Mortgage Exit Fees successes and failures

S1rbobby

Rang Halifax number, received acknowledgement letter within a week, 3 weeks later received a cheque for a full refund of the £75 exit fee 'as a goodwill gesture'.

hanlou007

Got my details from YBS and had paid £125back in 2004.
Got a letter saying my agreed fee was £93.50 (£55 redemption/sealing fee and £38.50 deeds production)......a cheque was included for £31.50 but should i accept it???? or fight for more?? and on what grounds??
They have stated it is their final decision

dunstonh

a cheque was included for £31.50 but should i accept it????

They have followed the FSA requirements in refunding the difference.

or fight for more?? and on what grounds??

You have no grounds. They have complied with the requirements.

gettingagripatlast

DeeVee wrote: »

I redeemed a mortgage with NatWest in January 2006 and paid £225 MEAF. Having seen the article I used the template to claim the difference plus interest. Nat West replied that it acted reasonably and within their published policy in charging £225 and therefore it would not be upholding my complaint nor the interest requested. Bizarrely it went on to say that a gesture of goodwill it was refunding the MEAF and enclosed a cheque for £225 !

It seems to be refunding the fee without admitting liability. I've cashed the cheque !

They sent me exactly the same letter this morning with a big fat cheque including 8% interest! Hoorah! The only thing is I have to get them to send two seperate cheques as it was a joint mortgage, but soooo pleased. Thank you MSE.

jenette

I called the Halifax 2 weeks ago regarding our mortgage which we paid off in 2007.
I was not even sure we had paid an exit fee!
I didn't have the account details so just left our names & address & today I have received a cheque for £115.
We worth the call.

franceshill10

Hi All, I'm new to this site so appologies if this isn't quite in the right place. My bank have told me today that if I pay off my mortgage 4months early (we've sold our house and need to rent until our new one is ready), we'll be charged £6K for the priveledge! I'm wondering if anyone else has had this and managed to get round it in any way? 6k early redemption fee is just bonkers! Thanks in anticipation.

Argenton

We moved our mortgage away from Intelligent Finance in 2005 they have just refunded us £140 MEF. We also left the Coventry BS in 2007 and they have just refunded us £125 MEF.

Both previous lenders said the charges were as per our agreement with them but to close matters they would issue immediate refunds. So £265 refunded for the cost of 2 stamps using Martin's letter templates v.pleased thanks to moneysavingexpert great result!

dunstonh

franceshill10 wrote: »

Hi All, I'm new to this site so appologies if this isn't quite in the right place. My bank have told me today that if I pay off my mortgage 4months early (we've sold our house and need to rent until our new one is ready), we'll be charged £6K for the priveledge! I'm wondering if anyone else has had this and managed to get round it in any way? 6k early redemption fee is just bonkers! Thanks in anticipation.

It is not bonkers. The charge is fair and legal.

If you buy a special deal, this is financed by investors (retail or institutional). The bank has to pay those investors. If you repay the deal early then the bank suffers costs/penalties. These costs and penalties are then passed to you in the form of an early repayment charge.

ERCs are disclosed on the product terms when you buy the mortgage and are on the contract you sign.

Like any line in the sand, it can seem a bit unfair as you get close to that line but such is the nature of explicit dates.

Argenton

Hi there I would definately threaten FSA action and you may well find the lender backs down. For us the Coventry BS initially sent us their stage 1 complaint reply letter ie we wont pay you as the agreement said what we actually charged you, one phone call from me to say I was still unhappy and would be taking it further resulted in an immediate climb down by the lender and a cheque in the post. give it a go you have nothing to lose

MarkyMarkD

franceshill10 wrote: »

Hi All, I'm new to this site so appologies if this isn't quite in the right place. My bank have told me today that if I pay off my mortgage 4months early (we've sold our house and need to rent until our new one is ready), we'll be charged £6K for the priveledge! I'm wondering if anyone else has had this and managed to get round it in any way? 6k early redemption fee is just bonkers! Thanks in anticipation.

So, you started the process of selling your house, put it on the market, agreed a sale, and signed a contract to buy a new one, and presumably took out a new mortgage to buy the new one ... without reading the terms of your old mortgage and without asking your existing lender for a redemption quote.

Eh?

I presume you didn't consult a mortgage adviser, either, as s/he would obviously have pointed out the significant flaw in your plans.

And you also managed to avoid consulting a solicitor whilst entering into both contracts?

As for Argenton's comment, (assuming it was in response to your post), you can threaten "FSA" action all you like. For one thing, the FSA don't deal with individual complaints (that would be the FOS), and for another thing, ERCs have never, in a single case, been ruled against by the FOS other than where they were not disclosed up front. If you have a regulated mortgage (which you almost inevitably will have), it will have been correctly disclosed up front.