Mortgage Exit Fees successes and failures

Lolly731

I took your advise and used the table with all the contact details on and called the Halifax. I have had several mortgages with them over the years and all I had to do was supply them with at least one of the roll numbers. They checked through their records and advised me they were going to refund me £100. Great and it arrived in less than 10 days. It was so easy and involved no letters or paper work.
Thanks

Magic_Mel

I've moved 8 times in 23 years, always had mortgage with the Halifax. Phoned them on the number provided in the table on your website. Got through immediately and spoke to a very nice lady from the Halifax, she went through all my details from each move and subsequent mortgage renewal, and hey... thanks I received a cheque from them in less than 7 days from placing the call. £55.00, a good result, thanks for the info and especially the direct line phone number.

The_Londoners

After seeing Martin's article I called Halifax who completed my 'claim' in about one minute over the phone - and told me I was entitled to a £100 refund on my mortgage exit fee (I had queried it at the time but they had me over a barrel as my fixed rate had ended and I wanted out before the rate went up) - I received my cheque within a week - they had told me to expect it within 28 days, so they were well within the time - and the process was altogether painless.
Also contacted Abbey as I'm pretty sure they overcharged me 4 years ago - they weren't as helpful and wouldn't complete the form over the phone (Halifax had even looked up my roll number etc for me) and sent out a form, second class post, clearly designed to discourage anyone from applying - have posted it back today, recorded delivery and have kept a copy as they're bound to 'lose' the one I've sent (sorry to be so cynical) - will feed back to this forum when I have their response.
Big thanks to Martin, it was the easiest and quickest £100 I've ever made!

Lesley

kegs_2

After two successdul claims with Natwest & Yorkshire Building Society, we've had this response from Prinicipality (shortened for here)

Upon repaying your mortgage with us, you were charged a mortgage exit fee of £130.

At the time you started your mortgage with us, the total fee in force was £92.

At the start of your mortgage, you agreed to the conditions upon which the loan to you was made. In 2003, our conditions stated:
13.3 We may change any of the charges shown in our current tariff to reflect changes which have occurred, etc, etc.

We believe that our current charge release fee, as well as the fee you were actually charged, is reasonable and fair, etc, etc.

Therefore, we would be unable to consider a request for refund, or partial refund, of the fee that you paid when redeeming your mortgage.

I know it's only £38, but that could be £38 in my pocket.

Is this worth pursuing with another letter something like Martin's militant style letter or are we chasing a lost cause?

Advice much appreciated.:o

wax

kegs wrote: »

After two successdul claims with Natwest & Yorkshire Building Society, we've had this response from Prinicipality (shortened for here)

Upon repaying your mortgage with us, you were charged a mortgage exit fee of £130.

At the time you started your mortgage with us, the total fee in force was £92.

At the start of your mortgage, you agreed to the conditions upon which the loan to you was made. In 2003, our conditions stated:
13.3 We may change any of the charges shown in our current tariff to reflect changes which have occurred, etc, etc.

We believe that our current charge release fee, as well as the fee you were actually charged, is reasonable and fair, etc, etc.

Therefore, we would be unable to consider a request for refund, or partial refund, of the fee that you paid when redeeming your mortgage.

I know it's only £38, but that could be £38 in my pocket.

Is this worth pursuing with another letter something like Martin's militant style letter or are we chasing a lost cause?

Advice much appreciated.:o

I had a similar response from mortgage trust so I reported them to the financial ombudsman.
I think its definately worth pursuing because there was an increase during the time you held the mortgage.

The_Kaiser

Thank you very much all. Received a cheque from Abbey today for £130, I had asked for £140 but am happy with settlement. Process took 4 weeks from sending first letter. Ya dancer!!!:beer:

qs

Following reading your article I contacted my mortgage lender over an exit fee of £225. I used the template letter provided to ask for a refund. I received a reply within about 10 days asking me to complete a form which I duly did. Posted it back last week and received a refund of £175 yesterday.

Thank you

Frenchferg

Phoned Woowich/Barclays yesterday morning - they have a dedicated phone line. Had no records apart from my account no - so did not know any detail re fees. Identified myself - was asked to confirm that I was phoning about the recent decision about Mortgage Exit Admin Fees - I confirmed yes. In that case he said here is the situation - when you took out your mortgage with us the fee was quoted as £195 - when you left we charged you £275 - you have overpaid by £80 plus £3.24 interest - this amount will be paid into a bank of your choice within the next 2-3 days!!!! the call took about 3 minutes in total!!!! I know that the fee of £195 quoted in my original agreement was probably excessive and not a reflection of the costs of administering the closure of a mortgage and that I could have argued for more - but hey I decided just to take the money on offer and run.

chezrez

Wrote to Nat West 21st March using Martin's template letter. Received reply 29th March informing me £160 would be paid into my account. Wicked.

Financial_Savvy

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

I don't know where you are getting that £85 from. The 2003 figure must have been £150 and not £85: we paid £150 in 2000 when we remortgaged away from A&L (and we are currently reclaiming that back to the £110 it was in 1997 when we took out the mortgage).

Just got £140 back from A+L. MEAF was £295, complained at time got it to £225. Just got £140 back from A+L, therefore assume original fee was £85.

£225-£140=£85