Angry with bank. Wrong advice received. £4k cost to me.

george_d

In summary we have been given wrong advice from the bank, which has led us to make a financial commitment we wouldn't have made if the advice were correct. We now have to choose between doing some somewhat essential improvements as we move in, or completely empty savings, and scrimp to cover the last bit.

Since this is entirely the bank's fault, in that someone they allowed to talk to us, spoke out of turn, and gave assurances they were in no place to give. I will be challenging the bank for them to incur this cost themselves due to their ineptitude. If they fail to resolve easily, I intend to take this to high levels as necessary. What do people think of both my chances, and tactics I should take? Which names should I drop in.

The mortgage advisor will be phoning me back tomorrow, now that I have had a chance to look at all of the monies available to me to see if we can afford to suffer the cost. Although we can, I do not want to let her feel we can.

Thanks for reading, now the slower detail.

We have been arranging moving house, and our first port of call was to go and talk to our current bank who have our mortgage, and current account banking, and have done for more than ten years.

Their standard mortgage practice is to have you see a "basic" customer advisor to get an exposure to what's available, and then when it comes to progressing the mortgage you would see a true mortgage advisor.

At least that is what we were told, and what we followed.

Our meeting with the customer advisor confirmed we could have what we wanted, and we were assured since we were long term whole banking customers we would incur no exit penalties, and there would be no reservation fees on the new mortgage.

Using this information, I then prepared my detail calculations of what we could afford to sell at, and buy at (spreadsheet monkey being my trade).

We have now agreed a sale and purchase which were within my allowed values, so off we march to the bank to see the mortgage advisor!

In her performing her calculations, she investigates the cost of the exit penalty. As soon as she does this, we both ask why that is of interest if we are staying. We had already been assured we would suffer no fees for staying loyal.

The upshot is that the cost of the exit penalty, means we would have to make decisions around using up all of our minimal savings, being able to do all of the things we need to do on arrival (new carpet in 3yr olds room, and a proper sized banister on the stairs), nothing for us, or other trade offs.

Thrugelmir

Did you ask if you could transfer your existing mortgage product to the new property?

ACG

Your existing mortgage might be portable as has been mentioned above. If it is job done, transfer to the new property no exit or application fees :-)

if not you presumably havnt suffered any financial loss as of yet so you can only really get compensation for the wrong info/inconvenience which might not be the amount your thinking/expecting.

opinions4u

You weren't given advice.

george_d

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Did you ask if you could transfer your existing mortgage product to the new property?

Wasn't asked. Simply asking, we want to move house, what can we do.

ACG wrote: »

Your existing mortgage might be portable as has been mentioned above. If it is job done, transfer to the new property no exit or application fees :-)

if not you presumably havnt suffered any financial loss as of yet so you can only really get compensation for the wrong info/inconvenience which might not be the amount your thinking/expecting.

The current mortgage is portable we have now discovered, and although this is viable technically, it was fixed a couple of years ago, and the rate makes it unaffordable.

I would agree about the possibility of settling for a fee split between the bank and us. I would agree they are entitled to charge this, and was surprised that I was told I wouldn't incur it.

I would say I have suffered a financial loss. I have instructed estate agents, and solicitors who both would charge fees in the event of the transaction being aborted. But the actual house purchase is indeed not yet a financial loss.

opinions4u wrote: »

You weren't given advice.

Although I wasn't given advice, I was given wrong information, that informed my decision making, and the correct advice would have driven a different decision.

opinions4u

Although I wasn't given advice, I was given wrong information, that informed my decision making, and the correct advice would have driven a different decision.

Pursue a complaint with the lender by all means.

But the penalty clauses were spelled out on the key facts document issued when you took the product out.

george_d

opinions4u wrote: »

Pursue a complaint with the lender by all means.

Put the penalty clauses were spelled out on the key facts document issued when you took the product out.

I have no dispute over the clauses at all. Just angry at NatWest for mis-information.

To be fair to the mortgage advisor, she seems to be very keen to solve the problem for us, and perhaps she can resolve within the bank.

I will be considering moving after this anyway. The last time I needed to consult the bank, we were buying a car at the time, and needed a small loan to bridge the time gap, the advisor we spoke to cocked up our applications meaning we then had three credit searches performed which of course begin to degrade our score. The time it took to resolve meant we nearly lost the car.

Thrugelmir

george_d wrote: »

The current mortgage is portable we have now discovered, and although this is viable technically, it was fixed a couple of years ago, and the rate makes it unaffordable.

Undermines your argument against the bank somewhat. As why should the bank let you exit the product without charge so you can obtain a cheaper funding rate.

george_d

The same meeting as being told there would be no fees, we discussed solely new mortgage products from their current portfolio.

The products discussed would all require early payment of the old product to take the new one.

We got into discussing monthly costs, and mortgage terms etc. She also told us she couldn't print anything off at this stage since it is all indicative. In hindsight I feel this was more to do with that she wasn't allowed to discuss this level of detail.

opinions4u

also told us she couldn't print anything off at this stage since it is all indicative

And you committed to stuff despite being given a pretty huge disclaimer.

Don't expect much success with a complaint.

GMS

Yours is a prime example of why advice is needed. You have acted in good faith based on information provided to you by an 'adviser' who is not.

However, you cannot ask to port a mortgage then disagree with the rate you originally signed up for. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Your indicative information could be argued to be misleading as they had no need to be indicative with regards to fees. They had the info available.

Misled but not mis advised unfortunately.