Money Care Uk

spaniels_2

This company have rang me and said I might have been mis-sold a mortgage in 2003 (broker fee, early repayment fee etc). I have none of the paper work for the mortgage as have changed several times since.

After talking on phone the guy thinks I have a good case for compensation. They want £499 up front to do searches and audit and tracing the paperwork. If when they find the paperwork they will either then go ahead and go for compo and they want 25% plus vat of any compo, or if they dont think there is a case to answer they will refund the £499 in full.

Sounds too good to be true, anyone had any experience of this process or this company?? thanks.

Jack_Benjamin

I've had the same call.
I emailed them with some information (facts and figures) that I had on a re-mortgage in 2004, and also in 2009 and they said I have definitely been overcharged on the agents fee (by £6,000!!) and would definitely get this back.
All in all they said I would be due, in round terms, £25,000 just on these 2 re-mortgages...based on the info I gave them.
But because of all the scams going round I too am wary of the up-front payment of £499....and I feel they're pressurising me for a quick decision.
When I asked for client refs, they said they couldn't supply any due to 'Client confidentiality'

dunstonh

they said I have definitely been overcharged on the agents fee (by £6,000!!) and would definitely get this back.

You have been charged well above the norm by the agent. Thats 3 times higher than what I charge for setting up a £2 million investment portfolio. My mortgage advisers on fee basis charge £500 and rebate any commission. So, that puts the fees in context. However, the problem is that there is no such thing as a fair fee. There is no rule or law that gives a maximum. Its a bit like getting builders round for quotes. You will often get one that quotes tens of thousands more than the others. They are allowed to do it and if you choose to pay it then its your choice.

The fees would have been published on the key facts document. They were not hidden. Yes you paid far far far too much but you agreed to pay that amount. So, no wrong doing.

[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

If you really feel the broker let you down (and with that fee, you can see why) then make a complaint to the broker. They have to deal with it using the FSA regulated complaints process which allows you to take your case to the ombudsman free of charge if you dont agree with the brokers response. It wont cost you a penny.

Jack_Benjamin

I tried that...said I'd be happy to pay 27.5% on any refund.
But they said they had an agreement with lawyers that would take "too long" too long to re-work (gotta be honest I thought that was bull just as a way of insisting on their up-front payment).
However, the £25K sounds very tempting!!
Do I have any claim?...is their any legitimate way, that's not a scam, of getting a refund??

Jack_Benjamin

Thanks for all your advice.
On balance, I'm going to tell them to proceed ONLY if they accept no up-front fee.
I think I'll tell them my concerns, and if they are confident that they can get back what they're saying they can, then they should be happy to take my business on no up front fee, but to then receive £499 from any repayment over and above £499 received, plus 25% of the sum remaining.
I'll post their response...which if you're all correct in your assumptions they won't accept.

Jack_Benjamin

Update...I've spoken to the Financial Ombudsman and have now written to the Financial advisor, and also to Money Care UK to say I won't be using their services.
Thanks once again for all your advice...[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

LynneRegan

I had the same call ... I was apparently due over £15k back for 3 mortgages with overpaid fees. Having been very nice all the way through they became extremely pushy for payment. I said I did not have access to that sort of money straight away ... they suggested I borrow it from friends and family - after all, the payout was worth it! They tried to placate me with the promise that if I paid with a credit card or paypal I would be covered by their guarantess, but I explained that by the time I contacted them in 4-6 months (which is how long they said it would take to get the money) only to find that the number no longer existed and the company had disappeared, the paypal and credit card guarantees would be useless.
I asked them to send something in writing ... they asked for my email address ... I said no, I want something on headed paper, explained that they must already have my address (as they knew which company my mortgage had been arranged through) which they agreed they did (although they did not confirm it with me). I asked for a letter explaining who they are, what their fees are and what they will do, and any other information that would make me believe they were a real company [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]. I suggested to them that a bone fide company would have no issue with this and that without it I would be reporting them to the Trading Standards Agency and any other relevant bodies as an advance-fee fraud. They said they would put something in the post. What a surprise ... nothing has arrived!
There is no listing for this company on Companies House so they are not a Limited company. The only place I could find their full details (they have just a 2-page website with no contact details) was on a job advertisement ... for commission-based sales reps earning £600-700 per week. They are based at Cross Hands, Llanelli, Dyfed, Wales. The telephone number on the ad matches the one I was being called from. I doubt they will be there for long.
I will be sending their details today to the Trading Standards Agency (via consumerdirect.gov.uk) to actionfraud.org.uk/report_fraud and to criemstoppers-uk.org/fraud

LynneRegan

Update - Money Care UK telephoned me within 10 minutes of my previous message. They confirmed they are registered at Companies House as MC UK, registration number 07608936. I have checked this and the date of incorporation is 19/4/11 so they have not been around long. They explained that they had not written to me as their headed paper has not been printed yet. Sorry, this still does not convince me they are not advance-fee scamming. They are applying to be able to post their response to this website so I will look forward to reading this. I have again asked them to convince me that they are not a scam. Perhaps they can do this on this website and convince us all ... I will hold off reporting them to the fraud websites pending their response ...

aord43

I am on the phone with them now. I am very suspicious of someone cold-calling and offering essentially free money!
Then the sting - £499 up front.
They sound very nice and convincing, and if they can't go ahead with your claim you will "get the money back" and they recommend using a credit card and paypal for protection.
But even so....up front fee? 3-6 months wait?
He said they take 25% of the final settlement, by the way. So it could be legit. I just object to the idea of paying them almost £500 up front.
Email arrived [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

He's now telling me to check them out and will phone back next week.

dunstonh

To give you an idea, everyone on this thread could be regulated by the MoJ within a couple of weeks. It is no badge of honour and requires no qualifications or knowledge.

The whole thing boils down to the validity of the reason for complaint.

If you have a valid reason then you can complain. [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

aord43

The reasons he gave me for claiming money back are:
1. Broker's fee was (a lot) more than the maximum 0.5% of mortgage amount.
2. They added an amount to consolidate debts to the mortgage. Actually I thought this was common practice. They say I can claim back interest paid on this.

They seem to be saying I can claim back the survey fee, the admin fee, the broker fee, the legal fee (not the solicitors fee) and interest.

All seems too good to be true. But since they take a quarter of that (plus the up front fee) it doesn't need to be a scam to make loads of money for them.

If they are legit, they would have a lot more people's confidence by not bothering with the up front fee.