MSE News: Reclaim unfair mortgage arrears fees, FSA says

spacemanc

manicfred wrote: »

just had a ruling from that ombudsman saying that £40 per month for arrears on my mortgage is FAIR!!!!

Ignore comments from dunstonh who seems to spend a suspiciously large amount of time on here commenting about unfair charges and telling people they have no chance of getting them back.

It's far from impossible to get your charges back and when you do get them back, you usually get a nice chunk of change in compensation and interest as well. It's not for the faint hearted and requires a lot of letter writing and research but 90% of the time they will back down if you issue a court claim. It's actually a lot easier than claiming back bank charges, as the supreme court decision did not cover mortgage charges.

If you are not confident or if you have no money whatsoever, then go down the FOS route, but realise that the FOS is not independent and they are often on the side of the mortgage company rather than the customer. It is a nice easy, safe and free route.

Write a well written and researched letter to your mortgage company and you will probably be offered half what you're after and told to go to the FOS if you aren't happy. Don't accept this - send a notice before action letter and if that doesnt work, issue a county court claim (which costs a bit of money and has to be done in the right way). In almost all cases they will back down at this point.

There's loads of advice online and many examples of successful claims. The Legal Beagles forum and the Consumer Action Group forum are both excellent sources of information with many knowledgeable people who will assess you chances and give advice.

dunstonh

Ignore comments from dunstonh who seems to spend a suspiciously large amount of time on here commenting about unfair charges and telling people they have no chance of getting them back.

Strange how you ignore the posts where I say the opposite to that. However, the position of the FOS is quite clear as they post it on their website.

If you are not confident or if you have no money whatsoever, then go down the FOS route, but realise that the FOS is not independent and they are often on the side of the mortgage company rather than the customer. It is a nice easy, safe and free route.

And you want people to take you seriously with comments like that? You are the one to be ignored.

spacemanc

dunstonh wrote: »

And you want people to take you seriously with comments like that? You are the one to be ignored.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?442013-I-have-issued-a-Court-claim-for-an-incorrect-default&p=4719844&viewfull=1#post4719844

The above post shows where someone made a SAR request to their bank and received a document which shows their bank negotiating with the FOS before a complaint has even been submitted. A member of the public would be told where to go if they did they same due to the FOS being 'independent'. Manicfreds post shows that the FOS considers £40 fair and yet the FCA has said that anything other than administration costs is unfair and that customers should not pay excessive fees. The FOS simply rubber stamps what the banks say and there seems to be an unwritten rule that the maxiumum compensation they ever offer is £250 and even that is very rare.

The fact is that if you challenge mortgage fees in court, you will almost certainly win, because just like with the bank charges pre-supreme court judgement, they do not want a judgement against them.

dunstonh

The above post shows where someone made a SAR request to their bank and received a document which shows their bank negotiating with the FOS before a complaint has even been submitted

I read it as them trying to find out what the FOS would likely award so they can base their offer on that. Seems perfectly logical.

A member of the public would be told where to go if they did they same due to the FOS being 'independent'.

The FOS helpline to consumers is overly consumer friendly. They encourage people to submit complaints and will handle enquiries from consumers.

spacemanc

dunstonh wrote: »

I read it as them trying to find out what the FOS would likely award so they can base their offer on that. Seems perfectly logical.

And you want people to take you seriously with comments like that?

Anyway, you're entitled to your opinion and different points of view are always useful.

The fact is that when it comes to reclaiming mortgage charges, success if far from guaranteed with the FOS, whereas it pretty much is in the county court.