Mortgage Exit Fees discussion

Bernard_Coleslaw

sibmx wrote:

OK, im still confused.
the fee you can reclaim is.... the money you paid in redemption - the fee in the contract?

I took out a mortgage with a certain young lady who changed her outlook toward me a few months after moving in, leaving me with a 90k mortgage to pay on my lonesome.

We took the mortgage out in sept 2004 and i changed lender in Jun 2005, i had to pay £5500 (!!!!) for an early repayment fee.
I was told there would be a fee but i do not know what this fee is.

Does this amount seem a bit steep fo r a 90K mortgage which was based on a fixed rate for 5 years?

or am i just clutching at straws trying to get a few extra bob?

Cheers

Nope. The fee you paid sounds like an ERC (Early Repayment Charge) which is what lenders will charge you if you come out of a specially-priced mortgage (like a fixed rate) early. The lender will have costed the mortgage based on you paying it for at least five years, so if you stop after a few months it makes this charge to recoup the loss it would otherwise make on the deal. ERCs aren't under debate.

This is completely different from Mortgage Exit Admin Fees, which are the charges lenders make for the admin involved in closing down your mortgage and dealing with the deeds. It is these fees that people are talking about on this thread.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!

davidscot

How long do you expect to wait for a reply from the bank regards your complaint over the exit fee.
I used the template letter and I know it states that you would like a reply within 14 days but has this timescale for a reply been used in general by the banks?

MarkyMarkD

jburfot wrote:

Hi can anyone please tell me where I can find my MEAF figure. I searched on my mortageg offer and it does not appear to be on there. I recently switched from the Halifax and was charged £175.

any help greatly appreciated

It does help if you read the entire thread rather than repeating questions which have previously been asked and answered. But to re-answer your question, refer to my post here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=4271266#post4271266.

£175 doesn't sound like Halifax's latest figure so it is quite likely that they've not overcharged you.

There is a list of charges at different points in time, referred to in my post here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=4237289#post4237289 which answers most questions regarding what your charge should have been, based on when you took out your mortgage (or switched product, or took a further advance, if either of those occurred later).

MarkyMarkD

davidscot wrote:

How long do you expect to wait for a reply from the bank regards your complaint over the exit fee.
I used the template letter and I know it states that you would like a reply within 14 days but has this timescale for a reply been used in general by the banks?

Banks and building societies are going to have an unprecented level of letters and phone calls regarding this subject. Furthermore, the FSA required them to agree what they were going to do by the end of February 2007, so as I've previously posted it's somewhat premature to be contacting lenders now.

In summary, there's no reason to be surprised if a response doesn't arrive within 14 days and even less reason to be surprised if a full response doesn't arrive before 1 March. That said, I'd expect a holding letter at the minimum from most lenders within 14 days.

lyndalynda_2

i had a mort with abbey national they have charged me 3800 in redemption fees., my fixed rate was for ten years i had eight left to run. i was told that the redemption figure would be 2200, but on day of exchange it went to 3800. has i know this i would not have changed companies.
has anybody any advise as to how to claim this back
many thanks

regularsaver1

lynda - the FSA are looking at exit fees and not redemption fees I'm afraid

lyndalynda_2

sorry i has done eight years and had two left to run

regularsaver1

but it was your choice to leave early - to avoid this you could have possible used same lender on enw prorperty and ported mortgage

and as stated this post is about exit fees as this is what the FSA are looking into, not redemptions fees or ERC's

geordiescouse

If its any help to anyone I spoke with Abbey today and they told me they may have a decision as early as tomorrow (Tuesday) as to how they're going to proceed with all their claims for refunds. May be worth a call tomorrow to to see what they're going to do?

MarkyMarkD

It sounds like lynda had a redemption quote based on a particular redemption date, and then actually redeemed slightly early meaning that the penalty was higher. But anyway, it's nothing to do with this thread which is about MEAFs (Mortgage Exit Administration Fees) and not Early Repayment Charges (ERCs).