Mis-sold mortgage? Any advice?

Janebo12

Hi

When we bought our house 11 years ago we had an endowment mortgage with the Abbey. After 5 years I changed the mortgage to the Halifax because I wanted to have a repayment mortgage instead.

Last year, I rang the Halifax for a mortgage review and they were going to change me to a different rate (I paid a fee for changing over) - when they sent the paperwork through it was for an endowment mortgage. I rang back and said I had not asked for an endowment, but they said they had done this on the basis that that was what I already had.

Therefore, unknown to me I actually had an endowment mortgage and not a repayment mortgage.

I put in a complaint to the Halifax, saying that the original mortgage must have been mis-sold as I clearly remeber asking for a repayment (it was around the time when it all started kicking off with the endowment plans). In the end the complaint went through to the Financial Ombudsman, who decided that I did not have a case as all the original signed paperwork had been received by them with regards to us having an endowment mortgage.

I was a bit annoyed about all of this as I felt that I had been left in the lurch, having paid my mortgage for five years and nothing has come off my balance at all.

I changed the mortgage back to Abbey after this and now have a repayment mortgage, although I had to take it out over a very long period - 30 years, instead of the 15 years I should have had left.

Sorry for long story, but is there anything else I could do and would I be able to reclaim the charges for Halifax changing the mortgage and then it not going ahead after the review?

JoeK_3

What has happened to the endowment???

JoeK

cattie

Janebo12 wrote: »

Hi
When we bought our house 11 years ago we had an endowment mortgage with the Abbey. After 5 years I changed the mortgage to the Halifax because I wanted to have a repayment mortgage instead.

Last year, I rang the Halifax for a mortgage review and they were going to change me to a different rate (I paid a fee for changing over) - when they sent the paperwork through it was for an endowment mortgage. I rang back and said I had not asked for an endowment, but they said they had done this on the basis that that was what I already had.

Therefore, unknown to me I actually had an endowment mortgage and not a repayment mortgage.

But didn't you realise from the mortgage statements that Halifax would have sent you each year that your balance wasn't reducing as it does do with a repayment mortgage?

Janebo12

Hi and thanks for your replies.

We cashed in the original endowment when we supposedly changed over the mortgage to the Halifax. Halifax said that the endowment policy was still in place, which it wasn't, but still managed to sell me their own life insurance at the same time! (ie had I not cashed in the original policy, we would have had 2 lots of life cover).

I didn't realise about the statements, because, being young and naive at the time, just thought that we were paying off the initial interest before the balance began to drop.

dunstonh

Sorry for long story, but is there anything else I could do and would I be able to reclaim the charges for Halifax changing the mortgage and then it not going ahead after the review?

Halifax would have set it up as requested on the application. Of course there could be an error that and you can ask them to check the application. However, it isnt an advice issue as they took an order from you.

Plus, they would have issued an offer letter outlining the terms of the mortgage. This is the contract for the lending terms.

would I be able to reclaim the charges for Halifax changing the mortgage and then it not going ahead after the review?

Depends on what fees you paid. Some of the fees are non refundable. Some are.