MSE News: Halifax to repay £500m to 300,000 mortgage holders

curlygirl1971

martyp wrote: »

Hi all,

Sorry there was so much to this thread to try and read though but I just came across this after getting my letter saying I was getting £880 for some mistake!
I phoned them and (maybe a question that has now been answered?) they told me over the phone I could actually get the money as a cheque within 14 days or they could open an account for me and transfer it into there.
The letter said my payments would be recalculated but I was told they would stay the same so it would be paying off more of the balance each month.
I am very tempted to have the £880 and use some for a holiday and put maybe £500 into my ISA. Would it make a huge difference to my mortgage if I left it in my mortgage account? I find it difficult calculating how much better off I might be if I left it in there:
Balance is £52000 approx with £257 a month repayment on 3.5% SVR.

Is anyone good at maths and possibly able to say if £880 off the capital of my mortgage would pay it off a lot quicker if paying the same amount each month?

Also, if it's of any interest to those asking 'am I eligible', my case is as follows:
Switched to fixed rate product in 2007, went to the 3.5% SVR in November 2009

Hi

My figs are almost the same as yours. I keep a mortgage spreadsheet and when I included my goodwill payment of £870 it took 5 months off the life of my mortgage.

Your standard repayment will be re-calculated when the SVR moves(ie when the BOE Base rate moves). When it does, then unless you arrange to Over-pay, then any benefit in terms of mortgage life will be lost. Your new standard repayment will however be lower than it would have been had you not received the goodwill payment

martyp

Many thanks curlygirl1971, I would really like to create a mortgage payment spreadsheet, is it quite complicated to calculate?

curlygirl1971

Oh yeah! At least I'm not capable of doing one myself!

Search for a MSE user called Locoblade - he has a thread and shares his own spreadsheet on it. Thats what I use and I think its brilliant, but there are others available.

At the end of every month I access my online mortgage balance and enter the real balance on my spreadsheet as the two figures always disagree. The spreadsheet only calculates interest monthly whereas your mortgage will most likely apply daily interest - so there is always a difference of a few £ out.

Best of luck

somi

I am disappointed at Halifax as they have sent me a letter saying i will be getting £250 only. Considering what i stated below how can they justify that when i fit the eligibility.


hope someone can shed some light on this.

regards,

somi wrote: »

Just wanna know if i qualify and how much i can expect to recover;

Took a mortgage with with Halifax in May 2007 of £195,500 (£197000 including product fee). Mortgage was fixed at 4.99% till Feb 2009.

From March 2009 was paying 3.50% SVR.

At December 2009 a broker got us off the SVR still with Halifax to a -0.51% Bank base rate that is currently 2.99% mortgage. Mortgage increased to £198,000 due to product fee. We have been on it since which runs out in Jan 2012 and then back to Halifax SVR.

So basically I think we were on Halifax SVR of 3.50% from March 2009 till Nov 2009.

Would appreciate anyone can work it out for us.

mattwmax

Hi,
I've had a look through some of the recent posts and it seems like this is being handled terribly by Halifax, and I am a bit confused.

I took out a mortgage in June 2007 which ran to June/July 2009 I believe. I then sat on the SVR until February this year when I took out a new mortgage. All through this period I had a new mortgage with Halifax starting 3 months ahead in case rates went up, and would just cancel just before the activation date, and take out another.

I am yet to recieve anything from Halifax. Do they seem to be doing customers first? Is it then alphabetical (my surname starts with W...) I am just getting nervous as there seem to be some people on here who were expecting a payment (as I am) which has not materialised. Can anyone see any reason why I would not be eligable?

Where are people calling and getting good information? When I call I get told nothing and just told to wait for a letter.

Thanks very much for your help

Thrugelmir

mattwmax wrote: »

I've had a look through some of the recent posts and it seems like this is being handled terribly by Halifax.

An exercise of this scale will take time to complete. So be patient for a while.

scorpio1983

somi wrote: »

I am disappointed at Halifax as they have sent me a letter saying i will be getting £250 only. Considering what i stated below how can they justify that when i fit the eligibility.


hope someone can shed some light on this.

regards,

Somi,

I have also received a £250 lump sum payment. Not sure, if you have been able to figure out where the difference for a refund of overpaid interest and the lump sum consideration lies.

I took out my mortgage in March 2007. The mortgage offer states under condition 4

"The mortgage is a Tracker at CMA695 - Variable rate which is 0.29% above the BoE base rate currently 5.25% which ends on 14/02/2009, to give a current rate payable of 5.54%. This rate will be adjusted within 30 days of a change to the BoE base rate.

Your loan reverts to Halifax Standard Variable Rate currently 7.25% after 15/02/2009."

In addition to the mortgage offer I received two booklets:
- Halifax Mortgage Conditions 2004, 2nd edition;
- Information about your mortgage.

The latter states in section 12 under the heading Interest Rates:

"We have set a limit on the variable base rates that apply to our mortgages so that they will not be more than 2% above the BoE repo rate [...]. We can change the "% limit but before we do we will give 30 days notice to customers who pay interest at a variable base rate [...] and are subject to an early repayment charge. Those customers will then have three months to repay their mortgage if they want to without having to pay the early repayment charge."

Do you have the same wording in your documents? To me this is pretty unclear. Halifax reasoning for good will payments looks very opaque to me.

Given the above wording, I am considering taking legal action and am currently looking for a specialised legal advisor. Any recommendations would be very welcome.

To add to this:

My understanding was always that the Halifax Standard Variable Rate is a variable rate tracking the BoE rate at a margin of 2%. It has never been obvious that this margin may be changed.

Scorpio

moneyblue_2

Hello, my first post here, although I have been reading the site for a few months now.

I was unable to get any help from my local Halifax branch (who insisted that all letters had been sent out "months ago" so if I hadn't received one I wasn't eligible) so I was hoping someone here may be able to help?

I started an interest only variable rate tracker mortgage in October 2006 having received the offer in June 2006. I remained on that mortgage for two years then reverted to the SVR in October/November 2008. I stayed on that until late 2010 when I sold the property. Would I be due a payment? Or is it only some types of mortgage that qualify and did that mortgage have to run until at least January 2009?

mattwmax

Thrugelmir wrote: »

An exercise of this scale will take time to complete. So be patient for a while.

I know it's hard but the level of conflicting information and the disparity between what people are being told (I can't get anything out of them, others seem to be told everything from a phone call, another guy was told that all letters had been sent and if you hadn't got one then you weren't eligible which is dead against what I have been told) is poor handling. They need to appreciate that they are dealing with big sums and people are going to want to know what is going on, especially when people are feeling hard done by!

lisa2621

Somi..

quote from Which website:

Halifax "will pay £250 to all customers locked into the SVR by charges. Customers who are not locked in will receive the difference between the amount of mortgage interest they have been charged since 1 January 2009 and what they would have paid if the interest rate had been capped at 2% above base rate."

Were you locked into the SVR by charges?

I am still waiting for my letter from HBOS. As i sold my flat last summer i will be one of the last to get my letter. I am hoping for the 1% refund but i no longer have my mortgage documents so i'm unable to check...