home insurance fee

ninbach

I have just been charged £25 by Bristol and West, my mortgage lenders, for changing my home insurance provider.I wasn't with my mortgage provider for insurance anyway so it wasn't because I was leaving them but purely an admin. fee that they've introduced last month. When I rang to query this they told me that it takes man hours to check that my new insurance is adequate.Sorry ,but how many hours does it take to check that ? I would have thought it would be more likely to be a few minutes.
Are all mortgage lenders charging for this "admin" work now?
What's worse is I'm fixed with this lender for another 2 years ,paying a much higher rate of interest than the current rate and now their penalising me for shopping around for the best deal on home insurance aswell.
It sucks!!
anyone else had a similar experience?
Is it worth trying to claim it back as an unreasonable charge? They've told me that there's no point putting in a complaint as it's in the small print of my mortgage statement, which I received last week.

dunstonh

an admin. fee that they've introduced last month.

It used to be that virtually all lenders charged this.

Sorry ,but how many hours does it take to check that ?

Probably about 10 minutes.

Are all mortgage lenders charging for this "admin" work now?

No. Most abandoned the charge years ago. A few still do though.

Is it worth trying to claim it back as an unreasonable charge

It's not unreasonable. Its obsolete and daft nowadays but not unreasonable.

northern.lights_2

ninbach wrote: »

I have just been charged £25 by Bristol and West, my mortgage lenders, for changing my home insurance provider.I wasn't with my mortgage provider for insurance anyway so it wasn't because I was leaving them but purely an admin. fee ..........
.................anyone else had a similar experience?

Ninbach - me too! I switched home insurance from Paymentshield to Direct Line about a month ago. Did as I was told, and sent my mortgage provider, Bank of Ireland Mortgages (aka Bristol & West), a copy of the new insurance certificate. Got in from work today to a letter from them asking for a cheque for £25 to cover "administrative fee". :mad:

Rang them straight away to complain - said they would register my complaint, but I'm not hopeful about it coming to anything. Still, it's the principle....

However, also rang Direct Line to explain situation, and they will refund the £25 charge, on receipt of a copy of the letter from my mortgage provider.

Don't know which insurer you're with, but it might be worth a try.