Have you reclaimed bank charges or mortgage exit fees?

claren

bumpety bump!

k10_2

I claimed back the £225 exit fee from Abbey in November last year, before I even redeemed the mortgage.

My solicitor obtained a redemption statement in August and that stated the charge of £225. I recall a few years earlier it had been £99 but our house sale at that time fell through. I argued that I hadn't been informed of the change and they stated that it had been sent in a letter, this turned out to be a lie as they only put it in the charges booklet enclosed with your statement. I argued that any major changes should have been highlighted as most banks do with their terms and conditions changes.

It took three letters to get to the stage where you can have it referred to the ombudsman. I stressed that I was happy to pay £100 but £225 was unreasonable as they do no extra work for it. I asked them to justify the increase in cost and at this point Abbey sent a £225 cheque as a goodwill gesture. It is important to note that the exit fee was not waived and was (as detaile din their letter) also liable to further increase in the future under normal t & cs. They DID NOT attempt to close my account and were generally very polite about the matter at all times. I finally moved house (after the usual delays) in December and changed my mortgage provider.

This begs the question of whether you can get this fee refunded even if you are not redeeming the mortgage, simply by obtaining a redemption statement. I'll let someone else try that one!!!:rotfl:

foxyuk

i am just off the phone to halifax...... i have £175 coming within 28 days... no form filling or nothing......

they have the option on the touch options....they look it up on the system... and they pay you the difference ...


easy....................easy £175

geordiescouse

Claren, I received £160, although I was only expecting £126 (ie. the difference between what I paid and what I thought m original contract( was. But, as it was more than I expected and there was no letter to explain their calculations, I was delighted and rushed to the bank to pay in my cheque!!

I also received the form you are talking about, and it only took approx 10 days from sending that back to getting the cheque. Good Luck!

whitelabel

received £800 bank charges back
didnt close my account but put "special conditions"
i didnt have to return any cheque book etc though
while away for a weekend and following late clearance of a cheque (over new year - theyre fault) i racked up anohter £250 worth of charges over three days

theyve refunded 3 as "good will" but said as id taken them to court before they wouldnt refund any more and i can do what i like about it (head office customer relations manager)
well guess whats getting filled in tonight...another claim form...
dear oh dear halifax...did you not learn last time...

Dubbed_up

Received £100 back from Alliance & Leicester this morning for my exit fee:j
Birmingham Midshires are looking into the other account and will get back to me within the week 1 letter to A&L and only 1 phone call to BM. EASY :cool:

Dubbed up and Dubbed out:D

kronen

I never exited my mortgage with LloydsTSB, but my fixed rate ended in April 2006 & I paid £299.00 to go fixed again with them otherwise it would be have been flexi.
Do I fall into the category of being overcharged?

Many Thanks.
Emma.

jonnym

jonnym wrote:

I have a friend who is claiming back the same amounts, his decision is due on the 28th, so I'll post back the outcome...

haha...quoting myself...I've gone mad!

In follow up to this post, My friend has recieved his decision and has had the difference between his exit fee refunded. worked out over a hundred and thirty pounds...:beer:

scarey_man

The Woolwich charged me > £200 last year to change my mortgage but still remain with them.
I'll be contacting them shortly!

kaza

i just rang the halifax( they have a free call back service on their website!) and they are sending a chq for £40 it is the difference of what the charges were when you opened your account and closed it, better than nothing anyway!