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

SneaksyWhippet

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Would be a new mortgage. Mortgages are not transferred. So you would have received updated terms and conditions at that point in time.

I originally thought that, which is why I always assumed I wouldn't be eligible. If that's the case I'm confused as to why they've given me any payment at all, given that we made the switch before the SVR kicked in :huh:

SneaksyWhippet

LondonLass wrote: »

I don't think its as simple as that. I had worked out that i would get about £3500 for ended up getting just under £2500. They eventually sent me a spreadsheet which made my brain want to escape out of one of my ears and run away. I persevered, and when i looked into one of the many mortgage spreadsheets where you can compare the effect of payments etc it turns out that they were right.

Of course none of this answers the question about how they *should* be compensating us since if they had notified us of the change of terms then we could have paid off our mortgage without suffering an early redemption penalty and got a much better deal elsewhere. I suspect that is the real reason behind all of this... they were scared to lose so many customers locked in at a nice profitable level. they figured lose the money now, or pay it back to them if someone finds us out later.

Thanks for your reply. I am keen for them to send me a spreadsheet too; I just love that feeling of my brain wanting to escape through my ears!

Out of interest, do you mind telling me which mortgage spreadsheet you used to check it? Is it one you downloaded?

Thrugelmir

SneaksyWhippet wrote: »

I originally thought that, which is why I always assumed I wouldn't be eligible. If that's the case I'm confused as to why they've given me any payment at all, given that we made the switch before the SVR kicked in :huh:

Cheaper to just pay "goodwill" amounts. Than spend far more on individually assessing every mortgage account.

LondonLass

SneaksyWhippet wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. I am keen for them to send me a spreadsheet too; I just love that feeling of my brain wanting to escape through my ears!

Out of interest, do you mind telling me which mortgage spreadsheet you used to check it? Is it one you downloaded?

Don't remember now ... i just searched the forum for one and the first one i found seemed to do the job.

GB350

walker1627 wrote: »

Just to let everyone know, I have also had a letter saying they have corrected the wrongs and will not be paying anything else. They claim that of the people they DID inform, 95% stayed with the existing product so they do not believe we would have all moved mortgages and made a saving!!! Its a pity they are not as good at customer service as they think they are at mind reading!

Calling the ombudsman this afternoon.........

Having been waiting since the 6th January for The Halifax to give me a decision on my complaint, I called them up last Friday 2nd March to enquire... Was told that a letter had been sent to me on 9th Feb. I did'nt receive it I told them. They apologized and said they would re-send it and also promised a callback within 48 working hrs from somebody who would discuss the content of the letter with me.
Called them up again today as no callback and still no letter.
Initially I was told that the letter had been re-sent but when passed on to somebody more senior, he apologized that I had'nt been called back and confessed that the letter had not been sent at all. This was due to a big legal issue with their claim of 95% of customers who were informed of their intention to raise the cap on their SVR being happy to stick with their mortgage product back in October 08. Told him I was'nt surprised as that was complete Tosh........... Amazingly he agreed and conceded that they were trying to defend the indefensible.
They don't have any defence for their actions back in Oct 08 and the only thing that may limit the claims against them is the lack of people who realise that they have been had over.....

Thrugelmir

GB350 wrote: »

They don't have any defence for their actions back in Oct 08 and the only thing that may limit the claims against them is the lack of people who realise that they have been had over.....

Other than the fact that without an immediate £25 billion funding loan from the Treasury. HBOS would have gone under. Both RBS and HBOS were only a weekend away. If they weren't refinanced. It was that close.


The bank for all and intent's and purposes was bust. Although subsequently merged with Lloyds. HBOS is a separate legal entity.

With around 20% of the UK mortgage market there would have been no capacity to remortgage either. The market wasn't lending.

So the action that was taken has to be viewed in context.

GB350

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Other than the fact that without an immediate £25 billion funding loan from the Treasury. HBOS would have gone under. Both RBS and HBOS were only a weekend away. If they weren't refinanced. It was that close.


The bank for all and intent's and purposes was bust. Although subsequently merged with Lloyds. HBOS is a separate legal entity.

With around 20% of the UK mortgage market there would have been no capacity to remortgage either. The market wasn't lending.

So the action that was taken has to be viewed in context.

To say the market was'nt lending at that time is just not true. Plenty of deals were available during the period I'm interested in ( October 2008 to Jan 2009). Aside from the many tracker mortgages on offer at between 1% & 2% above base there were 2 yr fixes to be had at below 3%. In January 2009 the Halifax introduced a 2yr fix at 2.99%. Admittedly these rates were only on offer to those with a large deposit.I thankfully have less than a 50% LTV requirement.
What you seem to be saying here is that they thought it was ok to rip people off because they were in danger of going bust.....

Crabby_Cripple

Hi this is my first post. Only recently found this debate on here. Can't find any recent entries. Sent my complaint to FSO on 31/3/12. No response yet. Is anyone else still complaining?

princessdon

I guess I need to wait and see if I am affected (ie if I get a letter)

I was on a fixed rate during that time not SVR so not sure how it affects me and if eligible

Would be nice if I am but not counting any chickens till I get the letter or not as the case may be

GB350

Crabby_Cripple wrote: »

Hi this is my first post. Only recently found this debate on here. Can't find any recent entries. Sent my complaint to FSO on 31/3/12. No response yet. Is anyone else still complaining?

Hi Crabby..
My complaint..., A large folder's worth of it was sent to the ombudsman on the 10-3-12.
We received confirmation that it had been received on 23-3-12. Unfortunately they replied, " It may be up to four weeks before we come back to you". Get the feeling that they are overworked and understaffed at this point in time.... Still no follow up as of yet, but be assured this thread is still very much alive. They owe me a large amount of money and I fully expect the ombudsman to rule in my favour, When they eventually get round to it. Will post again as soon as I hear anything...