Mortgage end date and terms - confused and complaining to C&G

wibblywoo

Me and my husband originally took out our mortgage with C&G in January 2009 on a 2 year fixed term agreement. The mortgage loan agreement states that our first payment will be x amount with 23 monthly payments of £x and then the mortgage wil lrevert to SVR.

In the section which states this it tells us that this 'assumes the mortgage start date will be 1/02/09'. However, we completed on the house in January 2009 and have continued to make the full payments each month. The payment made in January 2011 was our 23rd payment so we were looking forward to benefitting from the low SVR in our Feb payment.

However, on ringing C&G to find out how much we would be paying we were told that we would not go onto the SVR until March as our mortgage end date was 28th Feb 2011, because the mortgage 'ASSUMES' we started paying in March. So we are actually paying an extra month at our fixed rate, meaning we are actually on a 2 year and 1 month fixed rate, meaning we are paying too much!

After numerous calls with C&G and registering a complaint with them we have been told quite openly that they will not honour the 23 payments statement and we won't be going onto SVR until March.

The confusion comes from the difference between the 'end date' and the statement of '23 monthly payments'. After a nice converstation with a man at C&G, where I stated that as a non mortgage expert this was very unclear, I am feeling like we have been penalised for starting our mortgage early. He agreed but would not budge on the SVR start date. So we are actually paying an extra month of fixed rate, which is costing us an extra £600 on what our payment would be on SVR.

It seems grossly unfair and incredibly unclear that such large amounts of money is being based on an 'assumption'. I was told that this is the case with all mortgages and lenders, which again seems like it is swaying in the favour of the lenders and not the borrowers. The clear statement of payments given, which I would think most borrowers would look at for budgetting, bears no relevance and it is the 'end date' which is the most relevant. Therefore, should a loan agreement not be reissued once a mortgage has been started to reflect the 'actual' payments rather than continuing it based on an 'ASSUMPTION'.

Is there anyone out there who can help us on this? There must be others who have been caught out by this very unclear specification. I feel like the little man fighting a huge corporation and I have no chance. Even though the 'nice man' from C&G did state that he could see why it was unclear and that he could understand why we thought that we would be on SVR in Feb, he was completely unwilling to change our rate. To clarify this I said if we had taken the mortgage out in the middle of february would we actually have been better off, and it seems this is so.

I know that this forum has been the starting point of many changes and I would love to think that this rather 'fluffy' assumption which borrowers are being confused by should be changed. It would take such a little change in re-issuing the mortgage loan agreement once the finances were in place so that this would not happen.

Please Help!

DISGRUNTLED C&G CUSTOMER!!

herbiesjp

You can only go onto SVR once the fixed rate has finished.

So double check what date that is, and then that will answer the question really.

The end date of the fixed rate deal is not an assumption, it is a fixed point in time.

betmunch

Sadly I feel the KFI could not be any clearer.

Question: when does the fixed rate end, and the SVR start?
Answer: 28/02/11

As this is not in your favour you are focussing on the start date assumption rather than the stated fact of the end of the start date.

Had rates gone up and the SVR been really high, would you be going into you local branch with a fist full of money saying "here you go, you assumed my mortgage would start later than it actually did so heres the money you missed out on!"

I wouldnt bother complaining to them

kier333

It has just worked the other way for me which was nice, Start date was the 28.02.09 and i did not draw down the funds until 23.08.09, I had assumed my fixed rate @ 6.79% would not finish until the latter date. Upon calling the bank, i was advised that in fact my fixed rate would finish on the 28.02.11 so have just arranged fixing into a nice 5yr 4.79% saving me a fair amount.

Ask the other OP said, would you be asking the same question if in my position?? as i will save in unreal terms roughly £1000 on what i expected to pay until Aug.

beecher2

Treat it as a lesson learned about making assumptions - fixed rates rarely end after exactly 2, 3 or 5 years but the information is very clear.

Thrugelmir

wibblywoo wrote: »

I know that this forum has been the starting point of many changes and I would love to think that this rather 'fluffy' assumption which borrowers are being confused by should be changed. It would take such a little change in re-issuing the mortgage loan agreement once the finances were in place so that this would not happen.

Mortgage products and offers are written flexibly as its the completion date thats the unknown factor. You applied for a product with a specfic end date, i.e. the 28/02. All customers that applied for this product have the same end date irrespective of their completion date.

The date is consistent for administrative reasons. It just isn't practical to have multiple end dates.

There are no grounds for complaint I'm afraid.

GMS

Lenders operate differently and all perfectly acceptably when it comes to fixed rates.

Some will say fixed until xx/xx/20xx, whilst others will say fixed for x years from date of completion.

This is a common error when people do not read the information provided. C&G have done nothing wrong so you have no complaint. If you went directly to them the mortgage will most likely be 'non-advised' meaning even less come back on them.

As previous posters have said it is a lesson learnt. Move on from it, you are lucky it is only a month.

This is a big consideration to be kept in mind when looking to reserve a product in advance. Many people on these forums have decided they will get an offer in place and remain on a low rate tracker until rates start to rise. Ok in theory but better done with a lender offering a fixed rate of x years, rather than fixed until xx/xx/20xx. The latter will end up with the fixed rate period being eaten into without being used.

dunstonh

After numerous calls with C&G and registering a complaint with them we have been told quite openly that they will not honour the 23 payments statement and we won't be going onto SVR until March.

That is the correct response.

DISGRUNTLED C&G CUSTOMER!!

You shouldnt be. The documentation you signed clearly states the dates the deal you chose ends. I can only echo those comments above in that you have made an incorrect assumption and have failed to read your documentation. You can comfort yourself in the fact that it is quite a common error for people to make. However, the error only occurs if you don't read what you sign.

Burridge60

If you don't like the prescribed way that the KFI is set out it is only the Financial Services Authority's fault as they stipulate it's format.

If interest rates had gone up you may have been grateful for the extra month.

The start date is only an example and is based on roughly how long it takes a mortgage or remortgage to go through the system. Some take longer others are shorter.