Mortgage Exit Fees successes and failures

griff.

I spoke to the Abbey today. The lady explained that I should only have been charged around £90, instead of the £225 in 2005 when I remortgaged to Nationwide. She is sending me the form so that I can reclaim the difference.

gsaunders9

Original redemption fee £100, was charged £195 last august, 2006. Following advice on this site, I wrote to them asking for a refund. A cheque for £95 has arrived within 2 weeks! Thanks Martin!

gunwin

We used the template provided on this site and got £126 back from the Abbey for their increased mortgage exit fee. They responded within about 10 days.

MarkyMarkD

clubcard wrote:

I had a mortgage with Britannic Money in 2001 (now known as Mortgage Trust Limited) so I wrote to them regarding exit fees and received this reply.

"The statement made by the FSA relates only to loans that are regulated by the FSA. Unfortunately your loan does not come under the jurisdiction of the FSA and, therefore, the company is under no obligation to refund any fees."

I thought that all mortgage companies were requlated by the FSA. Can anyone help with further information?

Mortgage regulation didn't come in until 2004 so a mortgage which ended in 2001 wouldn't come under their scope, I presume.

tygertyger

Has anyone taken Halifax to task for punitive charges on mortgage accounts? I have a friend who's been charged £35 for late payments for five months successively, even though he explained his circumstances and paid what he could when he could. He also rang them to ask if he could pay his morgage one day late and got charged £40 for 'Failed Promise', even though he'd got permission. He's also been charged £20 for asking for an interest certificate and another charge of £75 for putting the service charge for the property he owns onto the mortgage, even though he told them on the telephone that he didn't want them to do this.

This seems iniquitous to me, as Halifax is making sure he's driven deeper into debt, in spite of the fact that he's trying to keep up with his payments. He missed one month's payment when he lost his job and explained his situation immediately and paid two months in advance when he was paid off.

andy1954

I looked up the Halifax in "saynoto0870",found their switchboard number,thus avoiding their 0845 premium rate number,used "1899"to ring so paying only a 3p connection fee,and in two minutes told that a cheque for £25,the difference between £50 original fee and £75 actually charged,would be sent.
Not bad for 3p!,thanks Martin.
Andy.

rsharp

As soon as I heard about the possibility of reclaiming these fees, I downloaded the template letter (not from this site but a similar template nonetheless) and sent it to Abbey.

The original fee quoted was £95 in October 2002 and we were charged £225 in June 2005.:mad:

They then sent me a form to complete, along with a letter outlining some scenarios detailing why I might not get a refund. :rolleyes:

The form was quite basic - name of all mortgage account holders, mortgaged address (we have moved since redeeming), date mortgage taken out and redeemed etc.

Sent the form back and, hey presto!, 2 weeks later a cheque for £130 drops through the letter box :j (along with a letter containing £250 for my daughter's Child Trust Fund:j ) - if these things happen in 3's I expect a Premium Bond win soon :rotfl:

I've read of a few other successes on this board and some have mentioned interest having been added (not with Abbey though:mad:). Should I be asking for this as well? Mortgage was redeemed in June 2005 so 18 months interest on £130 won't be much but rather in my pocket than theirs if I'm owed it!

wallyberry

Just had a letter from Northern Rock offering £110 as the difference between the original fee and the one we were charged. Very pleased as husband said it wasn't worth bothering about; it only took me 10 minutes with the template letter; and even though I couldn't find a reference to how much the discharge fee was in our original contract they haven't made life difficult at all.

All we're waiting for now is to hear how the FSO deals with our endowment complaint!

Thanks. Wouldn't have thought of it without you and it will pay for my road tax!

Jenni

Hadrian

I settled up my mortgage with Abbey early in January 2007. Due to watching this website & using the template letter I wrote to them asking for the difference between the amount I was quoted in 2001 for the 'exit fee' and what they charged me. Today I received a cheque for £130, very many thanks to Martin Lewis. I advise everyone affected to have a go and reclaim your money.

MarkyMarkD

rsharp wrote:

I've read of a few other successes on this board and some have mentioned interest having been added (not with Abbey though:mad:). Should I be asking for this as well? Mortgage was redeemed in June 2005 so 18 months interest on £130 won't be much but rather in my pocket than theirs if I'm owed it!

The FSA ruling does not mention interest, so there's no requirement on lenders to pay it. Some seem to be doing so and others do not, but I don't think there's any mileage in chasing for the extra £5 or so when it's not clear cut.