Mortgage Exit Fees successes and failures

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Comments

  • nopot2pin
    nopot2pin Posts: 5,721 Forumite
    Got a letter from A&L today... 100 quid... fantastic.

    Wrote a letter to B&B for my parents today... hope they are successful too.

    Many thanks :D
  • AYSHA_3
    AYSHA_3 Posts: 3 Newbie
    Are they within their rights to charge me £441 early repayment charges, I was not tied to the lender as i have re- remortaged after the 3 year period
  • jeanienj
    jeanienj Posts: 1 Newbie
    I just wanted to say thanks. We got 180 pounds paid into our bank. We had 2 mortgage accounts to chase up. We were a little disappointed it wasn't more. But for 10 minutes of our time spent finding account details and then calling the numbers that this site had given. One of them was a dedicated number for the exit fee's so it was very simple. The other was customer services, but they dealt with it very simply. Money was in our bank within 5 days off both. It really is worth doing.
    :beer:
  • Hosskins
    Hosskins Posts: 9 Forumite
    Anyone had any experience of The Mortgage Works (formerly Sun Bank)? They have told me I am due an £89 refund (mortgage taken out in 1999, closed in 2006) but only after five or six phone calls over the last couple of months. Now there are delays with the cheques, apparently due to their takeover by Nationwide. I have been promised mine in the next fortnight but I am not holding my breath.Halifax, by contrast, were great when my partner contacted them. Only took one phone call and a cheque for £125 arrived within one week.
  • Daz1969
    Daz1969 Posts: 1 Newbie
    Well, it wasn't the £70 I was hoping for, but for the price of a phone call and a stamp, not a bad result.
  • Pandora123_2
    Pandora123_2 Posts: 517 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    First letter in June to Mortgage Trust, before we switched our mortgage, asking them to honour original MEAFs resulted in them saying that our mortgage didn't fall under FSA guidelines, they wouldn't reduce the fee and they could charge us whatever they liked.

    Second letter last week to Mortgage Trust, after we switched our mortgage, telling them that the fees they charged were illegal and if they didn't provide us with a detailed breakdown as to what exactly the fees were for, we were going to take them to small claims court, resulted in a cheque for £138.13. This represents the difference between the original MEAFs (£100) and the higher MEAFs they charged us in July (£238.18).

    :A
    I want to move to theory. Everything works in theory.
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 116,316 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    Second letter last week to Mortgage Trust, after we switched our mortgage, telling them that the fees they charged were illegal and if they didn't provide us with a detailed breakdown as to what exactly the fees were for, we were going to take them to small claims court, resulted in a cheque for £138.13. This represents the difference between the original MEAFs (£100) and the higher MEAFs they charged us in July (£238.18).

    Your lucky as their charges are not illegal.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • Pandora123_2
    Pandora123_2 Posts: 517 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    dunstonh wrote: »
    Your lucky as their charges are not illegal.

    Excess mortgage fees (i.e. higher than their actual costs) are unlawful according to this.

    :A
    I want to move to theory. Everything works in theory.
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 116,316 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    Pandora123 wrote: »
    Excess mortgage fees (i.e. higher than their actual costs) are unlawful according to this.

    :A

    Doesnt say anything about them being illegal or unlawful in that article.

    The FSA requirement is that the lender refunds the difference from what was on the contract (although they will allow a reasonable increase over time due to inflation). They refunded you on that basis and your comments about them being illegal were wrong and as they are admin charges, rather than penalty charges, there is no reason for them to justify the fees to you.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • Pandora123_2
    Pandora123_2 Posts: 517 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    dunstonh wrote: »
    Doesnt say anything about them being illegal or unlawful in that article.

    From the article:

    This old article from the BBC might help you make your decision: Some mortgage exit fees 'illegal'... it touches on whether even the original charge was unlawfully high.

    AND

    Lenders make it clear that the fee is for administration costs, which means that the fee should reflect their administration costs. That charge must be fair. If it is unfair, then it is a penalty which is unlawful.

    AND

    You have charged me a fee for exiting my mortgage that you claim is to cover your costs for closing the account. The fee is far too high to possibly reflect your true administrative costs. It is unlawful at common law, and under statute and consumer regulations, to impose charges in standard, pre-written contracts without making it clear what the charges are for. Furthermore, the charges must be fair, not penalties.

    The entire series on MEAFs on the Motley Fool site makes a case for the charges being unlawful.

    :A
    I want to move to theory. Everything works in theory.
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