Halifax taking the p*55 with the mortgage change?

consumers_revenge

Hi,

Maybe Im reading this wrong but halifax seem to be trying to pull a major fast one when they changed everyones mortgages over recently.

I have 2 mortgages with them one should run out in 9 years the other in about 14 years however they have taken the 2 mortgages and evened them both out so Im paying 11 on both ( without my consent AFAIK )

Also they have used the overpayments that I have paid off in the last 2 years ( about 4k ) and instead of leaving the mortgage to repay early as planed they have reduced my mortgage payments by £15. I didnt agree to this!

Then upon looking at their new TnCs...

Regular overpayments
What are they?
[FONT=Agenda Light,Agenda Light][FONT=Agenda Light,Agenda Light]Regular overpayments are amounts you pay that are extra to your monthly mortgage payments. They reduce the amount you owe on your mortgage. They also reduce the amount of interest we charge because we calculate interest on the reduced balance from the day we receive the overpayment.[/FONT]
[FONT=Agenda Light,Agenda Light]If you have a repayment mortgage, overpayments will not reduce your mortgage term. This is because whenever we re-calculate your monthly payment, for example at an interest rate change, we set your new monthly payment so that it repays your loan over the term we originally agreed with you.[/FONT]

[FONT=Agenda Light,Agenda Light]Nice new clause eh? means your screwed with them and you aint getting out of your mortgage sooner. Again I didnt agree to this?! Also it means that the money I used as overpayments ( which I could use to fund 'underpayments' if thing got tight ) just dissapeared! Surely this is taking the p**s and they cant just do this?[/FONT]

[FONT=Agenda Light,Agenda Light]Any thoughts/help?[/FONT]

[FONT=Agenda Light,Agenda Light]Cheers.[/FONT]

[FONT=Agenda Light,Agenda Light]CR[/FONT]
[/FONT]

Thrugelmir

The Halifax cannot change your mortgage term without your written authority as its a contractual change.

Nor can their computer system assume what term you wish to pay your mortgage off over.

So if you wish to pay a fixed higher amount then request a change to the term

Alternatively make your overpayments by standing order separately from the regular direct debit.

consumers_revenge

Thats what I would have thought but not whats on the letter I've got in my hands....

I used to just take cheques in for the overpayments.

Any thoughts on the past 'overpayments' that have just been 'swallowed'?

Cheers.

Thrugelmir

consumers_revenge wrote: »

Thats what I would have thought but not whats on the letter I've got in my hands....

???????????????

If you have a repayment mortgage, overpayments will not reduce your mortgage term.

Your mortgage however will be paid off before the contractual term ends if you continue to make overpayments.

Goldiegirl

All it means is that, if you make overpayments, your debt is reduced.

They will not enter a new term of mortgage on to their computer systems if overpayments are made. the existing term of the mortgage will remain on the system.

By making overpayments, your mortgage debt will be smaller than if you had not made the overpayments.

When new monthly payments are calculated, they will be calculated on that smaller debt, so the monthly payment will be smaller than if you hadn't made the overpayments.

You can carry on making overpayments by standing order, cheque or bank transfer, making your debt smaller, and monthly payments smaller than they would otherwise have been.

By doing this your mortgage will eventually be repaid before the contractural term of the mortgage.

At that point the mortgage will be closed. You will have no further payments.

So the money is not being 'swallowed'. You will have reduced the term of your mortgage.

consumers_revenge

Spoke to halifax this morning and the lady also couldnt understand why the mortgage term had been lenghtened for original mortgage.

Told me that my current overpayments sit as a credit so correct my mortgage will go earlier when they get to the credit.

As for the £15, this is a reduction as I have the credit in place.

james3333

had a similar letter, reducing my monthly payments, NOT hwat i asked for. lady on phone couldnt really answer, so i demanded it in writing...still awaiting the letter:mad:

Goldiegirl

james3333 wrote: »

had a similar letter, reducing my monthly payments, NOT hwat i asked for. lady on phone couldnt really answer, so i demanded it in writing...still awaiting the letter:mad:

When you consider they've probably got thousands of people with queries about this, I don't think you can expect an immediate response to your demands.

tunnel

As i read it from the last letter i had from halifax,everytime they change something like the SVR or as they're currently doing,their online mortgage information,then halifax reserve the right to adjust your mortgage if you've made overpayments. One of mine went from £287 to £281 because of my overpayments,even though i'm still in a fix rate. This was apparently so my mortgage would be kept at its original length. I've just increased my regular payments back to £325(what i was paying with overpayment)

Don't know about lengthening one term and shortening another to balance them out. Thats ones a new one on me.

consumers_revenge

HF told me they would raise as a issue and respond by letter in 5 days.

The monthly reduction was explained as this is the figure on the original mortgage length including the interest. Now Im not paying interest on the 4k thats whats been taken off ( the £15 a month )

The rest of the payment is a correct figure for the whole length of the mortgage, divided, but Im in credit by 4k so I will stop paying at 4k short of the length of the original mortgage. Hope that makes sense.

As for the change of terms.........gawd knows.

Annieddiva

Holy moly - glad to know I'm not alone either...they reduced my payments too, when I specifically told them back in Nov12 - that any overpayments are to reduce the term of the mortgage and do not reduce my payment. So I saw red when this new sub-account letter showed a reduction in monthly payment and not in the term. I rang the HF last week and am still awaiting the updated letter.
If this does not arrive, am probably gonna email Chief Exec - I get a different story every time I speak to anyone and this has been on-going since Nov12. Since 1997 to Oct-12 prior to my current mortgage deal I've never had such issues with overpayments before....:mad:

Something interesting to note from their guide under this new system...

Can I choose which part of my loan I repay?
Yes. You can tell us which part of your loan you want us to repay with your lump-sum. For example, you may want us to reduce the part that is charged the highest interest rate, or the part that does not have an early repayment charge on it.
If you don’t tell us which part of your loan you want to repay, we will reduce each part of your loan in the same proportions as we apply your monthly payments.
Example:The total monthly payment is £600 and is split into two parts: Part 1 is for £360 (60% of the monthly payment) Part 2 is for £240 (40% of the monthly payment) You make a lump-sum overpayment of £10,000 Part 1 would receive £6,000 (60% of the lump-sum) Part 2 would receive £4,000 (40% of the lump-sum)

Plus the below made me very excited -:j
As we have changed the 12-month period part way through a calendar year, to make sure you are not disadvantaged, any overpayments you have already made in 2013 won’t count towards the 10% concession. This means between the date we changed the way we manage your account and 31st December 2013 you can make overpayments of up to 10% of the balance shown in each sub-account where an early repayment charge applies. This balance is shown in the table on the letter we sent you when we changed the way we managed your mortgage.

look forward to reading updates!!! Good luck to us all - I think we're gonna need it...I did say to the Halifax last week that comments had started on here - shame they can't get a rep on here....