At what point are you tied into a mortgage?

Stuey07

Can anybody tell me at what point you are tied into a mortgage?

Back in June 2008 we found a finacial adviser to help us with a re-mortgage, following his advice we opted for a tracker. However it would appear he put the wrong product in place. I contacted him and asked him to change it and received a letter dated 14th July telling me that he had. But unfortunately the mortgage went through as a fixed rate on 15th July.

We complained and they have not upheld our complaint because it was to late to change.

Can anybody tell me that if they were contacted on 14th July could the mortgage of been changed? because I also have a letter from the provider saying that they were not contacted and asked to change it until 23rd July, by which time that product was no longer avaliable.

Rednoseranter

Just because they've not upheld you complaint does mean that you have to leave it there - I assume that they have said in their final response that you can go to the Ombudsman (FOS)? If not, they should have.

If you've got all the paper work - and it sounds like he's ballsedup properly - write back to them asking if this decision is their 'final response' and that they confirm that they wish to 'deadlock' the complaint - this means that you can take it to the FOS. (Use the specific "terms" in your letter they are important) - also may be worth looking at the FOS website, if the Advisers don't respond you can go straight to the FOS with your issues.

If the FOS finds in your favor (if the Adviser is to blame they will) then he'll require the adviser to put you back in the financial position you should have found yourself in if you had received the tracker and not the fixed rate.

Good luck.

JayZed

Stuey, can you clarify whether the adviser in question was an independent financial adviser or a tied adviser working for the lender? If it was the former, then presumably it's not the lender that's at fault.

I'm a bit puzzled that you didn't notice at any stage of the process that the application was for the wrong product. You must have reviewed and signed mortgage application forms etc. This is not just me being critical - you'll need to review the paperwork properly if you want to pursue a complaint.

Stuey07

Thanks for your response.

This is a very long story which I thought I had better not bore everyone with, but we had a meeting with an independent adviser who showed us two products a fixed rate and a tracker, on his advice we opted for the tracker and signed the forms giving him authority to deal with the application. However when we received a letter confirming the meeting we had, it had the details of the fixed rate, so I contacted him and asked him to change it. I also have a letter confiming that he has requested it be changed on 14th July 2008 along with a key facts illusration, but the mortgage went through as a fixed rate on the 15th July (hence my original question), however through my own investigation I have a letter from the Halifax saying they had no request to change the product until 23rd July by which time it was too late.

JayZed

Sounds to me as though you might possibly have cause for complaint against the IFA, if he applied for the wrong product. It's not exactly clear to me whose !!!!-up this was.

But at some point you must have signed a mortgage agreement, which presumably was for the fixed rate product?

Stuey07

JayZed wrote: »

Sounds to me as though you might possibly have cause for complaint against the IFA, if he applied for the wrong product. It's not exactly clear to me whose !!!!-up this was.

But at some point you must have signed a mortgage agreement, which presumably was for the fixed rate product?

Yes your right I must of signed something, but I have every piece of information I received regarding the mortgage but there is no morgage agreement, the only thing I received from the provider was the confirmation letter explaining that it had gone through and thanking us for choosing them. I did receive the agreement from the solicitor, but that was just a generic agreement between us and the provider saying that we would pay back what we have borrowed and didn't have any morgage details on it.

I do feel like we are partly to blame for this just because we trusted the adviser, however if I felt confident enough to find the best deal myself I would not of used an adviser in the first place.

From this terrible experiance I doubt that we would look for 'expert advice' in the future anyway, because I feel that by the time this is sorted I'll be somewhat of an expert anyway.