NEW Mortgage Exit Fees Discussion

jenny_g

Hi there, I''ve recently redeemed a mortage with C&G and was charged a £225 exit fee. I've been in contact with C&G who were very helpful, however they have told me that they are calculating my refund based on what the exit fee was at my last further advance (2003 £100) not when I orignally took out my mortgage (2002 £90), so I get back £125 plus interest rather than £135. It's only £10, but as a buy to let landlord this is just the first of over 20 exit fees I am setting out to claim back, and the difference with others between the fees on the original mortage offer and the further advance are significantly more. Does the FSA ruling have anything to say about this, could I insist on the fee I was orginally stated when taking out the mortagage. Many many thanks for your help with all this. Jenny G

Lamb-kiss

kijoe07, I’m in the same boat as you more or less. I too contacted N/R to claim back some/all of the ‘admin’ fees they’d whacked on my account (once when changing product * once when I closed the account & sold up).
I got a similar letter back within a few days but the MEAF had went up from £225 in my orgiginal T&Cs to £250 so I was due £25. There’s a form to sign & send back basically declaring that I’m happy to accept this & won’t bother them again. I’m reluctant to just take the £25 as I feel even a £225 cost for admin is ridiculous - that’s almost a week’s wage to some people. Did some poor N/R employee spend a week processing my account? I don’t think so!

Lots of other MSE users seem to be getting back a good chunk of money, has anyone had any luck with Northern Rock? Any advice for me & kijoe07???!

kegs_2

After two successFul claims with Natwest & Yorkshire Building Society, we've had this response from Prinicipality (shortened for here)

Upon repaying your mortgage with us, you were charged a mortgage exit fee of £130.

At the time you started your mortgage with us, the total fee in force was £92.

At the start of your mortgage, you agreed to the conditions upon which the loan to you was made. In 2003, our conditions stated:
13.3 We may change any of the charges shown in our current tariff to reflect changes which have occurred, etc, etc.

We believe that our current charge release fee, as well as the fee you were actually charged, is reasonable and fair, etc, etc.

Therefore, we would be unable to consider a request for refund, or partial refund, of the fee that you paid when redeeming your mortgage.

I know it's only £38, but that could be £38 in my pocket.

Is this worth pursuing with another letter something like Martin's militant style letter or are we chasing a lost cause?

Advice much appreciated.:o

kijoe07

Hi lamb - kiss thanks for reply - thank god its not just me!!! JUst to say I was brave and did phone today and basically was told that because the charge is still £250 today - I wont get anything - I said to the advisor " So your telling me that this is just about claiming the difference between charges then how come half the country is claiming this fee back and Im to get nothing?" She was a very helpful advisor and I am meant to be getting a call back from the customer complaints centre within 3 working days to discuss that I am not happy - So at the end of it all I thought this was all about unfair charges and not the the difference? Feel dissapointed but also still feel n/rock are trying to put me off - Instinctly I feel theres more to this then meets the eye - Do you think so Lamb- kiss? Ill keep you posted on the outcome so youll know if its worth pursuing yourself to except more then the difference good luck to us - Anyone else??

Big-T_7

Hi,

Would like some advice on northern rock exit fees, hope I am not butting in?!?

We are due to change our mortgage to the abbey in next few weeks and know that we will incur £250 exit fees from northern rock which I gather we could claim back. However, can I just refuse to pay (or only pay a reasonable fee) so I dont have to go down refund street?

Any help would be ace!

Noz

Trouble is - Northern Rock's charge on your property has to be removed before Abbey can take over. NR will not do this until the debt has been settled (including the exit fees).

Remember you can only dispute the difference between what they will charge you and what is quoted on your mortgage documentation.

MarkyMarkD

@nursebroke - this is not an exit fee. This is an Early Repayment Charge (ERC) which is not subject to the FSA's ruling - it's because you left a product whilst you were tied in to it.

@kijoe07 - Northern Rock are right. If the fee was £250 when you took out your mortgage, and they are charging you £250, then that's the end of the story. There's no justification for you to pay any less.

@CharltonSE7 - The FSA's ruling doesn't require institutions to pay interest and most are not doing so. Also I doubt that Portman increased their charge during the very short period you were with them, so I doubt you'll have much refund if any (presumably none, given what they are saying to you).

@Jenny G - the FSA's ruling specifically covers your circumstances, and explicitly says that the refund is back to the charge when you last switched mortgage product or last took a further advance. So what you have been told is correct.

@Lambkiss and kijoe07's second post - the FSA ruling is NOT about "unfair charges" in the way you are interpreting it. The FSA's ruling says that lenders can charge ANYTHING THEY WANT in MEAFs as long as they specify it up front. There is NOT required to be any link to "actual costs" - lenders exist to make a profit and the exit fee is a valid place for them to make a profit like any other aspect of the mortgage.

@Big-T and Noz - I agree with Noz. In every lender's case, it's going to be far easier to pay the amount they initially ask for and then reclaim the difference, just because you want to get your redemption done as simply as possible. Lenders should be updating their redemption systems but this will presumably take some time given the complexity of working out what should really be due in each case.

I hope those comments help.

heligo

Hello everyone,

I want to repay my Barclays mortgage in full shortly after 5th April. They intend to charge me £275 and send me a refund if it turns out that my original contract stipulates a lower amount.
Since this conversation with them, I have found my contract from 1999, which states a MEAF of £150 is chargeable.

Should I just send this amount, or pay the higher figure of £275 in the hope that I might get them to waive the whole thing (or at least most of it) in light of the FSA recommendation?

Thanks for any help

H

mrs_bunny

can any MSE help??? Have been offered £44 from Abbey for mortgage which ran from July 93 to Dec 05. They state the exit fee would have been £99, although it says on several sites that Abbey put fee up from £99 to £225 in May 2005. Are they trying to diddle me or what ?? ps have no paperwork to check amount - are they really always honest in the amount they tell you you paid??

michellebove

Dear Martin

I have contacted the Natwest to claim the exit, which I paid last year when switching mortgage providers. Natwest are looking into my claim and will advise within a week if I am entitled to the difference between £85 and £225.

However, looking at all the documents and literature provided by my mortgage adviser and Natwest, none contain any information to say that exit fees exist (unless I have missed the small print): the Natwest's Mortgage fees booklet (ref NWB 2991), Mortgages (ref NWB 2989) and Standard Mortgage Conditions (ref NWB 2584) do not advise of any exit fees. Therefore, is it possible to claim for the whole amount?

With best regards
Michelle

Just received a partial refund of £140 refund from Natwest. Talking with the bank for a full refund, as above. A good start though.