MSE News: Mortgages hikes after Yorkshire/Clydesdale Bank glitch

sransom

We received letters back in May saying they had undercharged on our repayment mortgage and home loan, this all began back in March 2008, before the dramatic fall in the base rate.

The analysis they eventually sent states that there is a shortfall of £3,091.05 but they are asking for an extra £200 per month for the remaining 9 years of our mortgage, this is in excess of £21,000. How is this possible?

When my husband queried this with Clydesdale they questioned whether we would be able to pay it or had our circumstances changed, as if this was our fault!

Having read the other comments I will definitely be logging a complaint.:mad:

Boltfromblue

Hi

We've had our letter today, and were unaware of the scale of the problem until seeing all these postings. As has already been said, to mess up so hugely, but place all the consequences on their customers is simply unbelieveable. I've been ranting on the phone to them this afternoon, and only now has it become clear why they were so keen to log my tirade as 'a formal complaint'. It's because there are countless others that they are doing this to as well, although they neglected to tell me that. This is Yorkshire Bank by the way.
Anyway, I rang the Ombudsman really just to see where we stand. I said that I could walk into a shop tomorrow and agree a deal for a laptop for £30 a month over two years for example, and would not expect them to write to me in six months time to say that their computer had made a mistake and my payments would therefore be £50!!! Same with car finance etc. It's simply unacceptable. They agreed, and said they'd send a letter to Yorkshire straight away. Again, now we know the scale of this, they've probably got a well used letter template for it! To echo someone else's thoughts, this is indeed the type of thing that Watchdog get involved in - it's a gross injustice that's placing people under unforseen financial hardship.

js6

Hi,

I have also been affected by this on two buy to let tracker mortgages I have with the Clydesdale Bank. I lodged a complaint by telephone and have had a reply informing me that it is now reciving their attention. I have also asked for a reconstruction of my mortgage payments which I have received for one of my mortgages so far and is incorrect. It states that the balance is the difference in payments + overpaid interest = £1441.33. When you calculate this it is actually £1441.32. Okay its only a difference of 1p but its still incorrect!!! How on earth can a bank get a+b=c wrong!!! I suggest you all ask for a reconstruction and find out if yours are correct. I know of two other reconstructions which are also incorrect and by more than 1p.

I also got offered £250 of which I am not taking. My mortgages have another 22 years left, on which I will have to pay interest on their mistake - on capital as well as the interest. £250 is not acceptable. My mortgages are increasing by £170pcm.

I have also just bought another property on which I wished to release equity on one of my existing properties. Before I made an offer I calculated my figures and phoned the Clydesdale Bank to make sure this would be acceptable in principle. I have a property which has a mortgage of £60,000 and is worth £120,000. They said I would have to take out equity of £25,000 but looking at my rental income and payments this should be fine. So I agreed to purchase the new property. I phoned the Clydesdale to get the ball rolling on releasing the equity. They said I could do this over the phone or see an advisor, they also told me it would take an hour so I opted to go into my local branch and see someone in person. After going along to the appointment the mortgage advisor told me that due to the type of mortgage I had it would have to be done over the phone and someone would phone me on Monday (this was the Friday). The mortgage advisor told me it would only take about 4 weeks and shouldnt be a problem based on my figures. My entry date was now 5 1/2 weeks away so that was fine. No phone call so on the Wednesday I phoned the Clydesdale - they told me I would have to make an appointment to speak to a mortgage advisor on the phone and it would be another week and a half to get this appointment!! Then home to the letter telling me I had underpaid my mortgage, straight on the phone to Clydesdale who set me up with a stand by appointment to speak to an advisor as a gesture of goodwill. The mortgage advisor I eventually got hadnt been given any of my paperwork and was a bit clueless. However after everything, he had to take my new payments - taking the increase due to the underpayment and use these figures and put it to the underwriters of the Clydesdale Bank as it now did not meet their 130% difference criteria. The new payments were over by £20 per month to meet their critera and as such I was refused the equity release!!!! They said it was because I couldnt afford the £20!!! So now I have to use my own money and put down a £25,000 deposit on the new property as they had origianlly said it would be no problem at all and I am contracted to it.

Not happy at all. When your on hold on the mortgage line they tell you - Clydesdale Bank have won best mortgage by Your Mortgage magazine for the past 6 years - they dont tell you that on the customer service line - and I'll be writing to your mortgage magazine to let them know how great their Clydesdale Bank is. And I totally agree about getting Watchdog to look into this. It should be promoted how big a mess this really is for those who dont realise or think they're on their own.

birdsong247

it's all gone a bit quiet here - our complaint has been moved out of Customer Care and up the chain for decision today - 4 weeks to go. anyone getting the final decision letters yet ?

Wulfrune

I got a final decision from CB after I wrote a in depth letter to my local MP Paul Burstow telling him how I and all of you have been treated by CB.

Want to know a trick that'll be a MAJOR pain in the rear for them?

SIMPLE....... WRITE TO YOUR LOCAL MP and tell them all about your situation. The more people write to their MP's the more pressure comes to bear on CB, and if the MP's start asking questions in the house, you can imagine how much CB's going to squirm.

CB have wrote back to me the other day and they told me

"In light of the fact that we're taking so long to deal with your particular case; we would recommend that you contact the FOS and get them to deal with this issue"

Shocking huh?

Contact your local MP, tell them what they've done and we'll be all over them like a fat kid on cake.

Wulfrune

NiceChap_4

OK, so many people have been affected by this issue (myself included). The question is: How is this matter to be settled? For those that have been affected they will try to repay as little as possible, whilst the bank on the other hand, will try to give as little as possible. As such an independent party HAS to be involved to decide what is a "fair" resolution for both parties since either party will have thier own (and possibly bias) idea as to what is fair. This third party will of course have to be the FOS. Surely as so many people have been affected then they are going to have to make a ruling across all cases since taking cases on an individual basis will be logistically very difficult, if not impossible, to administer. Really we should be pushing the FOS to make a ruling on behalf of everyone, which should put a swift end to issue and hopefully result in a fair solution for all.

Thrugelmir

NiceChap wrote: »

Really we should be pushing the FOS to make a ruling on behalf of everyone, which should put a swift end to issue and hopefully result in a fair solution for all.

The FOS will only rule on each case individually. As not all circumstances are the same. Despite the complaint being similar. The outcome to may differ.

David_Leask,_The_Herald

Hi,
My name is David Leask and I am one of the reporters with The Herald.
I am currently writing a story about overcharging at Clydesdale Bank, on tracker mortgages.
I am very eager to speak to anyone who has been affected by this issue. Bluntly, we are looking to feature a customer in our paper.
I can be reached on (0141) 302 6637.
All the best,
David Leask

David_Leask,_The_Herald

My apologies. I should have said I was looking to speak to Clydesdale customers who had been undercharged, not overcharged as I said in my last post.

Skyerocket_2

Good start David!

You can see the problem by looking through the thread. It is likely this represents only the tip of the Clydesdale mortgage disaster iceberg.
My case is at the complaint stage although they have been tardy and unhelpful thus far. I fear the ombudsman and my MP will need to be contacted next.

I wouldn't want to be in your paper however, as journalists, like banks it seems, are generally not trustworthy.