no individual case investigation is only going to get them facing further fines.0 -
fishing_mad wrote: »Almond,
While they may not be in possession of them in your local Santander branch, none of us believes that they cannot possibly "not have any t&c" or get hold of same. Why not ring to ask if they can arrange to fax them to the branch. Although you know their abysmal record on claiming to have 'sent it in the post' (as confirmed most recently by sking's #545), this may be worth a try.
hi
I live about 7 miles from Santander call centre in thornaby and thought I would confront them,0 -
Hi all, I've been lurking with interest for a while and just wanted to share my experience so far. I have been offered compensation, am I the first??
The deciding factor seems to be that I moved my mortgage to HSBC in 2011 and paid the ERC to get out. The explanation is that since I have chosen to move, I would probably have done so earlier given all the information. They have agreed to refund the ERC and the difference between their rate and the rate I could have got elsewhere, both with 8% simple interest, less a small amount for the assumed arrangement fee I would have paid.
Funny thing is, I told them I moved to a lifetime tracker at +1.79% over the base rate, and they assume that is the deal I would have taken at the time and all their calculations are based on this.
I'm inclined to accept anyway as the ERC refund is by far the largest part and the difference between the monthly payments only comes to a few hundred pounds, so changing the rates won't make much difference.
Good luck to everyone else and I hope this info is of help to you.0 -
langerer, how long ago was it that you had a letter saying that they would be re-imbursing you?
I had my letter about 12 days ago and they said to allow 8 weeks before contacting the ombudsman if I wasn't happy. I'd be very interested to know how long this stage took!
Also, what was the reference at the top of your letter? Mine was MO14.
PS Also, what sort of mortgage did you have with Santander before you moved? Was it a discounted rate linked to the SVR?
PPS Having re-read my post, it sounds like 20 questions....sorry about that! Your post was very informative ......thank you.:snow_grin"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow........":snow_grin0 -
I got the letter on Friday, dated 16/07/13. My mortgage was a discount rate linked to the SVR. There is no reference, at least not a generic one. There is a 7-digit number but I guess that's for me specifically. The letter doesn't really read like a generic one, there are lots of references to my specific details and amounts, though I suppose it's still automated and the system just fills in the blanks.0
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I got the letter on Friday, dated 16/07/13. My mortgage was a discount rate linked to the SVR. There is no reference, at least not a generic one. There is a 7-digit number but I guess that's for me specifically. The letter doesn't really read like a generic one, there are lots of references to my specific details and amounts, though I suppose it's still automated and the system just fills in the blanks.
This does seem to confirm that it is the mortgages with a discounted rate linked to the SVR that they are prepared to deal with.
*On my letter was the Mortgage Account Number, a Customer Reference Number and a Letter Reference Number. These were above the date on the letter, which was June 2013 on mine.
It is the Letter Reference Number that I wondered about. We haven't got a huge number of people on this thread considering a total of about 270,000 letters are going out and it seems, so far, that the "lower" Letter Reference Numbers were the ones where Santander said people weren't affected.
* I am referring to the first letter that you would have received......the one with the questionnaire.
Sorry for all the questions, but you seem to be our first person who has actually received their redress!:snow_grin"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow........":snow_grin0 -
Sorry, I didn't keep that one. I didn't bother to keep it after I sent the questionnaire back.0
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Oh, that's a shame, because it would have given another little bit to the overall picture.
Ah, well, it's good to know that someone has received redress, hopefully I'll get a letter soon. Yours seems to have been dealt with very quickly!:snow_grin"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow........":snow_grin0 -
Actually, re-reading it, it is pretty generic but has some specific phrases pasted in such as "I believe you would have switched to a tracker rate for the lifetime of your mortgage ... this is because when you remortgaged you chose a lifetime tracker" and "you incurred ERC's totalling £xx which are included in my offer."
There is also a full breakdown of their calculations detailing how they arrive at their final number which are obviously specific to me.0
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