Problems getting Mortgage broker fee refunded

milliemonster

We took out a mortgage in March when we moved house through MoneyQuest Brokers based in Scotland, we took it out through them as their broker fee was £195 and they told us it would be refunded.

We had to sign a form giving permission for our solicitor to deduct the amount on completion and that the money would be refunded to us a couple of weeks after completion

Anyway, our solicitor forgot to deduct the money, so we paid it ourselves a couple of weeks after we had moved.

We are still waiting for this money to be refunded and have been chasing Moneyquest up constantly since April.

We discovered at the beginning of July they had sent our refund cheque to our old address stupidly! and as we had no way of retrieving it as we had moved from there, they cancelled this cheque and sent us another one to our new address.

We received this cheque around 10th July which I banked and then on Saturday received a letter from the bank stating this cheque had bounced and they have returned the cheque to us.

I am furious! we have phoned Moneyquest this morning but can't seem to get past the receptionist who keeps telling us that the Accounts dept are busy and they'll get someone to phone us but I am simply at the end of my tether with this now and don't know what to do

Has anyone got any advice?, I am not sure if our bank (HSBC) are going to charge us for the bounced cheque, it doesn't say so on the letter but I just want to know a way of getting our money back, HELP!!!!

Alan_M_2

It's unlikely you will be charged for someone bouncing a cheque on you.

I would draw up a letter re the bounced cheque and send it recorded delivery. Give them the opportunity to correct their mistake, (it may be a genuine mistake).

If you get no joy, then I'd go down the route of money claim on line.

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

I can't understand why you sent them a cheque for an amount of money that was going to be refunded to you.

Are you certain that the money coming to you after completion wasn't a Cashback cheque from the lender? They obviously feel some obligation to give you some money as they've sent you a cheque.

Just seems a bit odd to me.

milliemonster

how do i do that?

dunstonh

The FSA doesnt like it when firms go into default. I would check they are still FSA authorised as its possible (and probable) that the firm is on its last legs. Although they were only bought a few months back by the old Egg team.

Effectively here they are in breach of FSA rules by holding on to client money which they almost certainly are not authorised for.

I suggest you contact Moneyquest again and tell them that unless they speak to you about it you will immediately contact the FSA in respect of a rule breach regarding them holding on to your money when they are not authorised to do so.

milliemonster

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax wrote: »

I can't understand why you sent them a cheque for an amount of money that was going to be refunded to you.

Are you certain that the money coming to you after completion wasn't a Cashback cheque from the lender? They obviously feel some obligation to give you some money as they've sent you a cheque.

Just seems a bit odd to me.

It was because their normal mortgage broker fee was £195 when we applied for our mortgage back in December, they were doing a special offer at the time that if the mortgage was approved before end of Dec the fee would be refunded after completion

milliemonster

I have checked the FSA register and this firm are still registered and authorised.

The FSA website though does say that they don't get involved with financial claims and you have to go through the ombudsman, can anyone give me any advice on this as I'm not sure where to start?

dunstonh

The FOS deal with complaints against the firms but the FSA deal with rule breaches. The FSA may just note it and say thank you and tell you to put in a formal complaint. However, the threat of reporting them to the FSA is likely to have more weight.

milliemonster

thanks Dunstonh, we scanned a copy of the letter from the bank and the bounced cheque and emailed it to Moneyquest customer services and our adviser who we dealt with on Saturday, we have phoned them twice this morning and can't get to speak to anyone, we have had no response to the email either.

When we can manage to get through to them (as we have been on hold again for the last 20 minutes) we will tell them we intend to contact the FSA if they don't put us in touch with someone to discuss this further.

What annoys me was when we moved house and we discovered our solicitor had forgotten to deduct the £195 on completion, we had numerous emails chasing it up, which I didn't manage to check until 2 weeks after we had moved as it took us that long to get our internet back online) and they were threatening debt collection etc!!! we paid it instantly that we knew, but its another story now we want our money back!

minimike2

Can you dig out your KFI and quote us the detials in the seciton about Fees please - will make things clearer then

Leon_W

I don't think you'll see a penny of your cash.

Moneyquest went into administration last week so I doubt there'll be anything left.

Interestingly, the existing customer database of Moneyquest was bought from the administrator and transferred to Moneyquest Mortgage Brokers run by the same CEO, Paul Gratton !

Sorry. Full story here http://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=169505&d=403&h=401&f=402