Advice needed on a rotten Financial Advisor

elise

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice - basically I renewed my mortgage with the Halifax but doing it through an Independent Financial Advisor, it was a simple Product Transfer and a Further Advance.
I had my Mortgage Offer so I thought everything was sorted out until it came to the day my Direct Debit for my mortgage came out. To cut a long story short Halifax hadn't processed my new mortgage application, they say that they had tried to contact my FA by phone and fax to clarify something about my status (I'm a Canadian citizen) but he never came back to them, my FA says it's Halifax fault!!! Halifax took out an extra £221 out of my account and I want to be refunded for whose every mistake it was. My FA has made no effort to contact me, I sent him a letter 3 weeks ago saying that I don't care who's mistake it was but I want to be refunded my £221 because it wasn't me who made the mistake, I did say in the letter that if it wasn't sorted I would be making a formal complaint.
My FA has never bothered responding to my letter but spoke to a mutual friend and said he would try and sort it out but never contacted us to say what was happening so I sent him an email yesterday saying that I was very frustrated by the 'no contact' and that if the £221 wasn't in my account by Monday I will put a formal complaint, again he hasn't contacted me but spoke with a mutual friend and said that it wasn't his fault and I could go ahead and make my complaint!!!!!!
Please can someone offer me some advice on what to do next and who do I complain to?
Thanks.
p.s I'm 6 1/2 months pregnant so I don't need this stress and I can't afford to lose £221!

MortgageMamma

elise wrote: »

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice - basically I renewed my mortgage with the Halifax but doing it through an Independent Financial Advisor, it was a simple Product Transfer and a Further Advance.
I had my Mortgage Offer so I thought everything was sorted out until it came to the day my Direct Debit for my mortgage came out. To cut a long story short Halifax hadn't processed my new mortgage application, they say that they had tried to contact my FA by phone and fax to clarify something about my status (I'm a Canadian citizen) but he never came back to them, my FA says it's Halifax fault!!! Halifax took out an extra £221 out of my account and I want to be refunded for whose every mistake it was. My FA has made no effort to contact me, I sent him a letter 3 weeks ago saying that I don't care who's mistake it was but I want to be refunded my £221 because it wasn't me who made the mistake, I did say in the letter that if it wasn't sorted I would be making a formal complaint.
My FA has never bothered responding to my letter but spoke to a mutual friend and said he would try and sort it out but never contacted us to say what was happening so I sent him an email yesterday saying that I was very frustrated by the 'no contact' and that if the £221 wasn't in my account by Monday I will put a formal complaint, again he hasn't contacted me but spoke with a mutual friend and said that it wasn't his fault and I could go ahead and make my complaint!!!!!!
Please can someone offer me some advice on what to do next and who do I complain to?
Thanks.
p.s I'm 6 1/2 months pregnant so I don't need this stress and I can't afford to lose £221!

OMG you poor thing

First of all your FA should not be disclosing any of your details, circumstances or any transaction you make through him to ANYONE let alone a mutual friend. this in itself is cause for complaint

Secondly, dont threaten to make anymore complaints, just make one. You've got a baby on the way and you need that money. Did your adviser give you a quotations for the product transfer? and a document called "key facts about our services"?

If so. look on the last page and that will give you an address to write to in the event of a complaint.

Thats an appalling way to treat anyone let alone a client. come back to me if you need more help

MM

inch_high

I work on the Further Advance and Product Transfer team for Halifax. Basically, it sounds like your Further Advance went through but he never did the Product Transfer. The offer you received would have related to the Further Advance only. It sounds like it is definately the advisors fault. Have you tried calling Halifax to see if he ever applied for a Product Transfer? Call them on 0845 602 2712 option 2.

dunstonh

I always say you should give the adviser a chance first. You have done that and got nowhere. Now it's time to complain.

Bad time to get complaints as TCF is high on the agenda and this has certainly breached TCF. Even if if is the Halifax's fault, the adviser has to have documented that he/she has chased and communicated issues with you. There was a complaint made to the FOS last year where the lender was at fault but the adviser had to pay up as they did nothing to resolve the situation or keep in contact with the client.

elise

Thank you to everyone who replied to my message.

I've now had an email back from my FA (attached).

Any advice on what I should do from here? Letter below:


In summary, paperwork and a quotation were given to you via Christian at the end of January 07 which would have enabled us to transfer your mortgage to the new deal in time for Feb 25th which is the cut off date for March 07 product transfers/further advances.

You signed and dated your Halifax transfer request on 14th Feb 07. ID was requested from Christian and a fax of your passport was received by ourselves on 20th Feb 07. An offer was issued by the Halifax on 28th Feb 07 (3 days after their cut off for March completions)

It is unfortunate that I was away on Holidays when they phoned me on March 2nd (and supposedly faxed, which by the way is untrue as all our faxes are logged in numerical and date order and no such fax exists) but this was too late for the March payment to change anyway.

I had informed the Halifax on numerous ocassions between the 14th and 20th Feb of your permanent rights to reside ( which was also done on your previous application in 2005) and that you held no visas as they were not required.

