Fee caused by mortgage money unexpectedly placed in account

java_the_snowman

My partner and I recently planned to purchase a property to do up by taking a remortgage out on our home

We did not know our completion date so left the field blank on the application form

The T&C specified that 5 days notice would be given before money was placed in our account. It also asked for the dates of any planned holidays

They then sent us a letter 2 days after we went on holiday (on dates they were notified of) stating that they were going to pay in the money in 5 working days unless we asked them not to, they then proceeded to do this


When we found out that the money had been transferred we asked them to retreive the money but they told us there would be a charge of several hundred pound to do this

At this point we were waiting for the results of a surver of the property we were buying so assumed we would need the money in a few weeks time

When the survey arrived there were some serious problems with the property so we withdrew

We paid back the money to the mortgage company, but by them paying it into our account they have triggered the mortgage arrangement fee (£1250), 1 months interest (£578) and to close it would require a cancellation fee of (£225)


We tried to complain the Santander, but they keep fobbing us off to a solicitors caleld QCAS who they subcontract the mortgages to, QCAS have offered us compensation of around £500 but that seems pretty low compared to the £2000 of costs they have caused us.

And we have tried to elevate this to the Ombudsman, but they say that we aren't QCAS's client, we are Santander's

Has anyone got any details of someone a Sandander who can move this kind of thing on as all we can get is call centres with people who pass us to QCAS?

Thrugelmir

You remortgaged your existing property to raise funds. So there was no completion date as the purpose of the funds was not directly to purchase another property. The funds would have been released following processing of the application. Your holiday dates had no impact either. As to release the funds all the documentation would had to been in place prior to this.

kingstreet

The lender nominated a solicitor to act for them, and you, in a remortgage of your present home. Unless you specified to the contrary, the solicitor would complete the remortgage as soon as it was able to do so.

Did you tell the solicitor not to complete until instructed by you?

The issue here is really nothing to do with bank accounts and holidays. It's all to do with whether you wanted the mortgage completed and the funds released, or not. This is what triggered the fees you are trying to recover.

IIRC solicitors handling remortgage business normally issue to the borrower a form at the outset which asks if there's any preferred completion date or any reason why completion should be held until a particular date, for example if there are early repayment penalties due to expire.

Remember anything like this?