Am I eligible for mis sold mortgage compensation?

sarahjane88

Hi there,

I just came across these companies today that help you claim for mis sold mortgages, and I am unsure whether I can apply or not.

One website has said it has to be through a mortgage broker. When I arranged my mortgage, I did so with a Halifax mortgage advisor in-branch. Is this the same thing?

Basically, I took out my repayment mortgage in 2007 with a friend for around £76,000, and I am pretty certain that we should never have been able to afford so much credit. At present neither of us are living in the flat and are struggling to get by day to day (a mistake we are now paying for dearly). We are hoping to sell this flat once it is decorated to a saleable condition as I am wary of market prices and being left in huge negative equity!

However, if I could prove I think we were mis sold, the compensation would help us immensely!!

Both of us had two jobs at the time although all of them were just over national minimum. We were earning a combined wage of approximately £22,000. I know that our halifax mortgage advisor was keen, and had to try hard to manipulate figures to make our income meet the credit we were allowed for the flat we wanted by "pushing" our overtime etc. She also done something where we didn't need to pay a deposit because the value of the flat was more than the mortgage??

When I had a brief meeting with an independent mortgage advisor before we went through with halifax, he told me they had done away with that rule and she was wrong, and phoned their HO to prove so. (Somehow the mortgage advisor was still able to do this for us despite HO regulations and I just never questioned it). The independent mortgage advisor also said we would never get the credit for a mortgage of that size. (Yet the mortgage advisor still gave it to us.)

I am desperate for help. Do we have a chance for compensation??

Thanks in advance for any help!

Annisele

There's nothing to stop you making a complaint to Halifax, but I'd be very surprised indeed if you were successful. (If you do make a complaint, do it yourself - those companies are there to make a profit, and IMO there's nothing they do that you can't do either yourself or through the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free to consumers).

The loan of £76k was just under 3.5x joint salary, which isn't a completely ridiculous salary multiple (certainly not by 2007 standards). I appreciate that four jobs between two people all on NMW does indeed suggest a struggle, but the fact remains that you wanted to borrow the money at the time.

Pop over to the Debt Free Wannabe boards and post a statement of affairs (see the stickies); they might be able to help you with your finances more generally.

dunstonh

One website has said it has to be through a mortgage broker. When I arranged my mortgage, I did so with a Halifax mortgage advisor in-branch. Is this the same thing?

You didnt use a mortgage broker. You used a bank clerk. Personally, I cant see what difference it makes to any potential complaint as the regulation and compliance is the same.

There are some scam claims companies that try and make out that you could get money back. However, there has only been one successful court case and that was where a broker took a fee and an undisclosed commission. The court ruled in that case that the broker had to repay the commission which was about £200 because it was not disclosed. Since 2004, mortgage commission has been disclosed and you did yours in 2007. So, that avenue isnt open to you. Also, it only works if you pay by fee and commission is paid on top (and not disclosed). Not one or the other.

I am desperate for help. Do we have a chance for compensation??

none at all.

3.5x multiple is nothing and nothing else you say suggests any wrongdoing.

Be wary of claims companies. They will tell you all sorts of things to try and get you to pay fees to them. The MoJ is shutting loads down. A couple recently closed down were telling people that they could money on cases where the success rate was under 1.5%. Yet the claims company gave the impression there was a pot of money waiting to be claimed. They were charging £495 on each claim and it was non refundable on the hope of a 1.5% chance of success. These companies prey on people to get money out of them.

Sandrock

sarahjane88 wrote: »

I am desperate for help. Do we have a chance for compensation??

You made the decision to take out the mortgage, I'm sure the adviser didn't force you to do it. As already pointed out, the income multiple is in the acceptable range and is hardly pushing the boundry.

It is unfortunate that you're going to be left with negative equity, but that is what you get for buying at the peak of the housing market!

Why on earth do you think you should be entitled to compensation? Just another example of the sad state of affairs this country is getting in where everyone has to blame someone else for their own mistakes and expects compensation for it too.

sarahjane88

There is absolutely no need to be so nasty sandrock. I got into that mortgage when I was 18 years old. I was young and foolish, had no idea about markets, followed VERY bad advice, and now paying for it dearly. Oh, and don't worry - I am doing very much so, just to satisfy your need for us to suffer!! I am trying to get on with my life and make things work, and if that means angling for compensation then I will. I now have a baby and family to think about and this mortgage is shadowing my whole life. It must be wondrous to have gone through you're whole life without making mistakes and needing help!!

FraudBuster

"pushing" our overtime etc.

If you lied on your mortgage application form you could be opening up a new can of worms.

sarahjane88

I didn't lie. We told the mortgage advisor straight what our contracted hours were. She was the one who kept playing with figures till she was happy.

VIGILANT22

Did you not have to provide any proof of income?

MarkyMarkD

sarahjane88 wrote: »

I didn't lie. We told the mortgage advisor straight what our contracted hours were. She was the one who kept playing with figures till she was happy.

If you signed the application form containing "optimistic" income figures, then YOU committed mortgage fraud, irrespective of who wrote the numbers down (or typed them into the computer).

Dan_1976

She played with figures but who signed the application to say it was correct. You could have said no!

Very touchy this one, clients and advisers have been doing this together but the adviser is the regulated one and probably will get it if this subjects keeps going.

OP I am not saying you were up to anything or judging you, it is very easy to sign away knowing your getting your dream house!

maninthestreet

OP - why aren't you or your fellow mortgagee living in the flat? Have either of you ever lived in the flat?