Letter from The One Account

**Pippi**

We received a letter today from the One Account stating that when we first arranged our account we chose to pay our borrowings gradually over our mortgage term and they have noticed on our annual review that our account has remained behind our payment plan all year.

They have asked that if we are not in a position to bring the balance back in line to the planned position then to give them a ring.

We thought the whole point of this account was the flexibility and I'm not aware of an agreed plan to repay our borrowings other than it needs to be paid in full at the end of the term. We have been doing up our house and are not in a position to pay a chunk off our mortgage at this time but do have a method of payment in the unlikely event that it is not paid in full at the end of the term of our mortgage (we have an interest in another property and pensions/insurances etc.

Can anyone please advise whether they received a similar letter and if it's anything to worry about? I should add that we are well within our facility and so not actually behind with our payments as such.

Many thanks.

Thrugelmir

RBS will be able to calculate the rate that you are repaying your mortgage. Along with the rate that you would need to achieve to make full repayment by the end of the mortgage term. So is within its rights to tighten down on you.

Under recent rule changes the FSA has placed responsibility on lenders to monitor borrowers. This they are doing almost without exception. As if you default or are unable to repay fully they may be held partly responsible.

**Pippi**

Thank you for your reply.

What I don't understand though is that we have a loan facility well in excess of what we currently owe which we can borrow up to at any time of the duration of the mortgage.

So can they change the terms of the mortgage part way through? Wouldn't that be like having an interest only mortgage and the lender insisting it should become a repayment?

I've rung the bank and was told that our facility is still available and that we are using our account within the terms of the mortgage so I'm still unclear whether there's a problem.

Thrugelmir

**Pippi** wrote: »

So can they change the terms of the mortgage part way through? Wouldn't that be like having an interest only mortgage and the lender insisting it should become a repayment?

The rules of the game have changed since the crash of 2008. Interest only mortgages are now being reviewed. Where a suitable repayment plan is not in place , the lender is within their rights to impose a change to terms.

In summary its called responsible lending.