Standard Life to Barclays - breaking contract?

bigadaj

I'd be surprised if thrug does work in the financial sector as most comments made are fairly sensible and conservative, if he does then must have missed out on a. Lot of big bonuses in the good times/ days of madness!

paulo12

I take it no-one has heard anything fron the Ombudsman yet ?

Former_MSE_Andrea

Hi everyone

Please remember any member of the public can say anything on the Forum. Please do your own research before acting on anything you see written here.

Andrea

stephencg

paulo12 wrote: »

I take it no-one has heard anything fron the Ombudsman yet ?

Dear Paolo12

last time I spoke was about two weeks ago and my case had not yet been assigned to an adjudicator.

I do seem to understand that there have been several complaints, but I'm not sure and I can't find out whether they are being grouped together or not.

In the meantime, the mortgage has been cancelled and replaced with a quite different Woolwich one.

I'm wondering whether I should open court proceedings now, because time is going by and I don't know what remedies will be open to the Financial Ombudsman when he eventually makes an adjudication.

Because this is a buy to let mortgage, and because the monthly rent is substantially higher than the mortgage repayments, we are accumulating substantial sums uselessly. Eventually of course, Barclays will have to pay compensation (I'm advised) but it won't be easy to calculate how much we're going to lose over the next 17 years. It would be infinitely preferable for Barclays to be ordered effectively to reinstate the mortgage that they are contractually bound to provide.

It seems to me that if I bring the matter to court they would be forced to explain why their computer systems can handle a residential offset mortgage but not a buy to let one, why their submission to the High Court was misleading (I don't think that they returned to the High Court to ask permission to modify it, but I could be wrong. And they might be ordered to find their own administrative solution in order to perform the contract in the specific ways that we are asking for.

tell me,, is there any simple way in which all of us fighting a similar battle can get together online?

It might be that we could all instruct a solicitor, or it might be that our contracts are sufficiently different to make that difficult.

Stephen

paulo12

stephencg wrote: »

Dear Paolo12

last time I spoke was about two weeks ago and my case had not yet been assigned to an adjudicator.

I do seem to understand that there have been several complaints, but I'm not sure and I can't find out whether they are being grouped together or not.

In the meantime, the mortgage has been cancelled and replaced with a quite different Woolwich one.

I'm wondering whether I should open court proceedings now, because time is going by and I don't know what remedies will be open to the Financial Ombudsman when he eventually makes an adjudication.

Because this is a buy to let mortgage, and because the monthly rent is substantially higher than the mortgage repayments, we are accumulating substantial sums uselessly. Eventually of course, Barclays will have to pay compensation (I'm advised) but it won't be easy to calculate how much we're going to lose over the next 17 years. It would be infinitely preferable for Barclays to be ordered effectively to reinstate the mortgage that they are contractually bound to provide.

It seems to me that if I bring the matter to court they would be forced to explain why their computer systems can handle a residential offset mortgage but not a buy to let one, why their submission to the High Court was misleading (I don't think that they returned to the High Court to ask permission to modify it, but I could be wrong. And they might be ordered to find their own administrative solution in order to perform the contract in the specific ways that we are asking for.

tell me,, is there any simple way in which all of us fighting a similar battle can get together online?

It might be that we could all instruct a solicitor, or it might be that our contracts are sufficiently different to make that difficult.

Stephen

Yeah, heaven forbid that the Ombudsman could have acted quick enough to actually do something ! I sent my complaint in the beginning of April and haven't heard a thing yet.

As you say, I'm not sure what they can actually do now anyway even if they do agree with the complaints !

Mine was not buy-to-let, so it's not causing me the same issues. My complaint apart from what gives them the right to do it - the clause number they referred to is NOT in my contract at all, is that although I have overpaid the loan to the extent that it is now al but paid off, I did so "safe" in the knowledge that if the need arose I could have all that extra money back right up until 2024 and now they have effectively said..."thanks for that, we've decided to keep it now, so if you need any of your money in future you're screwed. "

I'm inclined to think that the only winners in most legal cases are the lawyers, so not really looking to go down that route as the costs will very probably outweigh any potential victory. In case you don't know, it is possible to win a court case, yet still have to pay your own costs - totally and utterly wrong as far as I'm concerned, but I've been there, done it.

FWIW I have told Barclays that I continue to dispute their right to make these changes and that I do not accept their new terms and conditions. They have also sent me cheque books and cards for an account that is a condition of their mortgage that I have no intention of using. I am also told by my contact at The Times that they are not done with the story yet, but I suspect that they are awaiting some kind of feedback from the Obudsman - ha, ha join the club !! - before they will run it again.

937carrera

Stephencg

I believe the product I am replacing my Std Life mortgage with is also available for buy to let situations.

I do not see any material impact as to whether the mortgage has been rebadged by Barclays or not. It is Barclays who ran the mortgage book for the past two years, Barclays who unilaterally changed T's & C's and Barclays who will get taken to task whether by individuals, lawyers or the ombudsman.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Thrugelmir wrote: »

A Buy To Let mortgage is an unregulated agreement so the FO has no jurisdication in your case.

In plain English you've entered into a business rather consumer agreement.

Thrugelmir wrote: »

High Court as its a matter of principle of law. Hope you've got deep pockets.

That is completely wrong.

It would seem that at best your knowledge of this area is sorely lacking, in which case you shouldn't be commenting. And at worst, your endless defense of bankers and attempts to scare people away from taking action when they've been wronged seems more than a little suspicious.

stephencg wrote: »

I cannot understand why you posted what turns out to have been merely supposition as if it was factual information.

I'm furious.

As has been pointed out earlier in the thread, please take all advice on these forums with a pinch of salt and do your own research.

The MSE forum is generally a great place for advice, but unfortunately there are some posters on here that will give bad advice, sometimes just through ignorance but sadly also sometimes deliberately to defend their vested interests.

It's hard for newbies to know which is which, but you can figure it out eventually.

Checking the posting history is often a good start, you'll see them getting pulled up on their nonsense soon enough.

lornaprice

Right, we have had a decision from the Ombudsman.

I quote:

"Following our recent correspondence on your complaint, I have carefully considered all the information that you and Barclays have provided - and I have come to the following conclusion.

Barclays is entitled to change the terms and conditions of your mortgage account."

So there you have it.

paulo12

lornaprice wrote: »

Right, we have had a decision from the Ombudsman.

I quote:

"Following our recent correspondence on your complaint, I have carefully considered all the information that you and Barclays have provided - and I have come to the following conclusion.

Barclays is entitled to change the terms and conditions of your mortgage account."

So there you have it.

Did they give a reason why ? The clause that Barclays claim gives them the right to do this is not in my contract.There's no getting around that, it just isn't there, so I'm intrigued how anyone can judge that I can be held to that.

As you can probably gather, I haven't heard anything at all.

937carrera

Stephencg - if you are still around, could you check your PM's please