Mortgage error - how best to complain?

alexjames_3

My mortgage company have made an error in putting me onto their standard variable rate (6.95%) when my fixed rate expired. This was despite me having a letter dated 13 January confirming that they had accepted my application for a new 3yr fixed rate deal with effect from 01 April. I had also had a telephone confirmation of the new deal sometime in March.

In consequence of their error, I have just had a direct debit go through my bank accout which was over £200 more than expected, causing me to go overdrawn and incur £50 charges. I spoke to the mortgage company today and they admitted their error, said they would enter me into the new scheme and offered to refund bank charges. Despite this, I am still not happy just with a refund. I have been caused a great deal of inconvenience by their error already and will be caused even more in the future clearing the mess up.

Any advice on how to word a complaint and what to ask for. Would it be a good idea to copy the FSA?

Ian_W

Only a good idea if you want to waste a stamp, IMO. The FSA is the Regulator, the FOS [Ombudsman] deals with individual complaints but like all of these type of schemes will only become involved if you can't resolve the matter with the company first. In fact you need a deadlock letter off the company before they'll investigate.

Basically detail the great deal of inconvenience and the even more in the future clearing the mess up and ask them for a goodwill gesture to compensate you, unless of course you can quantify these in monetary terms. If you don't get a satisfactory reply then write again and ask for a deadlock letter indicating you intend to take your complaint to the FOS.

TBH their early admission of fault, an apology and the offer to reimburse you both the overpayment they've taken and your bank charges before you complain in writing are to their credit IMHO.

dunstonh

Nice response Ian. I agree that a letter to the FSA is a complete waste of time. They will just send it on to the lender. They are not interested in individual complaints. Even less so in administration complaints. They review complaints at a corporate level and look for trends. If they see that 500 people have complained about the same thing on their inspection visit, then they take action.

They have corrected the problem as they should and are not obliged to pay you any more. A goodwill gesture of £10-£20 to cover phone call and time wasted and a letter to your bank confirming it was their error (to recover your good standing) would be acceptable.

If you used a broker on the deal, you could ask them to push for a small compensation. I got £70 out of clerical medical recently on an error they made. This was after they issued a letter of apology to the client for the error but offered nothing financially. I sent a memo and asked for £35 and the rep sent me £70. Often the reps for the brokers have the budget for things like this. The people on the servicelines for the companies usually do not.

Ian_W

Hey dh,
Just noticed, how did you manage to get the Thanked 1 time in 1 post when there are no Thank You buttons ATM?

That's it. I'm off to start the Official Free the MSE Thank You Buttons Campaign right this minute.

alexjames_3

Thanks for the advice. Having calmed down a little and reflected on your comments, I think I will wait and see how swiftly and efficiently they deal with this problem before taking the matter further, and leave the FSA out of it. Going overdrawn was a nasty surprise, but I suppose I should give the company a chance to redeem themselves first.

taylornj

You say the amount was collected by Direct Debit. Have a look at the Direct Debit Guarantee,

http://www.bacs.co.uk/BPSL/directdebit/generalpublic/yourrights/

The mortgage company should have notified you at least 10 days in advance of any revised amount to be collected under the terms of the direct debit. I am not quite sure from your post if your fixed rate had already expired and you had already switched into the variable rate so the amount collected by direct debit in months previous and in April were the same, but you had expected the amount to reduce by £200 in April.

You have more of a complaint only if the amount collected by direct debit changed without you being notified or the amount was different from the notified amount. The correct action would be to go to your bank or building society if that happened. If you expected the amount to change, you should expected to have received notification of the revised amount to be collected by direct debit before, without notification the amount remains the same and so you go overdrawn.

If you are being charged fees for transferring from the fix/variable rate to the new fixed rate, you could argue they failed to carry out the transfer in a satisfactory manner and should forfeit some of the fees for not providing a service up to the standard expected.

dunstonh

Ian_W wrote:

Hey dh,
Just noticed, how did you manage to get the Thanked 1 time in 1 post when there are no Thank You buttons ATM?

That's it. I'm off to start the Official Free the MSE Thank You Buttons Campaign right this minute.

hmm, what about the thousand or so that I have lost Up with the button campaign :rolleyes:

MarkyMarkD

Alex

As posted above, it is a DD scheme requirement to give you notice of any variation in your payments.

If you were notifed in March of the April payment being £200 more "than you expected", then they've complied and you should have queried it with them at that stage. If they didn't, then they have messed up on both the mortgage product switch and the DD scheme compliance which is a double whammy for them.

I don't honestly see, though, how you deserve more than a refund of bank charges and maybe £25 for inconvenience. There shouldn't be any future hassle as a result as long as they have already refunded the £200 (and if they haven't, why not?)