Scarborough BS and Skipton Mortgage DD rip off

fineanddandy

Letmeiniwannaaskaquestion wrote: »

"I can imagine a lot of customers dont realise what Scarboro are asking, and suffer as a result."

Yes, i reckon this is what they were banking on, the more people that complain the better.
The FSA told me, that although they dont investigate individual complaints, if they are drawn to the attention of a problem by several people, they are likely to intervene.

From what i gather, the complaints department have quite a workload now, I think most people are complaining through the Scarboro complaints system, and if they brings no joy, then it will go through the ombudsmen or FSA.

Did the FSA mention getting many complaints about thisLetmeiniwannaaskaquestion, and did they feel it was unfair....or were they non commital?

scarboroughdd

It is FSA policy not to confirm either way whether a formal complaint has been raised or not. Whilst this is a little frustrating its aim is to prevent any market abuse taking place, for example investors selling short on a company on the basis that the investor discovered an investigation was taking place.

Rest assured if enough of us complain this will be investigated. The actual proposal of making us pay an additional 'catch up' amount is bad enough, but as my earlier post said, it is the impenetrable and misleading wording of the letter that is the focus of my complaint. It’s a case in point that some of the forums correspondents are STILL misunderstanding the implications here. It does make you wonder if they actually work for SCAR or SKIP.

I know writing a letter is a hassle but it carries much more weight than an email or phone call.

MarkyMarkD

The terms of this were in the merger document, which was approved by the FSA.

I think you are deluded if you think the FSA will reverse their own decision.

Whoever someone spoke to at the FSA wouldn't have known the background to this and has given an off the cuff "put it in writing and we'll consider it" answer. They won't do anything.

The impact if you accept the option of "missing" a month is that you pay every payment 3 days later forever. That will cost around £120 like I've calculated before. It's a pretty trivial amount and will mean you can earn more interest elsewhere, because you are paying 3 days later.

And it's only £120 if you are going to stay with Skipton for 25 years. How many people really are?

Proposals like letting you have one payment interest free forever are, to be honest, silly. You owe them the money, so interest is due on it under the terms of your mortgage.

Claims in earlier posts that you are getting charged interest on one month's payment extra, for the remaining life of the mortgage, are wrong, because Skipton charge interest daily. You are getting charged interest on one month's payment for an extra 3 days each month, which is around 1/10th of a year, which is around 0.5% (at 5% pa interest) of 1 month's payment.

So if you pay £1,000 a month at 5%, it will cost you £1,000 x 0.5% = £5 a year extra. And multiply that by 25 years and you get to £125.

If you are really getting all upset over £5 a year - which you can offset against the interest you can earn elsewhere for that 3 days each month - you need to get out more, not start complaining to the FSA simply because you cannot do the maths.

fineanddandy

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

The terms of this were in the merger document, which was approved by the FSA.

I think you are deluded if you think the FSA will reverse their own decision.

Whoever someone spoke to at the FSA wouldn't have known the background to this and has given an off the cuff "put it in writing and we'll consider it" answer. They won't do anything.

The impact if you accept the option of "missing" a month is that you pay every payment 3 days later forever. That will cost around £120 like I've calculated before. It's a pretty trivial amount and will mean you can earn more interest elsewhere, because you are paying 3 days later.

And it's only £120 if you are going to stay with Skipton for 25 years. How many people really are?

Proposals like letting you have one payment interest free forever are, to be honest, silly. You owe them the money, so interest is due on it under the terms of your mortgage.

Claims in earlier posts that you are getting charged interest on one month's payment extra, for the remaining life of the mortgage, are wrong, because Skipton charge interest daily. You are getting charged interest on one month's payment for an extra 3 days each month, which is around 1/10th of a year, which is around 0.5% (at 5% pa interest) of 1 month's payment.

So if you pay £1,000 a month at 5%, it will cost you £1,000 x 0.5% = £5 a year extra. And multiply that by 25 years and you get to £125.

If you are really getting all upset over £5 a year - which you can offset against the interest you can earn elsewhere for that 3 days each month - you need to get out more, not start complaining to the FSA simply because you cannot do the maths.

Hi Mark,

Unfortunately you dont understand, as it states quite clearly in the letter and also from the helpline that if you miss the payment in March, then that will be added to the term, along with interest. That will be more then £5 a year..so you might need to do some more maths homework:rotfl:

They do kindly offer the option of increasing your monthly payments over a period of time to pay for this extra month, but you will pay extra interest this way too

Whilst I understand what your getting at about it is just 3 days extra interest, and this is the important bit so I will put it in bold for you Scarborough BS do not, they see it as a missed payment for the month of March (even though they wont log it as a missed payment)

Having to find the extra payment will probably mean I wont be getting out more for quite a while, thanks very much

silvercar

Where does this talk of extra payments come from? Scarborough have offered the opportunity to make 11 payments this year, or people can make 12; no-one has been asked for 13 payments in one year.

fineanddandy

silvercar wrote: »

Where does this talk of extra payments come from? Scarborough have offered the opportunity to make 11 payments this year, or people can make 12; no-one has been asked for 13 payments in one year.

Hi Silvercar,

No, I see what your thinking, and your correct, it is either 11 payments or 12 payments in the year. The extra payment I am talking about is the fact I have to find a months mortgage payment by the 27th March, as my budgeted March payment is going out on the 01st April. I hope that clears the confusion up.

Letmeiniwannaaskaquestion

silvercar wrote: »

Where does this talk of extra payments come from? Scarborough have offered the opportunity to make 11 payments this year, or people can make 12; no-one has been asked for 13 payments in one year.

To avoid 1 month's arrears we must pay our DD on:
Jan 28, Feb 28, Mar 28, Apr 1, May 1, June 1, July 1, Aug 1, Sept 1, Oct 1, Nov 1, Dec 1 & Jan 1

That's 13 payments in about 48 weeks , or 12 payments in approx 44 weeks, by my calculations!

fineanddandy

Update***

I have today received a letter from the Customer Satisfaction Unit.

It basically says my complaint has been passed to them, they will review it and a further response will be sent to me with 10 working days, and thanking me for bringing it to Scarboro's attention.

Included is the full complaints procedure..they aim to resolve the complaint within 8 weeks of receiving it, if not satisfied, it goes to the senior complaints officer, or team manager, for a final review. If still not satisfied they will tell me if i have the right to refer to the financial ombudsman.

Looking at the document from the financial ombudsman, it seems that I have to go through all this before i can go to them...

It's looking like a waiting game

fineanddandy

Thanks for the link Scarborough DD.

The FSA approval of merger link quotes this:-

For Skipton’s and Scarborough’s customers it is business as usual. You can continue to use all the usual facilities and access your accounts. Banking facilities will be open with branches, internet and call centres operating as normal.
Mortgage and loan customers’ terms and conditions remain the same and you should continue to make repayments as usual.

Nuff said... naughty scarboro!

robwal1969

Thank you for your enquiry regarding the forthcoming merger between Scarborough and Skipton Building Society.

For details of the terms and conditions which will apply to your mortgage post-merger, please refer to the Merger Notification Statement, which you should have received in January, where details are outlined in section 10, page 12.

Skipton Building Society will be writing to you in week commencing 30 March to confirm specific details relating to your account.

If you have any further questions after receiving details of your new payment, you should contact Skipton and they will be more than happy to help.

Kind Regards

Customer Services
Scarborough Building Society


recived this morning.hope this helps the customers who have the same problem as i do.
but for me,this now only gives me a week to get my april payment sorted,as i dont know what the payment will be.