Complaint letter to Santander

superphil007

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Then the answer is to remortgage to another lender. You have no more loyalty to Santander than they do to you.

The ability to improves ones own mortgage rate is in ones own hands as well.

Quote: If I could I would... I am one of those thousands of British homeowner who has lost a significant percentage of equity in my property and is now stuck at the mercy of the banks for borrowing. I cannot even get an existing deal since we now stand in negative equity.

superphil007

dunstonh wrote: »

You have the product you applied for and you are getting the rates you agreed with. The fact you chose a higher risk lender was your choice. You could have gone to Santander to begin with but you didn't. if you want to get a mortgage deal that it more specific to you then buy one.

Quote: You are wrong there...We applied for this mortgage back in November 2006 and I can tell you one thing the mortgage market was very different back then. Deals where around everywhere back then. Our 2 year deal finished in November 2008 and I have been trying to secure a new mortgage deal since then. None of the banks out there will offer a deal in this current climate. Yes, fortunately SVR have been going down but still after all the money we (the British people) have pumped into the banking system we shouldn’t be at the mercy of the banks like this.

dunstonh

we shouldn’t be at the mercy of the banks like this.

In a typical 25 year mortgage you would expect to see 2-3 periods like this. There is nothing new here other than the reduction in deals is greater than it has been before. In the last recession people still needed to put down 15-25% deposits or pay a MIG and you couldnt borrow any more than 90-95%. So, we are effectively back to what it used to be.

at this time lenders are still more than happy to lend to people who meet traditional borrowing criteria. They are not so prepared to lend to high risk cases. This typically happens in a recession and it typically improves as we move away from the recession.

SouthCoast

I know of folks who are still repaying negative equity from the early 1990's and are now in negative equity from their 2006 purchase.

Property prices can go down as well as up.

superphil007

superphil007 wrote: »

Hi all,

Alliance & Leicester has lowered its SVR from 4.99% to 4.24% for new customers, the move followed court approval for the legal transfer of Alliance & Leicester to Santander UK on 28 May2010 bringing it in line with Santander’s SVR but has not adjusted the rate for existing customers. WHY???
I do know why it’s because they are ripping off existing A&L customers by .75% every month and they are getting away with it.
I have never missed or delay a mortgage payment since 2006, I am one of those thousands of British homeowner who has lost a significant percentage of equity in my property and is now stuck at the mercy of the banks for borrowing. I cannot even get an existing deal since we now stand in negative equity. What can I do?
I have recently wrote a complaint letter to Santander regarding this issue since I am one of those customers that was on a SVR of 4.99 with A&L and now feel somewhat ripped off by Santander regarding this. If you look at the Santander website all information regarding their existing SVR are 4.24%. This is false advertising and someone should do something about this.

I have received a reply from Santander saying that they will not alter the SVR on my mortgage; their reasoning is that there has been no change to the contractual arrangement that was originally agreed with me when I took the mortgage.
I just feel that they are ripping me off and I want to take it further with the Financial Ombudsman Services because somehow I feel that what they are doing is wrong.
Maybe if I get enough support from people, perhaps together we could do something about this.
Philippe
From South Wales

QUOTE: 533 people have read this thread, anyone else in the same boat?? I am sure that this must be considered as false advertising no??

dunstonh

QUOTE: 533 people have read this thread, anyone else in the same boat?? I am sure that this must be considered as false advertising no??

How can it be false advertising when you have got the product you bought?

please provide evidence to support your claim of false advertising.

Does the fact that out of all those reading the thread has agreed with you not make you wonder if it is you that is wrong?

superphil007

dunstonh wrote: »

How can it be false advertising when you have got the product you bought?

please provide evidence to support your claim of false advertising.

Does the fact that out of all those reading the thread has agreed with you not make you wonder if it is you that is wrong?

Quote: Ok then smart pants...Just go on the Santander website and try to find anywhere where they mention that the current SVR rate for A&L customer is 4.99% whilst all other Santander customer are paying 4.24%. Nowhere… they only advertise that their SVR is 4.24%, this to me is misleading or false information or call it what you want. To me this is false advertising

superphil007

dunstonh wrote: »

Does the fact that out of all those reading the thread has agreed with you not make you wonder if it is you that is wrong?

Quote: By the way 603 people have read this thread now and I am sure that most of them would agree with me. The more people that read this thread the more bad publicity for Santander. I am confident that the readers will make their own mind.

Santander and all other British banks are currently cashing in on the back of customers like me. How can you justify charging 4%, 5%, 6% mortgage rates when to Bank of England rate is 0.5%.

dunstonh

How can you justify charging 4%, 5%, 6% mortgage rates when to Bank of England rate is 0.5%.

Look at savers rates and the net interest margin. Not the base rate.

Gra76

When you sign up to a mortgage you pay the interest rate that you signed up for. You don't get to 'automatically' switch to a lower rate that is better just because the mortgage lender offers a slightly better rate for new customers, or they lower the rate on a specific product after you signed up to your contract.

I don't see any 'false advertising' at all. You signed up on a contract that was 4.99%. You are paying 4.99%. You are getting exactly what you signed up for. The mortgage provider changed the deal later on and that's unfortunate, but the fact is you signed a contract at 4.99% and the mortgage providers are absolutely right in what they've said to you.

The only way you'll get a better deal is by switching mortgage.