Bad remortgage fees experience

lp39644

Hi All,

I wonder if anyone can help me. I have had a terrible experiecne with the Portman Building Society. I applied for a remortgage with them, paid £499 for a valuation fee and received an offer (during this time they sent my mail to 3 incorrect addresses and told me to go and knock on the relevant doors to collect my post). When I received the offer from them, I got my solicitor to do some conveyancing for me to put the remortgage through (cost £450).

2 days before the remortgage was due to go through, Portman phoned my solicitor and withdrew the offer with no reason given. When I called up to get an explanation they just said they didn't have to give one and that no matter how much I ask, no-one will tell me, even if they know what the reason is.

I am left almost £1000 out of pocket because of this, and am spitting blood with them. Do you know if there's any way I could get my money back? I have already written them a strong letter about the poor service I received from them, and I would advise anyone looking at remortgaging not to use Portman Building Society- they fleeced me of my money and could do it to anyone else too! :mad:

Thanks for any help/advice

Lisa

MortgageMamma

Hi Lisa

I can see why you are very upset and indeed I would be to. Here's what to do.

1. You can request all information held about you in a companies files and on computer systems under the data protection act 1997. write to the portman and let them know you are requesting all information held about you stating this.

2. Write to the solicitor you used asking for written confirmation of why your mortgage did not complete.

3. You say you wrote to the portman about poor service, have they responded? If not, write another letter stating the incidents in date order, the fact they have retained your application fee, and the fact nobody has advised you why the mortgage did not complete. Tell them you will be referring the financial ombudsman service if the matter is not addressed immediately, you want an explanation of whats happened and the cost reinbursing.

MortgageMamma

Also, if there is another professional involved such as a mortgage broker, copy them in on the correspondence and also write to them asking why the mortgage has not completed. It is important to find out why to see who is at fault i.e. the solicitor, portman or the broker, if you had one.

homer_j_3

MortgageMamma wrote:

Hi Lisa

I can see why you are very upset and indeed I would be to. Here's what to do.

1. You can request all information held about you in a companies files and on computer systems under the data protection act 1997. write to the portman and let them know you are requesting all information held about you stating this.

2. Write to the solicitor you used asking for written confirmation of why your mortgage did not complete.

3. You say you wrote to the portman about poor service, have they responded? If not, write another letter stating the incidents in date order, the fact they have retained your application fee, and the fact nobody has advised you why the mortgage did not complete. Tell them you will be referring the financial ombudsman service if the matter is not addressed immediately, you want an explanation of whats happened and the cost reinbursing.

Good advice there but please be aware that the Ombudsman cannot post judgement on commercial decisions of the portman so the portman do not have to justify why they withdrew the offer etc.

I understand that it is frustrating and to be honest I think any of us would be furious if this happened. If you do end up making complaint towards them to the ombudsmand, I would concentrate on the fee justification and charging of solicitors fees.

I am guessing though because it was so close to completion (2 days prior you said I think?) then I dont think it would be unreasonable for the solicitors to say that they had done the coveyancing work for you and fulfilled their service. After all, it is not their fault that it did not complete.

I dont want to be negative with this because I think its rotten luck and frustrating. I would serve a data subject access on them asking for them to disclose all personal information they hold on you and see if you can get any information out of that. I am not sure what level of detail you will get and you will fork £10 for the privilege.

Ifyou take it further and get a response, post back for advice, if needed

lp39644

Thanks All for the advice. I haven't heard back from the building society yet, but will post an update when I have. I'll also get a letter out to my solicitor today aswell.

Thanks again- I feel much better knowing other people would be mad about this too!

Lisa