Mortgage Exit Fees successes and failures

Steff

Hello All,

Right – this information should help other who had a previous mortgage with Northern Rock. They refer to the MEAF as a Discharge of Mortgage Fee (DOM Fee)

My original offer of loan was in June 04. I changed mortgages in 06. My original offer of loan DID NOT IN ANY WAY REFER TO A DOM Fee. On exit I paid £195.

I wrote to them on 23 November using Martins letter – giving them all the information (as I had it to hand).

On 28 November I received a letter back stating that on applying for my mortgage I received a leaflet entitled “Mortgage Costs in Black & White” and in here it states the figure of £195. They were stating that my offer of loan was made in conjunction with that. I NEVER RECEIVED THIS DOCUMENT.

I then had a look at some previous posts on here RE Northern Rock and decided to write back querying this as I read that the FSA say that you should pay the DOM Fee you last signed to (and I NEVER SIGNED TO ANY!) and to provide a breakdown of their admin charges.

Sure enough – today (5 December) I received a letter from them saying that they will refund me the whole £195 as a gesture of goodwill as long as I sign a declaration form.

The declaration form is harmless enough – just relinquishing any further claim regarding this specific complaint.

So – result! Hopefully the cheque will be with me soon…..

I think they are trying to put people off with their first reply – don’t blame them really, but don’t give up – if you didn’t sign to a stated figure, then don’t be put off by a refusal on your first attempt.

Hope this info helps someone out!:T

glassback_2

:j Following Martins advice I cobbled together a letter to 'Mansfield Building Society', having settled my mortgage in 2003. The only details I could offer them were my old address and Account number. No worries, I received a cheque for £50 today.:T
Good on yer mate!
:beer:

painted_scotty

I contacted HBOS to complain that I did not feel that their MEAF Fee of £75 and Deeds despatch fee of £50 represented the true administrative cost of these activities and, unless they could provide me with a breakdown of the costs, I would like them to return these fees to me. After receiving 2 letters saying that I hadn't a case, I received a longer third letter explaining why the fees were justified (but with no breakdown), and at the end "as a gesture of goodwill" they agreed to refund the total cost of the fees i.e. £125.

RESULT! Thanks Martin

effort2save

I paid £295 A&L MEAF in 2005. Spent 5 minutes writing a letter using the mse template, and invested a postage stamp. I got a standard letter saying they were investigating, assumed this was a brush off and was planning to write again, but next thing I knew, a cheque for £220 arrived!! More than I'd actually told them they owed me!

The best thing is, that I didn't think I'd get anything as I couldn't find my account number. So I just put personal and property details on the letter. They never even asked me for the mortgage number!

Definitely worth doing!

THANKS!!!!!

sassycat

Big Thank you Martin and all you MSEs out there. Basically I'd seen all of the articles and couldn't be bothered but a couple of weeks ago I thought why not give it a go. Yesterday I received a cheque for £74 from Yorkshire Building Society.:j Will now tackle The Leeds even though I have no paperwork/account number etc.

kay_hill_2

My husband said I was wasting the price of a stamp, but only 10 days after I sent your template letter to Standard Life I have a cheque for £218 - the full fee plus interest. Thanks v much Martin! No reply yet to similar letter to Abbey

keb_10

I wrote to the Nationwide on 28th November to ask if they could refund the £90 admin fee we were charged when we repaid our mortgage a few years ago. Today a cheque arrived in the post for £90!

Fantastic!

gizzmo_2

I am over the moon. I printed and sent off the standard template from Martin to Northern Rock. I re-mortgaged 3 years ago and was charged £250 and I remeber thinking at the time it seemed a bit much. They wrote back saying the fee should have been £140 so they offered me £110 back. I wrote back and told them I still felt £140 a bit high but I would be happy to pay it if they could write back and send me a breakdown of how the £140 would have been applied - i.e what exactly it was used for.
Today i received a letter from them saying that since they don't want to partake in lengthy disagreements with their customers they were offering me the full £250 back.....ch..ching!!!
So I guess its worth sticking to your guns and seeing how much you can push them. I would have been very happy with the £110 - but now I am ecstatic as I managed to more than double that - all in the space of a week and just for about 10 mins work.
Thanks Martin!!!

Joannetringham

Phoned the Abbey about my fees of £225, they said they would send me out a form to fill in and return. I honestly thought they were trying to delay / put me off but no. I sent the form off on Monday and recieved a cheque for £126 on Saturday. Not the whole £225 but its £126 more than I had yesterday and will be spent on extras:j for Christmas. Thanks Martin.:T

pumpkinandlily

I sent a letter to Nationwide regarding an old mortgage claiming £90 on the 29 November. On the 5 December I received a cheque in the post for the full £90.

So, bank charges fully reclaimed, waiting for test case to be completed so can hopefully complete partners bank charges reclaiming.

Now onto credit card and graduate loan PPI reclaiming...