Misled by Mortgage Broker

QuincyBella

We originally arranged our mortgage through Countrywide mortgage consultants. We were happy with the service we received and had no problems.

Two years after our original agreement in principle was agreed another Countrywide representative called me and said that our mortgage term would be ending very soon and that to avoid going onto a variable rate we would need to renegotiate. I expressed surprise at this as we were only 13 months into our mortgage at that time, nonetheless I was assured that it was necessary to meet with the broker to compare new mortgage deals. I freely admit I am a novice at all things financial and so took the broker's word for it though I did continue to question what he said when we met. I was shown paperwork with expiry dates which looked like our mortgage deal was going to end in the next few months.

Eventually we settled for a Nationwide offer, this involved a move away from our previous provider, Santander. During the numerous and lengthy consultation sessions with the mortgage broker he seemed far more concerned with selling us PPI than he did with finding a workable mortgage rate for us. I would say that looking at PPI took up 70% of the sessions. This was irritating as he continued to try to sell us things we had categorically said we did not want or need.

When our new mortgage deal was about to be finalised I received a telephone call from the Nationwide legal team telling me that Santander had informed them we would be liable to pay several thousand pounds worth of early termination fees if we were to proceed. It turned out that it had been far too early to negotiate a new mortgage, as I had suggested all along. We had already paid a £99 deposit at this time.

I called the broker to discuss this, but he was very blase and merely said "Well obviously don't proceed then". When I asked about the deposit he said that there was no chance of getting it back.

I know that in the scheme of things £99 is not a great deal of money, and I am lucky it is not a lot more, however I do feel misled and generally not well-served by this broker. Do I have a case against him? I do not want compensation but I would like my money back.

P.S Apologies for the lengthy post!

betmunch

Sounds like standard Countrywide to me I'm afraid.

I would complain to them and request they refund you any fees you have paid out liek the £99 booking fee to Nationwide.

I would also have a decent Independent Mortgage Consultant have a look at any insurance you took out with them and check the mortgage for a more suitable time to review it.

Good Luck

QuincyBella

Thank you for replying. I didn't want to waste my time if it was a complete lost cause.

In the end I just renegotiated a new deal with Santander which we are happy with. Hopefully it should be going through this week (at a time when our mortgage deal is actually ending!).

We never took out the PPI because of an ongoing medical problem of mine. We still get letters from Friends Provident hassling us to continue from time to time but they go in the bin. Given the nature of the medical problems I had I felt the mortgage broker was pretty insensitive, almost bullish, and that on it's own would have been enough for us to not use their services again...

dunstonh

Sounds like a newbie error and an easy complaint to make where you would be expected to see your costs returned.

Next time, use a local independent or whole of market adviser. Not a salesforce based one.

betmunch

QuincyBella wrote: »

We never took out the PPI because of an ongoing medical problem of mine. We still get letters from Friends Provident hassling us to continue from time to time but they go in the bin. Given the nature of the medical problems I had I felt the mortgage broker was pretty insensitive, almost bullish, and that on it's own would have been enough for us to not use their services again...

Sorry to hear that, they are hideously targetted by their salesmanagers and will get into a lot of trouble if they dont make enough sales.

A huge breach of TCF in my opinion.

At least now you know what they are like and can use professionals in future!

kingstreet

Couldn't the Nationwide offer have been deferred until the last deal really did end?

What was the gap between the two?

QuincyBella

kingstreet wrote: »

Couldn't the Nationwide offer have been deferred until the last deal really did end?

What was the gap between the two?

We were told the Nationwide offer would have expired by the time we would actually need it. Again, this could have been poor advice as I freely admit I am totally out of my depth when dealing with things like this.

Furthermore, the idea of dealing with this guy after the way he spoke to me when everything went wrong was really off-putting and trying to pursue the Nationwide deal would have meant going back to him which I didn't want to do. I'm probably letting my heart rule my head on that one but I just didn't trust the guy in the end.

QuincyBella

betmunch wrote: »

Sorry to hear that, they are hideously targetted by their salesmanagers and will get into a lot of trouble if they dont make enough sales.

A huge breach of TCF in my opinion.

At least now you know what they are like and can use professionals in future!

Is the general consensus here that it is better to renegotiate your own deal or go to independent brokers?

GMS

If Countrywide arranged the original mortgage then they would have been fully aware of when the fixed rate ended.

As part of the fact find they should have noted that there was an Early Repayment penalty and jistified why it was worth paying.

Check on the paperwork you were given and should have signed. Look for the reasons why it is justifiable to repay the penalty. If there is no reason and you were unaware of the penalty then you shoudl write to Countrywide requesting a refund of the booking fee. After all they knew when the date was so should have either stuck to it or come up with a very good reason to pay it.

QuincyBella

GMS wrote: »

If Countrywide arranged the original mortgage then they would have been fully aware of when the fixed rate ended.

As part of the fact find they should have noted that there was an Early Repayment penalty and jistified why it was worth paying.

Check on the paperwork you were given and should have signed. Look for the reasons why it is justifiable to repay the penalty. If there is no reason and you were unaware of the penalty then you shoudl write to Countrywide requesting a refund of the booking fee. After all they knew when the date was so should have either stuck to it or come up with a very good reason to pay it.

The weird thing is the paperwork we signed backed up the brokers' assertion that we needed to renew our deal. Our actual mortgage term expires at the end of this month, but out advisor told us it expired in October (reasoning that we first got our agreement in principle in October). We signed this paperwork once he had told us this. When I questioned him about they could have gotten this wrong he said it must have been an administrative error.

betmunch

QuincyBella wrote: »

Is the general consensus here that it is better to renegotiate your own deal or go to independent brokers?

It depends who answers!

If you have a straight forward case and are confident doing it yourself then your best doing it yourself.
The problem comes when someone who doesnt have the confidence of doing it themself gets advice of someone that does!!!

If you choose to take professional advice an Independent Mortgage Advisor is the only one that can look at every lender and any retention deals you may be offered