Woolwich Final Repayment Fees

kt

I changed to a flexible mortgage some 2 years ago (still remaining with the Woolwich). I asked them at that time if there would be any redemption penalties for paying off my mortgage early as I anticipated that I would probably be doing this. I was assured that there would be no penalties. In fact an information letter from them states "This product has no Early Repayment Charges".
I have now asked for a settlement figure and yes they have told me that I have to pay £275 Final Repayment Charge. I contested this and they told me that I was advised of this figure in my annual statement. My last statement - Sept 05 states the figure of £180. I have yet to receive this years statement. I do not see why I should pay this figure particularly the £275 amount as I have no information on it. Do you think I stand any chance of getting them to re-consider?
If that fails I was considering paying off all but £300 and then paying this back at £5 per month for the remaining 4yrs 3months. I would appear to be a cheaper option than paying this repayment charge. Could I get away with doing this? I am extremely angry that they have mislead me.

dfarry

KT, read my last few messages on this thread... http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=100358&page=5

Contest the charge and they should "as a gesture of goodwill" waive the fee.

kt

Many, many thanks dfarry for sending me copy letters to pursue the outrageous charge of £295 that the Woolwich intended to charge me for redeeming my mortgage. It took several letters - (reducing the fee each time) until I said I had had enough and gave them a refererence number of the FSO. This did the trick and they have waived the charge completely. It was worth persisting and sending five letters in total. Unsurprisingly they were unable to send me a costing of how they arrived at their charge.

dfarry

No problem at all mate... a fellow MSE helped me too so thanks also to him and others...

I have a bit of a dilemma though....

In the end we never moved and it is unlikely that we will.... this wasn't our fault but strictly speaking we now have a £275 credit on our mortgage account that should be there.

I will dispute the fee, whatever the level when we do finally move but this may be some years - in the meantime the fee may increase and we would still have to pay it (remembering the credit was intended to cancel out the £275 fee).

I'll have to play it safe and get them to take off the credit and no doubt backdate interest... but that can expect further letters and calls in the future if they do not drop these unreasonable charges.

kt

The letter we received from the Woolwich stated "I realise that we will not reach an agreement on the matter of this charge and to avoid further discontent I confirm that on redemption of your mortgage the FRC will be waived on production of this letter".
It would appear in our case that we can redeem our mortage at any time and will not face any FRC's.
It is unfortunate that your letter is not worded in a similar fashion.