Mortgage Exit Fees successes and failures

MarkyMarkD

splish wrote: »

... which I disagreed with quoting interest and the fact I feel the person responsible should be jailed ...

Scarcely the best tactic in complaint letters, splish.

You are talking about righting a civil wrong, not a criminal offence which was going to lead to anyone being jailed.

Lisamp37

Have approached C&G with reference to reclaiming, even though my original contract in 2002 said the MEAF would be £90 because I've remortgaged since with them the last time in 2005 they will not refund money. Have asked for a complete breakdown of the £225 fee which they have agreed to supply in the next 10 days, I did mention if they were unable to provide this then I would expect a complete refund! Fingers crossed!:mad:

Lisey_Lis

Hi there, I moved house on 21 December 2006 and paid NatWest a £225 MEAF. After reading an article on this site I wrote to the bank and 6 days later I received a letter back from them advising that the fee when I originally took out the mortage back in 2001 was £85 and they agreed to refund me the difference - £140!!
Even though they wouldn't refund any interest on the £140 it is still fantastic and I can't thank Martin enough.
Recommend this site to all of your friends

clipboard2

2 years ago, when moving home, I took out a 150K mortgage (standard variable rate) with Nationwide), over a 10 year term.
Nationwide allow unlimited penalty free overpayments on SVR mortgages.

I didn't need this mortgage, but was just using it as a cheap bridging loan in case our sale went pear shaped.
Nationwide introduced a £90 MEAF which was waived for those who had less than 10 years remaining on their SVR mortgage term....'as a thank you for being a loyal customer'.

In the event, I made 3 mortgage payments, and therefore qualified as a 'loyal customer' (9 years 9 months term remaining) when our sale completed and I paid off the mortgage with no MEAF.

Am not sure if other lenders do this, but might be worth checking out if you are in a position to manipulate your mortgage term.

MarkyMarkD

Some, but definitely not all, lenders charge a reduced or no MEAF if your remaining term is short or your balance is low. So clipboard's suggestion may hold some water in a limited number of cases.

I suspect that most people reading this thread have already redeemed so they can't do much about it.

markw5

Just opened the post from Abbey. Cheque enclosed for £130 the difference between the £225 I was charged last September to close the mortage and the £95 they tell me I had on the agreement when I took out the mortgage. I had lost all the paperwork & only had the reference number from my DD on my bank account. Another success to add to this campaign.
Oh I did use the template letter from this site. They sent me a form to sign & hey presto the cheque arrived today. All for the price of two first class stamps.

millionmoneymonster

Hi There
Following the tips, I sent off to Birmingham Midshires to claim back my exit fee, my arrears letters charges and early redemption fee.

The first was turned down because the fee was as stated in the original contract, £100. Fair enough.

The arrears charges were because I was made redundant and got slightly behind. I informed them if there would be a problem in plenty of time and they stopped the direct debit. They still sent me letters and charged me a total of £190 for the privelege, four letters in total I think. They refused the claim but as a gesture of good faith, they offered me the £190 back if I signed to say I had no further claims on them.

The early redemption fee was refused but they said I coud appeal to the ombudsman.
I have decided against this, I am happy with £190.

Go for it, it cost me the cost of a recorded letter. That is about £189 profit.

I am now waiting for the banks to reply so I can reclaim my charges.

videostar_2

I applied to The Abbey for my mortgage exit fees and they said no chance so I then sent them another letter asking them for proof of me agreeing to the fees and a copy of the document with my signiture on it I have today recieved for all my exit fees! So dont let them beat you for the price of a stamp! Good Luck
:beer:

jicms

I think you've answered my question which was what if I can't find any paperwork confirming whether I paid over the odds or not. Could anyone let me know when this practice began so I know how many past two year deals I have to check?

MarkyMarkD

millionmoneymonster wrote: »

Go for it, it cost me the cost of a recorded letter. That is about £189 profit.

It could have been closer to £190. There's no point using recorded delivery for this sort of complaint - there's no tendency for the lenders to lose these letters.