Mortgage Exit Fees successes and failures

Taadaa

Well....l am going to find the paperwork from our 2007 mortgage tomorrow. I didn't k ie about this. Think we were charged an admin fee and an early exit fee. Was with Portman BS I think.

VegasGirl

:TAfter reading MSE site I'd never heard about the Mortgage Exit fees being reclaimed. I had no idea if I would be entitled to a reimbursement but today phone my old Mortgage Lender Halifax, they took all my details and within 2 hours telephoned me back and said they would be sending me a cheque in the post for £225.00:D. When my mortgage was originally set up (June 2003) these fees were taken into account which I had no idea and had not got a clue if I was entitled to anything but took a gamble and horray. Cannot believe Banks are not contacting customers and notifying them but will pay out if you go to them!! I would never of received what was rightfully mine if I hadn't made the phone call. Definately worth trying. Thank you MSE :j

Taadaa

Just to report back, our Portman BS mortgage was exited in 2007, shortly after they merged with Nationwide. I asked for the difference back plus interest totally £48 on Friday via e mail, used the wording in the template. They called this afternoon amd said that they could not find any paperwork relating to an exit fee charge, thus would be refunding the full £90. They said they do not need to refund interest, however given we have nearly double back I'm not arguing.

I have a feeling we fixed over the phone, hence the lack of paperwork. I said l would he contacting them again as the interest was added annually to that product and compared to the last annual statement we had it looks as though we may have been overcharged upon exiting. Will he scanning that in and faxing it off to get to the bottom of it.

shazzyc

Hi,
Ive been reading all your threads regarding MEAF, and have 2 mortgages the first was recently redeemed with Bank of scotland who charged me around £423.00 fee, although have no idea what was in the initial agreement with them. The earlier one was redeemed in March 2000 it was initially with Leeds B/S who I then believe got taken over by Halifax, I have none of the paperwork. Just wanted your thoughts if both of these may qualify for a call/letter to B/S.

Many thanks.

haylow

I have a 5 year fixed mortgage with Santander which is due to finish in October. I received a letter saying that I would be automatically moved to their SVR, which is what I expected as that was the term of the mortgage. However, when I called them to ask about other options I was informed that regardless of whether I change to another fixed rate with them or automaticallly go on SVR that I will be charged £225 as a mortgage admin fee (what was their MEAF but they changed the name and this is confirmed in the info from Martin Lewis tables). I was told this is a normal fee and I should have always know about it.

I did know about this fee but it states in all my paperwork that it is payable when the mortgage ends. However, I'm not ending my mortgage, just moving onto SVR as per the terms. Even if I decide to go on a fixed rate, and not change providers, surely they can't class that as 'closing' one mortgage and starting another?

dunstonh

1. Should the bank haveprovided documentation advising that a penalty would be levied?

They would have as part of the redemption figures.

When we were considering taking out an Endowment should the bank have advised us of the pitfalls of doing this – if only not to lose our repayment custom?

No.

3. After the initial discussion and form-signing, we had no furthercommunication with the financial advisor/broker concerning the Endowment. Is thisusual practice? – we did, of course, receive statements from the parentcompany, L & G.

Tied agents nearly always were employed on transactional basis. So, unless you put the adviser on retention and employed them on a servicing basis, then you would not expect to hear from them again. They were ad-hoc when required. Only servicing advisers work on a servicing basis.

dunstonh

fishing_mad wrote: »

I Have looked through documentation and there is no mention of redemption figures.

The documentation would have existed as either you or your solicitor would have used that figure to repay the mortgage. Perhaps you gave it to your solicitor or your solicitor didn't pass you a copy/breakdown.

It's largely irrelevant anyway as the lender doesn't need to handhold you on these things as it is not their responsibility. It is the responsibility of your mortgage adviser that advised you on the new mortgage to point out any potential negatives on a move. So, if you have an issue over not being told, then your complaint should be directed to the mortgage adviser. If you didnt use a mortgage adviser, then you take on the responsibility for knowing what you are doing.

Cool_Quantum

Dear All,
I would like to thank Martin and the gang here for a very useful site....and its free advise...! Again Many Thanks.
I have manage to get a positive reply from my bank(Halifax) with regards to my Mortgage Exit fees but not without a remark from them saying how sorry they were to charge me it in the first place.....!
Stated in the reply that they are happy to offer me a full refund...... but there was no mention of them paying with it any interest for holding my money for the past few years that they have kept that money......my MONEY! Are they trying it on! What should I do next......... Please help.

Regards,
Mr Cool :A

dunstonh

Stated in the reply that they are happy to offer me a full refund...... but there was no mention of them paying with it any interest for holding my money for the past few years that they have kept that money......my MONEY! Are they trying it on! What should I do next......... Please help.

The FSA requirement was to repay the difference. They are paying you the full amount. So you are getting more than the requirement. So, accept it. Of course, you could go back to them to ask for interest on the difference and accept a lower amount.

Cool_Quantum

Hi Dunstonh,
Thanks for the reply, I was just wondering as I have used the template from this site which also state that we can ask for the refund of the exit fee plus any interest due hence why I was asking the question whether I need to reply and asked them for the interest incurred? Are the banks required to refund it back with interest? Thanks again.

Cheers
Mr Cool