Mortgage Exit Fees discussion

MarkyMarkD

ajk wrote:

The £499 fee to set up the mortgage was also a rip off and i wonder how they can justify this.

They don't have to. You chose a mortgage with a £499 fee and you have to pay it. End of story.

I don't know how you judge that it's a rip-off. It's not. It's just an up-front fee to enable them to offer you a cheaper mortgage rate.

MarkyMarkD

amygray wrote:

Hi,

I have a query. I took out a First Active fixed rate mortgage in April 2005. This comes to an end this April. I may wish to remortgage with another lender, and wanted to know whether I had exit fees to pay. I hadn't heard of them until now. I phoned First Active and they advised that I have £225 exit fees as stated within my offer document under section 10. I wanted to know whether this was right, as section 10 in my offer document reads as follows:

Early Repayment Charges - If you repay your mortgage in full before the end of your agreed 22 year term, there is an administration fee, currently £195.

There is no other reference in my offer document or the fees and charges leaflet supplied by First Active to indicate about exit fees.

Please advise whether First Active are correct and that I have to pay the £225 if I wish to find a better remortgage with another lender.

You will have to pay £195, not £225. But the time to resolve this with them is when you redeem, not now.

MarkyMarkD

ajk wrote:

most people have been successfull with claiming closing admin charge/exit fees so i would claim this.

Perhaps you were tied to the mortgage for some time after fixed interest period, if so i doubt you'd be successfull with this claim.

I got the exit fee refunded after a 5 minuite phonecall.

Good luck and let us know how you get on

ajk

AJK, your post is self-contradictory. The early repayment charge is NOT an MEAF and therefore there's no chance of successfully reclaiming it. As AHAR posted in earlier reply to Polly, it was probably an "over-hanging" early repayment charge which continued after the fixed rate ended.

DebtMagnet

Hi all,

Any word on the position of any of the big lenders yet?

Martin mentions the 28/02/07 as being the deadline for them all to decide what to do but have read nothing as yet?

Cheers,
DM

pmclondon

The discussion here centres around whether the actual MEAF is greater than the original MEAF.

However, if the exit fees charged are in principle excessive/ unfair and overstate any administration involved (similar to the issue with overdraft fees), it may be that these can be challenged under unfair contract terms legislation. If so, then does the same apply to application fees (as opposed to arrangement fees)?

What do people think?

musicman100

' The key day is 28 Feb 2007 when lenders must tell the FSA what they plan to do about exit fees for existing customers and it's likely more information will come out at that point. Lenders must either justify the fee increase (which is unlikely) or reduce it to the prior level. Assuming that's what happens they will have to give past customers a refund if people ask, they won't give it automatically though so it's up to you to contact your past lenders yourself.'

Hi,

Does anyone know where to find this I have been looking and can't find anything on their site??

Nigel

amygray

Reference to First Active posting

Does this mean the £195 is an exit fee when I finalise my mortgage (pay it off completely), even though they have termed it a early repayment charge in my offer document? I am still a little confused. I presume this means I shouldn't be paying this money if I remortgage with a different lender?

scoop1971

Hi. First post, so be gentle.

I've skimmed many of the posts but haven't seen anything on this subject...

I have been charged the exact exit fee they said I would so no come back there. However, has anyone tried reclaiming charges based on the fee being excessive, as opposed to being hiked up during the mortgage term (I've read somewhere the estimated real cost of closing an account is £35)?

Also, should we not also be adding a charge for lost interest on to these claims, since in effect we have lost out on interest on money that should have been in our acount?

daff_duck

I have recently changed from an endowment to a repayment mortgage staying with the same lender. To do this I had to pay £300.00 Can I claim any of this back. Also I paid a redemtion charge on another mortgage settlement in 2003, can I claim any of this also?

Stangelbean

I used Martin's template to write to RBOS on 20 February requesting a refund of the overcharge for the Sealing Fee when I paid of my mortgage in 2005.

I received a reply today confirming that a payment of £150 was being sent to my bank account! Also noticed that today the RBOS have declared a huge increase in profits £7Bn or so, so they can afford this.