Standard Life to Barclays - breaking contract?

paulo12

LadyMoney wrote: »

A successful result for me. SL have waived the Discharge Fee as a goodwill gesture (no ERC applies) following my 'feedback' on the transfer of Business to Barclays.

Does this mean that you are re-mortgaging ? Were you able to secure the same facilities elsewhere at no cost to you ? If so, where ? Enquiring minds need to know !

stephencg

I am still arguing with SL. I have now checked the clauses they claim allow them to withdraw the freestyle mortgage. I'm not a lawyer, but I'm sure they are wrong.
I think they have to either stick with the existing contract, or compensate me for the loss if i have to remortgage on poorer terms. Or provide a remotrgage themselves on comparable terms.
We'll see.

LadyMoney

paulo12 wrote: »

Does this mean that you are re-mortgaging ? Were you able to secure the same facilities elsewhere at no cost to you ? If so, where ? Enquiring minds need to know !

No re-mortgage for me. I wish I could find the same elsewhere & this was part of my argument; I don't believe it is possible to put me in the same position as before the transfer due to their actions.

paulo12

LadyMoney wrote: »

No re-mortgage for me. I wish I could find the same elsewhere & this was part of my argument; I don't believe it is possible to put me in the same position as before the transfer due to their actions.

Ahh, thought as much. I just wondered seeing as you said you had a successful result. I wouldn't call that successful personally. They are making a very small concession to something I believe they have no right to do in the hope that you wil go away. They have wilfully misled SLB customers and the High Court too going by to the paperwork I have entitled "SUMMARY OF TRANSFER SCHEME" that was submitted to the HC which clearly states that the proposed takeover gave them no rights to cancel or amend any existing contracts. You must obviously do what you feel is right for you, but if I were you I wouldn't accept that offer just yet. I believe that following the response to the publication of my letter to The Times last week that they are going to run with this story.

DVardysShadow

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Have you ever read the documents that are issued with your annual mortgage statement? Contract clauses are regularly updated to comply with changes in legislation.

Man, you are so offbeam in this thread. Nothing here AFAICS arises from changes in legislation.

paulo12

As per my last post, The Times ran this story again yesterday and the feedback I have from them so far suggests that they think it's a story that will grow, so if anyone hasn't contacted them yet, please do so and keep it going !

lornaprice

paulo12 wrote: »

As per my last post, The Times ran this story again yesterday and the feedback I have from them so far suggests that they think it's a story that will grow, so if anyone hasn't contacted them yet, please do so and keep it going !

Yes, have done so. Thanks for that.

lornaprice

paulo12 wrote: »

Hi I am another SLB customer that is far from happy with this. Reading through the posts in this thread, the thing that I find really surprising is that nobody has mentioned the fact that in March 2010 when informing customers of the takeover proposal, which was subject to High Court approval SLB/Barclays issued this statement.... "The transfer will not affect your cash savings or mortgage accounts, the way in which you use them, or the quality of the customer service you experience." This was followed in June 2010 (after the High Court approved the takeover) with.. " As we said in our previous letter, the transfer doesn't affect the operation of your savings and mortgage account(s) or the way you manage your money" This is clearly a blatant lie given the latest developments. Does nobody else have these letters ? I do. I have naturally raised this with SLB/Barclays who despite the obvious evidence still have the nerve to claim that they did not lie in making these statements ???? As for the changes themselves, I think that they change the mortgage beyond recognition and are totally unacceptable, especially given that the only reason they have offered for the changes is that their computer sysytem "won't allow them" to continue running the facilities that they are removing. I'm no IT expert, but a computer is a tool, it does what you tell it to, so sort the computer out Barclays. I don't consider this a legitimate reason to make sweeping changes to contracts that they chose to buy. No-one forced them to do this, they wanted to, so the least they should have to do is honour them. I referred this to Laura Whately, a financial/consumer journalist for The Times newspaper, who agrees and published the story in The Times yesterday. She is keen for anyone else who is upset by this to contact her, so please do so (troubleshooter@thetimes.co.uk) Barclays have behaved in a disgraceful manner here and should not be allowed to get away with it PS Sorry for the lack of paragraphs - I did lay it out properly, but for some reason appears in one block once posted.

Absolutely, I agree with everything you say.

We have had a letter from the Ombudsman saying "because we are receiving a very high number of enquiries, it may be up to 4 weeks before we come back to you".

lornaprice

We have ahd a reply from the Times saying they are looking into the legal aspects of the case.

937carrera

I'm in a similar position, was speedily passed through the complaint route and am now clear to take this up with the Ombudsman, and as a Barclays customer have been trying to get satisfaction through that route as well - unsuccessfully.

My IFA is currently reviewing the market to see what I can get as an equivalent product as the Woolwich offering is inadequate. For me the key feature of the mortgage was the interest only basis with and ability to overpay and then redraw to the full original mortgage amount if I wished.

Part of my day job involves securing lending facilities for companies and negotiating the drafting of legal agreements with banks lawyers. I recognise that consumer agreements and commercial agreements are different (and so are the relative negotiating powers of the parties), but am more than up for a fight on this. I am quite confident that there is nothing in the 1998 T & C's (the only ones I have signed) which allows the mortgagor to unilaterally vary the T & C's, and the reasons for the changes (largely described as being system related) don't get even close to the LMA Material Adverse Change clauses in syndicated loan agreements or a Market Disruption event.

I believe that Barclays are acting in breach of contract, in bad faith and not in accordance with documents circulated at the time of the application to the High Court for the acquisition of the mortgage business from Standard Life.

I understand some have contacted a journalist at the Times (I don't have a subcription to see what has been written, can anyone post it ?)

Has anyone contacted Paul Lewis at Money on Radio4

Has anyone spoken to a law firm about taking on Barclays on a class action basis ?