Mortgage contract paid up

charliehell

Just a quick question...my mortgage will be finished in june, not one penny will I owe Santandar from then on. Now then, they've sent me a letter telling me my contract end date (june 2012)..and are demanding (asking) for a further £99 to ''discharge our legal charge'' - eh...99 pounds for nothing is how I see this..? A scam, a rip off...I will be refusing to pay this - what I need to know is...what can they do about it, my mortgage is paid up as far as I am concerned and the property is registered with the Land Registry...which means I don't need the deeds?

:mad:

Santandar can go to hell.

kingstreet

They are entitled to charge you the account closure/discharge fee quoted at the time you took out the mortgage and nothing more.

Lenders who tried to increase these fees without consultation received a reprimand from the FSA, so they will now only be able to charge what they said they would.

Look back at your original terms to check what's due.

If you fail to pay the sum in question, the lender will leave the charge over your property in place and you may have difficulty making any desired future changes in ownership, or in taking out a new mortgage.

charliehell

I seriously can't see it says ''a fee of £99 will be chargeable at the end of the term'' - 25 years ago. I agree it may say something like ''an administration fee maybe chargeable'' but certainly not £99 - that was an awful lot of money back then...to me a reasonable admin fee is £25 and that is what I may be prepared to offer them..

What do you think of that conclusion...and thanks for your quick response!

The_J

You stayed with Santander for 25 years? Jesus, I'm tempted to give you the £99.

kingstreet

charliehell wrote: »

I seriously can't see it says ''a fee of £99 will be chargeable at the end of the term'' - 25 years ago. I agree it may say something like ''an administration fee maybe chargeable'' but certainly not £99 - that was an awful lot of money back then...to me a reasonable admin fee is £25 and that is what I may be prepared to offer them..

What do you think of that conclusion...and thanks for your quick response!

IIRC Abbey issued a Mortgage Terms & Conditions booklet at that time and it listed the charges which applied to different issues. Others have asked this question previously and I'm sure we have members who had redeemed their mortgage with Abbey who answered them.

I don't know about your offer. You could write to them and ask them to evidence the amount of the fee was confirmed at the inception of the mortgage.

A fee of around £250 is normal on a mortgage effected today.

charliehell

£250 - really?? :eek:

Christ.

charliehell

The_J wrote: »

You stayed with Santander for 25 years? Jesus, I'm tempted to give you the £99.

Yeah well it was only a small amount initially...and the last few years I've only been paying around £3 a month...because they wanted £165 to pay the loan off early...and I wasn't going to give them that satisfaction, I figured a few pounds a month would cost them more to collect than it would cost me with the redemption fee..

:cool:

The_J

Hahaha I like that. You seem like someone who likes a bit of confrontation so I'd definitely make it hard for them if you've got some free time and want to have a bit of fun.

Pay it firstly so they can't do anything about it, then complain afterwards.

charliehell

The_J wrote: »

Hahaha I like that. You seem like someone who likes a bit of confrontation so I'd definitely make it hard for them if you've got some free time and want to have a bit of fun.

Pay it firstly so they can't do anything about it, then complain afterwards.

I've just rung them disputing the figure, they are going to send me the original terms & conditions (for no charge) so that I can see the figure in black and white - I seriously doubt it says £99.

kingstreet

I forgot to say, if at any time in the 25 years you accepted a new offer from them, like a fix or a discount, the deeds release fee would then apply at the level for that product at that time.

You may not be going back 25 years, but to the last time you changed products.

Thrugelmir

charliehell wrote: »

I've just rung them disputing the figure, they are going to send me the original terms & conditions (for no charge) so that I can see the figure in black and white - I seriously doubt it says £99.

Without discharging the mortgage charge at Land Registry. You will be unable to sell or remortgage the property. The lender holds all the aces. Whether you like it or not.