MSE News: Thousands of Santander mortgage holders could get payouts after blunder

mac24

Could any successful claimants tell me if they received an official Held/upheld letter from the Ombudsman when the decision was made.

Or was the settlement made outside of the Ombudsmans intervention? I.e a private settlement with Santander.

Thanks

frazell

I believe that once the FoS are involved that Santander wash their hands of it and let the FoS deal with the final decision.


I'm in the position where I've "exhausted Santanders complaints process" and as the FoS are now involved they wont correspond directly with me.

health_warning

Are the FOS going to resolve the issue for you Frazell despite you mentioning the time limit before they class as "time barred'?

frazell

After 4 letters, a phone call and a referral to another adjudicator for review they have agreed to look at the case.


They are less than happy about it though and don't seem particularly interested in the overall picture.


I'm now arguing (again) things like the rate which should be applied to the calculation, even though Santander have already agreed the rate with me.

health_warning

Its a bit of a concern that there has been reluctance on the part of the FOS ,after all they must be fully aware there have been many similar cases dealt with(and upheld) that you would hope set a precedence.

frazell

It seems there is no such thing a "precedence" with any of this. Its all time consuming and extremely difficult.

mac24

The Ombudsmans clear stance is that if you had a mortgage that was not on the SVR or had a clear tie-in with the SVR then you are in no way affected by the cap margin increase and you are not entitled to redress.

That is at odds with what some have said on this thread. So unless the Ombusmen stance has changed, all upheld/sucessfull cases had a clear link to the SVR.

frazell

Santander actually provided me with a copy of my T&C's that I was bound to at the time. It clearly says that if they increase the cap margin that I would have 3 months to exit the mortgage penalty free.


From the FCA ruling they said that Santander were supposed to have made it clearer that customers could have left without paying an ERC and taken up another offer elsewhere.


If this is the case for everyone, and Santander failed to remind us at the time that we could have exited ERC free then I'm pretty sure that 99% of people would have, given the dire state of the economy, taken a look at their options in nov 2008 and looked at what deals were available. You would have been an idiot not to.

mac24

frazell wrote: »

Santander actually provided me with a copy of my T&C's that I was bound to at the time. It clearly says that if they increase the cap margin that I would have 3 months to exit the mortgage penalty free.


From the FCA ruling they said that Santander were supposed to have made it clearer that customers could have left without paying an ERC and taken up another offer elsewhere.


If this is the case for everyone, and Santander failed to remind us at the time that we could have exited ERC free then I'm pretty sure that 99% of people would have, given the dire state of the economy, taken a look at their options in nov 2008 and looked at what deals were available. You would have been an idiot not to.

Hi Frazell.

How sure are you about the 3 months?

I've forgotten.Was your mortgage tied to the SVR after your fixed rate ended or were you already on the SVR?

frazell

My time line is something like this;

1) Mortgage renewed in mid 2008 to a 2 year fixed rate
2) Nov 2008 cap margin was raised
3) July 2010 mortgage went to SVR
4) July 2011 mortgage was redeemed


The T&C's for my mortgage state;


10.7 We may increase or reduce the margin at any time. The following terms will apply to an increase or reduction that we make under this paragraph:

(a) we will give you not less than 30 days’ notice of an increase in the margin and not less than seven days’ notice of a reduction;

(b) if we are increasing the margin, then:

- if the increase applies to the whole of the capital, you will be entitled to repay all the money you owe us within three months from the date on which the increase takes effect, without paying any early repayment charge that would otherwise apply.

The only caveat might be that the T&C's were different depending on your mortgage product. The T&C's I have are dated 2004.