Miss-sold Mortgages Help

mensrea01

Hi guys,

I need help if possible, We have all done it signed without reading or understanding. I took out my mortgage 4 years ago with Preferred who are no- longer trading and were managed by the dreaded Capstone. Now Capstone has disappeared to be replaced by Acenden.

Now with regards to the mortgage they pretty much leave me alone as I pay every month without fail. Never missed, it has been hard but they are my first bill I pay. I have seen their tricks and have read the data. The only problem I had was trying to get them to sort the direct debit out to pay them, because as soon as the payment is late they can charge. Nasty tactics. In addition to this, they have there insurance scam. Because I am not new to this scam and watch them like a hawk it does not work on me.

Anyway, the reason I need help is for when I took the mortgage out. It was with a broker and I pretty much believed what he was saying. I was employed at the time, just has a baby and returned to work. My partner was full time on a good wage. His credit was great. I had some late payments but no CCJ's at the time. I was also in the process of selling my house with £55,000 to put on my current house.

I was told that Preferred was the only option. My partner was earning 19k post office, I was earning 12.5k and we had a Mortgage of £132,000. I put the the remaining money from the sale of my house towards the new house and repairs.

At that stage I was not sure of the mortgage and all its facts, it turns out that it was a near subprime mortgage, on Libor rate + 1.6% above the base rate. Also its an interest only mortgage and did not realise at the time i needed a mortgage vehicle or what it meant. that was may 2007. I pulled out all the paper work and some of it that was given after the sale, now being a bit more wiser cant believe what I have done.

A company called Glastone Brookes wants to help with my compensation as I have a strong case - with this 30 year mortgage that will run after I retire. I dont want to go through a dodgy company. Can anyone advise me on

If this is true
where I can go
who can I go to

I would rather be successful and donate to this site rather than pay money grabbing companies. This site has helped so much with reducing debt and all for free.

If someone would take pity and advise that would be great
thanks

Thrugelmir

Unlikely that you will have recourse for a mis-selling complaint. As at the very least you should have read what you were signing.

So you need to focus on how you can reduce the mortgage debt. If at all possible make overpayments, however small.

holly_hobby

There is absolutely no need to use a claim management company, whom will slice a % from any compensation paid.

If you have a valid complaint, the provider or FOS will uphold without the intervention of a claims co (whom actually don't do anything other than submit the complaint, and ask for the cheque to made payable to themselves, in order that they may deduct their fee before forwarding the residue to the complainant.)

That being said, lets move to the basis of your post ....



Mortage arrangment

• You state you did not have CCJs, but late/missing payment history at the time of application. Was this just late payments, or had you been defaulted on one or several accounts ? (as this would remove you straight away from High Street lenders.
• .
• No idea what the LTV was, as it appears the 55k capital was not entirely used as a deposit but ...
• .
• It is known that your reqd/effected mortgage was £123k, achieved on a joint income multiple requirement of at least (a v meaty) 4.19 joint (which would be higher if there were os financial commitments to be accounted for)
• .
• Again this may well have ruled you out of the high street at the time (talking affordability assessment, not income multiples, where you would not have met with any high st lenders criteria), compounded by your chequered credit history
• .
• You are unhappy with both being with a sub-prime lender, and paying LIBOR + 1.6% - this is actually a pretty good rate !

Mortgage repayment

• You were not a first time buyer, but had previously held a mortgage. What repayment method was this held on ?
• .
• You also state that you effected an interest only mortgage, but the adviser failed to arrange or discuss the necessity of a repayment vehicle (of which you claim to be unaware one was required - this is despite having previously held a mortgage).
• .
• Furthermore, as the broker would earn commission on the repayment vehicle (exc Nat Savings), if authorised to give investment advice - it would be v unusual for him to fail to sell a product. If he wasn't , he should have discussed life protection, and would have informed you to address the repayment vehicle issue, as would your mortgage offer recd from the lender. (and every annual mortgage statement)
• .
• The term of 30 yrs - this you say exceeds your NRA. On an interest only mortgage the term is irrelevant to the monthly interest paid, it is only on a capital and interest mortgage whereby longer terms are chosen to reduce the monthly outlay.
• .
• Further to which if the adviser did not sell you or event discuss a repayment vehicle, it is hard to see why a 30 yr term was advised and arranged by them, unless directed to.
• .
• This is easily solved though, if you now don't wish to have a 30 yr term, just reduce this with your morgage lender - as the monthly repayment figure won't alter.
• .
• You need to also consider how you will repay your mortgage (ISA, stocks & shares, deposit accounts, bonds, gilts, Nat Savings Certs ?).
• .
• If however affordabilty is good, why not convert the mortgage (ether wholly or partly) to repayment, and reduce the term at the same time ?
• .
• You state that you didn't read anything at the time, and it is only now that you realise that there are issues with your mortgage. Unfortunately, failing to read the terms of what you have agreed and signed to, is not a basis of complaint - but I suspect occured because you were eager to obtain the mortgage.

In my opinion, and from what I have read, I would be doubtful of any real chance of success with this. (especially as you were not a FTB, and as such would be assumed to reasonably understand how the diff types of mortgage repayment methods worked - especially if your first mortgage was interest only too).

If you feel that you do have a valid cause of complaint, in the first instance write to the provider/new owner, list your concerns and what you want the company to do to remedy the matter.

If you feel unhappy with the decision of the provider, then you may refer the matter to FOS, whom will independently assess your complaint and all available POS docs to determine their resolution.

I have to be honest, I would instead concentrate my efforts on resolving the issues to hand - of reduction in term and the urgent need to address repayment methods of the mortgage.

Sure others will be along with comment ...

