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

GB350

It's not a question of hindsight...... Had they given me the correct information at the correct time (31st October 2008), I would have had a 3 month window from that moment to repay my mortgage in full without incurring any Early Repayment Charges..... Obviously I would have jumped at the chance to do that and would have taken a fix or a tracker deal at around 2% less than the 5.89% I had fixed at, as rates had tumbled within that period.
Had I chosen to remortgage and paid the 3k ERC between 31st October 2008 and 31st January 2009 I would have been royally bent over as no fee should have applied between those dates. I just was'nt told.....

Lisadt

GB350 wrote: »

It's not a question of hindsight...... Had they given me the correct information at the correct time (31st October 2008), I would have had a 3 month window from that moment to repay my mortgage in full without incurring any Early Repayment Charges..... Obviously I would have jumped at the chance to do that and would have taken a fix or a tracker deal at around 2% less than the 5.89% I had fixed at, as rates had tumbled within that period.
Had I chosen to remortgage and paid the 3k ERC between 31st October 2008 and 31st January 2009 I would have been royally bent over as no fee should have applied between those dates. I just was'nt told.....

I have received exactly the same letter today from Halifax. My thoughts were exactly the same as yours. We fixed our mortgage in 2008 and would have jumped at the chance to move to a new deal in 2009 if we had been informed. I have contact Halifax about this tonight as I have calculated that we have potentially overpaid by around £5k. The person I spoke to didn't know how to answer my query so I am expecting a call from a manager tomorrow, I will let you know if I get anywhere.

lydia_dustbin

Lisadt wrote: »

I have received exactly the same letter today from Halifax. My thoughts were exactly the same as yours. We fixed our mortgage in 2008 and would have jumped at the chance to move to a new deal in 2009 if we had been informed. I have contact Halifax about this tonight as I have calculated that we have potentially overpaid by around £5k. The person I spoke to didn't know how to answer my query so I am expecting a call from a manager tomorrow, I will let you know if I get anywhere.

Exactly the same scenario here. have been so mad that I had such a useless fixed deal but did not dare try and pay the early redemption charges. i rang halifax today and they said that they are calculating the refunds/compensation and we will receive a letter after 22.12.11 with the amount as well as a £250 sorry payment. am so angry about this. GRRRR

lydia_dustbin

its true that hindshight is a wonderful thing but of they had bothered to give us the correct information hindsight would not have applied

walker1627

Same from me, the call centre could see my point but were not willing to discuss any compensation other than the £250 "goodwill payment" we are all getting. he tried to say the 8% interest they are paying is our compensation!!!!
I too would have definatley changed product at the time if we had been correctly informed, i have been kicking myself for fixing at that rate ever since.
I have logged a complaint via the financial services ombudsman so will see what their response is to that!!
Whats the chances of them swapping us onto one of their better rates now do you think? I have made an appointment with their mortgage advisor so will see how helpful they are.

athensgeorgia

I'm just wondering if this is still ongoing with certain accounts.

We took our mortgage out in Sept 2007 and borrowed extra in Oct 2008. I assumed our account didn't apply to the problem, going off what other people had said about having further advances, so didn't really do anything about it.

I've just logged into online banking and my mortgage account is £2k lighter.

GB350

Quick update.... Having spoken to Halifax this morning I have been told that the fact I was'nt given the chance to pay off my mortgage without charge and move to a significantly better deal will be factored in to any refund I receive. How will you be able to put a figure on that I asked...??? He could'nt tell me. I suggested this figure could be somewhere between 6k - 10k and he conceded this may be the case. Details of the refund will be sent to me around the end of December.. We'll wait and see what arrives and then if necessary pay a visit to The Financial Services Ombudsman.....

walker1627

GB350 wrote: »

Quick update.... Having spoken to Halifax this morning I have been told that the fact I was'nt given the chance to pay off my mortgage without charge and move to a significantly better deal will be factored in to any refund I receive. How will you be able to put a figure on that I asked...??? He could'nt tell me. I suggested this figure could be somewhere between 6k - 10k and he conceded this may be the case. Details of the refund will be sent to me around the end of December.. We'll wait and see what arrives and then if necessary pay a visit to The Financial Services Ombudsman.....

Thanks for the update, like you say, putting a figure on it will be difficult, guess we will have to wait and see what we are offered. It is encouraging to know they are not fazed by the figures you metioned though. It would be nice to know rough figures now though as a significant payment could affect what alternative products you are offered as it will change the LTV ratio. Will you be changing product now you can do it fee free?

Lisadt

lydia_dustbin wrote: »

Exactly the same scenario here. have been so mad that I had such a useless fixed deal but did not dare try and pay the early redemption charges. i rang halifax today and they said that they are calculating the refunds/compensation and we will receive a letter after 22.12.11 with the amount as well as a £250 sorry payment. am so angry about this. GRRRR

I did not receive the call from the manager that I was promised so I have called them again myself tonight. Again, the person I spoke to couldn't tell me anything at all. All he could say was that it has been logged as a complaint and I will be contacted by customer relations within five days, we'll see! I'm not happy at all, nobody seems to know what's happening unless they're deliberately keeping quiet!

lydia_dustbin

i will definitely be shopping around now xx grr