Barclays/Woolwich - Mortgage Reserve being Withdrawn

dunroving

getmore4less wrote: »

if you have an offset you should be getting monthly mortgage statements that say what the reserve OD limit is on pg.2.

if not offset then the interest rate on the reserve will most likely be at the SVR not the mortgage rate.

Ah, sorry I was mis-reading what you said. I thought you were referring to a bank account statement.


It is definitely an offset and according to Barclays site, the interest rate on a mortgage reserve account is the same as for the mortgage (which for me is 1.09%).


I just pulled out my last mortgage statement and it shows my "Mortgage current account" (that's what it has always been called) on page 1, with a credit balance of 0.00 (this simply confirms what I see when I look at it online).


On page 2 there is nothing about a reserve OD limit. [Just re-checked and on p. 1 it shows reserve OD limit is 0.00 - but this just confirms what I see when I click on the "i"" (information) icon next to this account when I log in online.


I wonder if you have something on your bank statement because you have made use of this in the past and currently have a balance on this account?


It seems crazy that I have an account that appears every time I log in, and appears on my statements, but I supposedly can't use!

getmore4less

the layout of your statement must be different to mine,

vacheron

getmore4less wrote: »

...I still have mine and they never fixed the problem you can borrow back all the capital paid off, it is still going up.....

Same here.

My mortgage is fully offset so I'm only making capital repayments. Every 4 months or so they seem to increase my reserve overdraft by the sum of the previous repayments.

I therefore currently "pay" my mortgage directly from my reserve account which means Barclays are in effect paying my contractual mortgage payments for me from their own, perpetually increasing, reserve overdraft facility!

dunroving wrote: »

I just pulled out my last mortgage statement and it shows my "Mortgage current account" (that's what it has always been called) on page 1, with a credit balance of 0.00 (this simply confirms what I see when I look at it online).

If you get the monthly 5 page statement then it should be at the top of page 2 in the "Your available funds" section.

getmore4less

vacheron wrote: »

Same here.

My mortgage is fully offset so I'm only making capital repayments. Every 4 months or so they seem to increase my reserve overdraft by the sum of the previous repayments.

I therefore currently "pay" my mortgage directly from my reserve account which means Barclays are in effect paying my contractual mortgage payments for me from their own, perpetually increasing, reserve overdraft facility!



If you get the monthly 5 page statement then it should be at the top of page 2 in the "Your available funds" section.

One key feature of the reserve growing is you can convert some/all of your mortgage into a secured OD that is interest only and hold your offset savings in that.

no savings if you need benefits but access to significant funds at a mortgage rate

handy for some people but there is the risk they remove the reserve, so far it has always been optional to have it removed.

simmotech

I got a letter today about "Changes we are making to your Mortgage Reserve". They were proposing to reduce it by a significant amount which is a problem for me.

Called the number to discuss and asked if it could remain the same and they said Yes straight away!
No arguing, no questions about how I was planning to repay it, no questions about income and outgoings.
Just had to read to me a statutory statement saying how much the monthly repayments were to repay it in in full by the end of my mortgage term in 2022.

They even gave me the choice of keeping the Rebalance facility or not. I asked to keep it as is was.

They will be doing regular reviews in future for all Mortgage Reserve customers but don't seem to have a frequency decided as yet. But if it is a simple as this phone call, I won't be worried.

exbanker

A friend received one of these letter recently. She called to request that the reserve facility be retained and was immediately that she could do that.

However, I received a letter on Thursday and when I called and requested the same thing, I was taken through a series of questions about income and outgoings and was then told that my request had been refused.

I know there is nothing in my credit history, income and expenditure or anything else that would lead to the decision they have made, so have trouble believing that this programme is driven by post MMR caution rather than wishing to expunge cheap overdraft facilities.

But I am also curious as to why my friend was asked no questions and I was effectively put through an application process.

I understand there is a A1 letter and an A2 letter. Mine was A2
Anyone had the same experience as me?
If you get an A1 letter or an A2 letter does that already tell you what answer you are going to get when you phone up?

Mark300zx

I have had the exact same letter today, have they already Locked your funds or could you just extract your reserve and put it into another account and what would/could they do if you did this?

Thrugelmir

exbanker wrote: »

But I am also curious as to why my friend was asked no questions and I was effectively put through an application process.

Your personal circumstances will differ. This will determine the course of action taken.

mrke

exbanker wrote: »

I understand there is a A1 letter and an A2 letter. Mine was A2
Anyone had the same experience as me?
If you get an A1 letter or an A2 letter does that already tell you what answer you are going to get when you phone up?

Received the same letter 'A2' and just rang them stating I wish to keep my existing mortgage reserve amount and the rebalancing feature.

They asked a few affordability questions and offered to keep everything as it currently is. So a big sigh of relief from me.

I also asked about the period of regular review, they suggested this may be looked at as frequently as annually.

Thrugelmir

mrke wrote: »

I also asked about the period of regular review, they suggested this may be looked at as frequently as annually.

Initially it will be a shake of the tree to see who falls out. There'll be a number of borrowers who they've identified already as declines along with the fact that some people will simply allow the facility to lapse. Going forward they'll become more targeted.