Hope this helps

Holly

opinions4u

LIBOR plus 1.6%?

That's probably cheaper than 90% of UK mortgage borrowers are paying.

If it was mis-sold, they flogged you a bargain. Make the most of it.

Start paying more to the mortgage now to get the debt down.

poppy10_2

mensrea01 wrote: »

At that stage I was not sure of the mortgage and all its facts, it turns out that it was a near subprime mortgage, on Libor rate + 1.6% above the base rate.

Pretty good rate! You should be thanking your broker

Also its an interest only mortgage and did not realise at the time i needed a mortgage vehicle or what it meant.

Did you think the mortgage capital would magically pay itself off?

I have a strong case - with this 30 year mortgage that will run after I retire.

Were you not able to do the maths to figure out how old you would be in 30 years time?

Nobody's going to give you compensation for being wilfully ignorant. don't trust any company that claims otherwise - they will just charge you fees and then drop you.

_Andy_

It's quite scary how so many threads on this forum at the moment are from people blaming their mistakes on other people.

GMS

_Andy_ wrote: »

It's quite scary how so many threads on this forum at the moment are from people blaming their mistakes on other people.

Until the costs of any investigation become the responsibility of the losing party this will continue to be the case. A no win no fee/loss no fee system will continue to mean spurious claims by the public and parasite ambulance chasing companies.

Whilst a claim can be made with no foundation and the bill be footed by the broker who was proven to have given good advice we will see many more of these cases

_Andy_

mensrea01 wrote: »

if someone would take pity

lol :):)

Senior_Paper_Monitor

"Complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) about mortgages increased by 36.8% in the three months to September, as the total number of complaints about financial products fell by 38%.

Mortgages were the fourth most complained about financial product, the FOS revealed, after PPI, credit cards and current accounts.

Mortgages garnered 2,796 complaints in the second quarter of the financial year, compared to 2,044 in Q1. However, despite the rise, the FOS only ruled in favour or the borrower in 33% of mortgage complaints, down from 36% of cases in the three months to June."


"Overall, the FOS saw complaints fall 38% in Q2, with PPI complaints slumping almost 66% from 56,025 in the first quarter to 19,256 in Q2."

Source: Mortgage Solutions 18 Oct

This is becoming the scourge of this industry - fueled by these half witted claims companies.

Three quarters of our recent network compliance visit was detailed discussion of exact processes and wording to 'defend', both pro-actively and retrospectively, against spurious claims of this nature.

In my view 90% of the paperwork being generated and distributed by this office is 'professional indemnity' and '!!!! covering' driven rather than actually informative to the client - and I really believe we are a customer orientated company by choice.

The sad thing is - the volume of paperwork being generated is actually confusing and off putting for the client with the result that it is less likely to be read and/or understood by the average client.

I have just created a further 6 paragraphs available for our standard 'product confirmation letter / ROS' to defend against a subsequent claim that a client that takes a fixed interest rate product could have saved money by going tracker based on their 100% accurate hindsight ! This has been brought on by two successful claims against brokers from our network losing claims on this basis.

Our product confirmation letters are now running at a minimum of 6 pages and the purpose is rapidly moving a simple concise explanation to client to a confusing legalese defence document to protect against future claim company generated complaints - this is getting ludicrous.

Our professsional indemnity is climbing annually (or increasing the excess) - solely as a result of these spurious claims - which cost the recipient broker heavily in time and money even if (as in 2/3rds - and growing - of cases) the claims are rejected by FOS.

Meeper

_Andy_ wrote: »

It's quite scary how so many threads on this forum at the moment are from people blaming their mistakes on other people.

Welcome to the world. Nobody takes responsibility for themselves any more. I just wish that sometimes the Ombudsman would reject a complaint on the grounds of abject stupidity of the complainant.

mensrea01

Hi Guys,
I dont know if to say thank you or not. There seems to be some scathing comments about blame and what not. Firstly I ask for advice i am not blaming anyone, at the time I had just had a baby, gone back to work, trying to tell the house I was in because of neighbours. I had a repayment mortgage on my previous property and kept up to date with everything. This time I had a partner who was dealing with the broker. This does not excuse not reading things fully. the 55k profit I had was mostly put on the house apart from repairs to the property that had to be done when we moved in. I am not stupid when it comes to property but i understood that it was a repayment mortgage. These people are contacting myself with regards to my mortgage. Offering everything under the sun, even so bold to say my mortgage can be written off. I find that they offer a lot of things but no mention of what happens after the complaint has been made and if you get compensation. What happens to your existing mortgage.

As I said I am not blaming anyone for my mistakes just wanted advice on the situation not rudeness from some people. Holly Hobby thank you for your input and reading my statement of facts - it was a fixed rate 5.94% until 1 Jan 2009 - so i am not tied in at present. it then changes to 1.95 % above the tracked LIBOR rate currently it was 5.53% giving a current rate payable of 7.48%. that was then obviously it has dropped.

As I said I am not in arrears, I cant over paid as I will incur charges but have been putting the difference away in a secret stash, just in case but obviously have a way to go before it pays off the mortgage. I t was only £300 a month difference. Because I hate the mortgage company I am with ( administration with Acenden). I look forward to the day when I can move from them. But in todays climate would be hard. I am now a student and work part time. Because of the letter content I wanted to know if it was correct that I might of been mis-sold and if there was any chance I would be successful. No harm in getting some advice. I know the society we live in where there is blame there is a claim, i don't want to be one of those people. I deal in cold hard facts.

So on the feedback that I have had, I will not be taking up the offer of Gladstone Brooks dealing with my mis-sold mortgage I will be staying with preferred, capstone, Acenden, until as they say all my ducks are in a row then I can change mortgage providers to a high street lender.