I am not prepared to pay the £221.22 you demand as I acted within reasonable timescales (application to offer within 14 days) but will forward you a sum of £100 next week as an act of good faith

QUATTRO

???? If the FA feels he is so right and therefore bomb proof why make a £100 offer of good will ????

MortgageMamma

The adviser should not have accepted a faxed copy of your passport in the first place, they have a duty to see and certify original documents, so thats dodgy

Secondly, when you adviser is on holiday he is required to have locum cover. I have locum cover and so do most mortgage brokerages. Its not fair that a customer should be disadvantaged because their adviser is on holiday

They say you signed and dated your transfer request 14/02 - this should have been submitted to Halifax and I know from experience at even if Halifax do not have all the ID they need they will still book the product you require - I've never know halifax have specific dates or days for completions to my knowledge they have completions each day

Ask for proof that he had informed halifax on numerous occassoins about your permanent rights to reside. He should be able to produce emails, letters or faxes. If he says he did it over the phone get a date and time off him. Halifax record all the calls. even if you cannot get the date or time off him Halifax will be able to help you with that

I'm not sure what to suggest to help you but personally I would consider writing back with "dear Mr xxx thank you for your letter of (date) offering £100 redress for my letter of complaint dated xxxx/ I am prepared to accept this as partial settlement but I feel it is only fair to warn you I am not satisfied with your explanation for the following reasons (reasons) and fully intend to refer this complaint to the financial ombudsman service.

Once you have referred to ombudsman this will cost the firm £350 (I think)so he is far more likely to pay up another £120 than have that happen

dunstonh

If the advising firm is able to evidence what they say, then the FOS are likely to side with them.

The holiday issue comes after the date that caused the miss for the March payment. Up to that point everything proceeded within appropriate timescales.

MM is correct on the ID. Fax copies are not good enough. However, that isnt the issue here.

Companies will often offer a goodwill gesture where a problem occurs. Sometimes it's just easier to offer a small amount and put it to bed than watch it go through the FOS for the next 6-12 months.

toonfish

Halifax wouldn't need ID for a product transfer

regularsaver1

toonfish - they would if the customer is not already verified, and if they had a query about residence

in this case though it was a further advance too, so further rationales would have been needed

in a halifax branch they would not accept a faxed passport so can't see how they do

as much as this is a good thing that brokers can now do these for existing halifax customers as it gives customers more options, you can have the money in half an hour (subject to application of course) and rate arranged in the branch - application done, kfi produced and accepted there and then

payless

MortgageMamma wrote: »

The adviser should not have accepted a faxed copy of your passport in the first place, they have a duty to see and certify original documents,

In theory surely this was not really ID ( not required for existing customers) but confirmation of residency, this may or may not be required to be original...

and for ID purposes Halifax don't normally ask to see a copy on introduced cases anyway, rather a brokers declaration witrh details of ID seen.

also there is nothing wrong with with accepting faxed copies for ID ( file purposes) , if broker has seen the original at some point , and a certified copy is not required by lender

Secondly, when you adviser is on holiday he is required to have locum cover.

Not required, just good practice. Also locum is unlikely to have access to files & Halifax tracking to enable a timely resolution to problems like this.

I have locum cover and so do most mortgage brokerages. Its not fair that a customer should be disadvantaged because their adviser is on holiday

For those of us that don't have assitants - Don't most advisers have mobiles, that have roaming for whilst they are away ! I've just been away for 2 weeks , and my email had an auto responder, messages on answer phones etc., and mobiles etc
( my usual locum was actually away most of that time also!!). I spoke to all clients that had pending cases before I went away, in fact warning them months in advance of my holiday & potential issues .

They say you signed and dated your transfer request 14/02 - this should have been submitted to Halifax and I know from experience at even if Halifax do not have all the ID they need they will still book the product you require

Believe can't finalise the actual product transfer before Further Advance is drawndown- and as mentioned above seem to have rec'd offer ( for F Adv ?) and delay is on product transfer

- I've never know halifax have specific dates or days for completions to my knowledge they have completions each day

They do for product transfers- in such that needs to be sumitted by a set day to hit the 1st of the following month.

I'm not sure what to suggest to help you but personally I would consider writing back with "dear Mr xxx thank you for your letter of (date) offering £100 redress for my letter of complaint dated xxxx/ I am prepared to accept this as partial settlement but I feel it is only fair to warn you I am not satisfied with your explanation for the following reasons (reasons) and fully intend to refer this complaint to the financial ombudsman service - Once you have referred to ombudsman this will cost the firm £350 (I think)so he is far more likely to pay up another £120 than have that happen

Think they still offer 2 free compliants ( likely to change) , and that sounds a little like blackmail anyway

Sounds like Halifax did not take £200 to much, just the right amount based on the original / follow on ( base rate) product, so iots not really a mistake rather a cost of delayed provcessing - On the front line we all suffer lenders delays - its good practice to discuss with clients if a chosen lender have service issues, but surely brokers can only do so much, I would hate to be paying compensation for every lenders/ solicitors delay in processing / transacting a case.

Obviously no excuse for discussing your case with someone esle , or not replying to you in a timely manner