Remortgaging fees

beefturnmail

Hi,

I'm in the process of remortgaging and the mortgage I've been accepted for was a mortgage advertised as 'free legal fees'. I received a provisional redemption statement from the solicitors and there is a £24 telegraphic transfer fee.

Is this not regarded as a legal fee and therefore do I have to pay it?

kingstreet

Is this the fee for paying off the existing mortgage, or a fee for sending additional borrowing to you?

Wh05apk

I think this will be the fee for repaying the old mortgage, I have an issue with this, as to me this is a "standard" cost incurred on every remortgage so thererfore it should either be free, or shown as a cost on the KFI which it will not be.

I have raised this with lenders before who have basically just ignored it, anyone fancy making a stand?

Jimbo1976

Typically the "free legal fees" tends to cover the legal conveyancing process. I presume it is a bank fee which the conveyancer incurs paying off your old mortgage.

Whilst you could complain if you want to, i suspect you won't get very far as this is probably buried in small print on your lenders website

kingstreet

I've never seen a client charged for paying off the existing mortgage, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out some of these conveyancing warehouses are trying it on...

It's reasonable (IMO) for a solicitor to charge for sending any additional monies to the borrower.

Wh05apk

kingstreet wrote: »

I've never seen a client charged for paying off the existing mortgage, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out some of these conveyancing warehouses are trying it on...

It's reasonable (IMO) for a solicitor to charge for sending any additional monies to the borrower.

Must admit I had never seen it either, but then we tend not to get involved with the completion statements etc, client queried it a few months back, the lenders response (Woolwich) was tough ****. To me if the package is sold as free legals it should cover all "standard" costs, will we soon be seeing additional fees for postage/phone calls etc. Surely it is just a cost that is part of the process?

loubel

A TT fee to pay off your existing mortgage is a normal additional fee and £24 is cheaper than most. It is not usually covered by free legals products in my experience.

dunstonh

I have seen TT/CHAPS fees in the past. It is not a legal fee but a banking fee.

beefturnmail

Thanks all for responses. I'm not sure what the fee is for. The only other line on the redemption statement is is the total cost of reedeming the mortgage from my existing lender.

There are no funds to be sent to me - in fact there will be a shortfall which I am making up.

Who would be charging the transfer fee- my existing lender or new lender?

kingstreet

Based on the information you've provided, it's the fee for the solicitor sending the money to your current mortgage lender to redeem the old mortgage.

Wh05apk

Your new lender will charge the fee as shown on the KFI to send the funds to the solictor, but the "free" solicitor is charging for transfering the funds to your existing lender.