Is there a legal right to cancel a fixed-rate deal before it becomes active?

Hopper1975

Does anyone know whether a consumer can cancel a verbally accepted fixed-rate deal before it becomes effective? For example, if a deal was agreed in September but doesn't come into force until January, (no product fee was paid up front) can it still be cancelled?

I know individual lenders are allowing this, for example Halifax and Nationwide.

blued

Best thing to do is contact the lender and ask. If you havent signed anything and you havent paid a fee then I'm not sure how they can tie you in?

Hopper1975

I have contacted Natwest already, but they are insisting that I am bound to it. Everyone else I have spoken to in the industry says that I am not and that I should go to the ombudsman.

I'd like to know my rights exactly before I go back to them.

wigglebeena

If you just tell them you're going to consult the CAB they might back off, worked before for me in a different situation. You might not have to actually do it! Does the staff member you agreed it with have targets or get commission? I've been lied to before in that situation...

blued

Surely a verbal contract is as good as the paper its written on?

I take it someone called you and you agreed over the phone?

payless

I assume you are already with them, and its a product swap?

Hopper1975

blued wrote: »

Surely a verbal contract is as good as the paper its written on?

I take it someone called you and you agreed over the phone?

Indeed they did! I raised a complaint with Natwest saying I was lied to (which I was) and that I wanted to cancel the deal, but to no avail!

I don't have a problem with the verbal contract being binding, but I do have a problem with not being able to cancel a deal before it becomes active, which does sound right to me!

Hopper1975

payless wrote: »

I assume you are already with them, and its a product swap?

Yes it is. Does this change matters?

Hopper1975

wigglebeena wrote: »

If you just tell them you're going to consult the CAB they might back off, worked before for me in a different situation. You might not have to actually do it! Does the staff member you agreed it with have targets or get commission? I've been lied to before in that situation...

Good idea, I'm sure the CAB are getting this a lot right now!

dunstonh

Hopper1975 wrote: »

Yes it is. Does this change matters?

Yes. Its means the deal has been done and the funds allocated.

I am basing this on your comments over the thread rather than your first poost, that suggest that you completed the contract (offer letter) outlining the terms and signed and returned that after reading the key features illustration that stated that it was a non refundable fee.

You must have signed something to have got a deal agreed and still available from September. It cannot just be verbal.

Hopper1975

dunstonh wrote: »

Yes. Its means the deal has been done and the funds allocated.

I am basing this on your comments over the thread rather than your first poost, that suggest that you completed the contract (offer letter) outlining the terms and signed and returned that after reading the key features illustration that stated that it was a non refundable fee.

You must have signed something to have got a deal agreed and still available from September. It cannot just be verbal.

No, it was just verbal. There was also no key features illustration in the letter, nor was there a fee paid up front.

As I say, no other lender I spoke to stopped these deals being cancelled before they became active, whether or not they were with current lenders.