Staff Mortgage Problem

agentsmith

Hi all,

we had an abbey staff mortgage of bbr+1.38%, there was nothing in the books, keyfacts, or documents that said it was some special offer.

Roll on to today where my wife no longer works for them, and they have written to us, and changed our contract to a bbr+3.18% !! We complained last week, and were told "it's a grey area" (in my eyes challengeable in court). Waiting for the 5days to lapse right now.

Just wondered whether anyone else had the same with abbey or another staff mortgage and if there was some existing knowledge in this domain.

many thanks!

Thrugelmir

agentsmith wrote: »

Hi all,

we had an abbey staff mortgage of bbr+1.38%, there was nothing in the books, keyfacts, or documents that said it was some special offer.

Roll on to today where my wife no longer works for them, and they have written to us, and changed our contract to a bbr+3.18% !! We complained last week, and were told "it's a grey area" (in my eyes challengeable in court). Waiting for the 5days to lapse right now.

Just wondered whether anyone else had the same with abbey or another staff mortgage and if there was some existing knowledge in this domain.

many thanks!

I'm surprised that there's nothing at all in the employee handbook.

Why is it grey your wife is no longer an employee? A company car or other perk ceases when you leave employment.

Sponge

A company car is slightly different to a home. :rolleyes:

agentsmith

Thrugelmir wrote: »

I'm surprised that there's nothing at all in the employee handbook.

Why is it grey your wife is no longer an employee? A company car or other perk ceases when you leave employment.

it's not a discounted rate, it was a rate. (other banks give discounts with a BIK attached). No theres nothing in the handbook, the supplied T&C was from their standard offering (wasnt a special guide available for staff).

The Keyfacts etc. and all other docs simply state BBR+1.38%.

Thrugelmir

Sponge wrote: »

A company car is slightly different to a home. :rolleyes:

A discounted mortgage is a perk.......

Mrs_Bumble

What does it say in the mortgage offer in relation to the product, it must be detailed in there somewhere if they were going to switch rates at some point either at the end of the term of the product of if employment status changed.

Kavanne

Thrugelmir wrote: »

A discounted mortgage is a perk.......

With the bank I work for your staff rate doesn't change if you leave.

dwsjarcmcd

agentsmith wrote: »

it's not a discounted rate, it was a rate. (other banks give discounts with a BIK attached). No theres nothing in the handbook, the supplied T&C was from their standard offering (wasnt a special guide available for staff).

The Keyfacts etc. and all other docs simply state BBR+1.38%.

If it is not seen as a BIK then it must be a public rate, rather than a staff mortgage. Any 'special' rate where the loan is over £30k would be deemed as a BIK and taxable.

If you are certain that there is no BIK, your agruement must be that it was a public offering.

dunstonh

With the bank I work for your staff rate doesn't change if you leave.

Thats lucky but unusual. Lloyds reverts back to consumer rates when you leave them.

payless

If it was called a staff mortgage, guess it ends?

That said its possible that at Base + 1.38% it was no better than deals on offer via Abbey/ other lenders at that time.

agentsmith

hello all.

ok, so their statement is it's in the staff handbook of 2007 and that mortgage policy doesnt need to reference it in anyway .. ?

my second grievance was that the rate has gone to todays rate/offer rather than simply remove the benefit and revert to the rate available to general public at the time. Again they point to pages in a staff handbook which she was not supplied (only one in 2002).

The differential has climbed from 1.38% over base to 3.29% over base. I think the public rate was <2% at the time and feel they ought to revert to this. Does anyone legally know where I stand with this?

thanks.