Abbey - misinformed?! Advice please

poshs6gal

We want to move house. We don't want to borrow more just keep our mortgage the same, using the same product due to £5K in early redemption charges.
Before applying for the mortgage or putting in an offer on the house, I contacted Abbey to ascertain that we had the correct loan to value (LTV) required. I was advised that we could borrow 85% LTV on the product we had.
At the end of September, I spent 1.5hours on the telephone completing a mortgage application for the house move, advising what we were purchasing for etc. The LTV came out at just below 85%.
It was then a worrying wait on the survey to ensure that the valuation came out at the amount to fit 85%. It did - Yipee!!
We were advised last Thurs by Abbey that the survey came back fine at the value we thought, and that we should receive our formal offer. As we hadn't received it today, we called them again. We were told by the same office as last Thursday, that the offer was rejected as the product we have states a max 75% LTV. They couldn't give me an answer today re: what's gone wrong, and they've promised to call us back tomorrow.
To meet the 75% LTV criteria mean us finding another £16.5k, which we don't have!
Are Abbey at fault here and therefore accountable for misadvising?
We have 15% deposit/equity available, and they have products that allow 15% deposit, but it would mean over £5k redemption penalty, which we feel we shouldn't have to pay as Abbey have misinformed us. We would never have gone ahead had we been told this at the start. We have so far paid out £1000 in fees for surveys, land registry searches, EPC and solicitors. Who's going to give us that back?
Also, if we do ask Abbey to put our mortgage onto a new product, it's £995 arrangement fee, which again we don't feel we should pay due to misinformation.
Lastly, will we need to be credit scored again - less than 28 days since the last scoring - as I thought the more searches on the account causes a problem.
Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated, as I feel a very sleepless night coming on!
Many many thanks

TEDDYRUKSPIN

If the above is true and you were told that you could have X% on a 85% LTV via the Abbey, you may get some compensation. However, as you would have received the full IDD, hence quote, this would have told you on the sheet anyway.
Unless this document has a mistake, you have no leg to stand on. If it does, and they are not honouring the rate, you can put in a complaint letter. The compensation will depend on the company.

As for the credit scoring, I would not worry. As long as you have not suddenly gone into debt, I would not worry.

poshs6gal

The IDD they sent showed the LTV at 84.43%, our mortgage required, and the value of the new property.
It also listed additional sums required, but nothing about them needing another £16.5K to meet the 10% difference!
Re credit scoring, no we haven't gone into debt, nor applied for any credit since the application was done at the end of September. They've had originals of our monthly salary slips (x3 months each) and 2 months bank statements. All have been returned to us.
As a customer, I find it hard to swallow that on 2 separate occasions I was told that we could borrow 85% LTV on our product, then at the 11th hour, be told it's 75%, especially when we've paid out all that money. Surely the technological systems would have shown that our borrowing vs the purchase price would have meant we were not within the 75% they are saying is the limit?!
They say they record all calls, so surely that will prove what we were verbally told?

asajoseph

Abbey have some of the most ill-informed advisers out there.

I would avoid them like the plague, as attractive as some of their rates and deals may be. We've been messed around, and badly treated by their incompetent staff already.

jill2002

What was the maximum LTV on the product when you originally took it out? If it was 75% LTV then that is all you can borrow now. You could try putting in a complaint as you were possibly mis-informed . The calls are recorded and can be checked.

poshs6gal

I spoke with Abbey. They are making a special dispensation for us, and are granting us the mortgage on the upper LTV amount. :-) Thanks for everyone's advise!