Paying for old and new house in same month

patterson2a

I recently moved house on January 11th and ported my fixed mortgage. I got charged a full months mortgage on my old house and the bank told me I would be refunded for the 3 weeks I wasn't there. I was also charged for the 3 weeks in my new house. The bank are now saying the extra I paid was taken off the new mortgage figure and will not be refunded.
Are they allowed to do this? We have nothing in writing from them to say they would do this and we are now overdrawn since we've had to pay double our monthly payment in January. The only solution the bank have offered us is a credit card! But we want our money back. Any advice would be very welcome. Thanks, Andrew

[Deleted User]

Hi.
I don't mean to sound judgemental but it seems that given the large expense involved in moving house, that you should have allowed yourself more financial leeway to cover anything unexpected.
Hopefully, someone more experienced in this area will be able to answer your question.

happybroker

that explanation doesn't add up to me. The fact they offered you a credit card makes me think you went into the branch, you need to speak to the mortgage centre who will, hopefully, have a better, if still basic, understanding of how mortgages work.

patterson2a

We did go into the branch after having no explanation from several people in the mortgage department. I want to know if it's normal and acceptable for a bank to take mortgage payments from 2 houses in the same month without advising the customer.

happybroker

it happens a lot but normally due to the direct debit being collected after the old mortgage has been redeemed.

They won't be able to help in the branch, you will need to make a formal complaint I feel if you're not getting a satisfactory explanation from the telephone staff.

patterson2a

Thanks. We are already going through the complaints procedure. So can you confirm that they should be redeeming us the money for those 3 weeks?

happybroker

I don't know enough to be able to confirm it unfortunately, sorry.

If your lender is a monthly interest charger you may have lost it by not timing the move to coincide with end of the month the interest payment covered. If it's a daily charger then you should only pay interest on what you owe for as long as you owe it which would mean an error has been made.

patterson2a

Thanks. Interest is charged daily so we will definitely be pursuing the reimbursement