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

frazell

The window would have actually been 4 months to exit the mortgage as the increase occurred on the 15th December, but Santander should have given us 30 days' notice.

We would have therefore all been aware in mid November of their intention to raise the cap and then had until mid march 2009 to move to another provider.

DMKCAK

Dear All,

The legal opinion are looking at the breach of contract from that view AS REGARDLESS of the deal that you were on the Cap Margin issue relates to a significant and material propertion of your mortgage contract.

e.g. 5 year deal on a term of 25 years then the Cap Margin issue relates to 4/5ths of your mortgaged or 80%. The terms and conditions specifically state that we will give you 30 days notice in writing OF ANY CHANGE TO THE MARGIN and they did not. In giving notice Santander should then have advised of the 90 days to remortgage away with no early redemption penalty.

THEY DID NOT and therefore the breach of contract is material.

Still however awaiting formal consideration and opinion. But carrying on with the complaint against the Ombudsman's Handling.

DMKCAK

frazell

Thanks for the update DMKCAK.

What do you think the timeline will be for bringing the conclusions of your legal advisor/s to a close?

Also, for those people here that may have taken compensation as they have been completely worn down by Santander, would there be any recourse available to them to reopen their cases do you think?

fleetingmind

Wow I didn't know about this. Looking at a few pages and it seems people are struggling to get anywhere with them a little like the delayed flights compensations.

I had a Abbey mortgage at the time of this all and have just phoned to see If i was one of the people who should have received a letter. Apparently I was sent a letter in 2013 (I'm sure that's what he said). He's going to resend it.

Once i receive the letter I will read it through and draw up a time line.

What can I expect and what sort of amounts are people receiving (Or not) and what are the levels of goodwill gestures?

frazell

Hi Fleetingmind,

Level of compensation will be depending on your specific circumstances and how Santander or ultimately the FoS receive your complaint.

Level of goodwill gesture ranges from limited to zero.

There is lots of good information in this thread to assist you with your complaint, but needless to say, it will be like nailing jelly to a wall from the get go.

fleetingmind

frazell wrote: »

Hi Fleetingmind,

Level of compensation will be depending on your specific circumstances and how Santander or ultimately the FoS receive your complaint.

Level of goodwill gesture ranges from limited to zero.

There is lots of good information in this thread to assist you with your complaint, but needless to say, it will be like nailing jelly to a wall from the get go.

Thank you for your reply. As I mentioned before I only stumbled upon this when a FA asked if I had previously had a mortgage with Santander/Abbey and said to phone them. Not sure I completly understand it yet hence why i'm waiting for the letter though i'm sure it's worded in a way to deflect any blame from them. After my initial fixed rate ended it went onto variable (For various reasons). Mortgage was interest only and below is a summary I put together for my own records. Do i have a case with them?

Mortgage of £158k – March 2007
Fixed for 2 years at 4.88%
Interest only as all I could afford.

15/03/2007 – 02/02/2009 – 4.88% = £645.37
03/02/2009 – 02/04/2009 – 4.69% = £622.04
03/04/2009 – 31/12/2009 – 4.24% = £560.73
01/01/2010 – 31/12/2010 – 4.24% = £560.73
01/01/2011 – 31/12/2011 – 4.24% = £560.73
01/01/2012 – 02/10/2012 – 4.24% = £560.73
03/10/2012 – 31/12/2012 – 4.74% = £626.86
01/01/2013 – 31/12/2013 – 4.74% = £626.86
01/01/2014 - 30/11/2014 - 4.74% = £626.86

December 2014 started new mortgage with Nationwide 2.84% fixed for 5 years.

Thank you

frazell

If you were fixed across the period of the cap margin e.g. Nov 2008 then yes you should have a claim.

You need Santander to send you the standard questionnaire which you then fill out. You need to read this thread front to back before you commit to writing/complaining.

toofy

Hi, just an update from my own circumstances; I never received a letter to inform me that I'd been affected by the Cap Rate Margin, in fact on several occasions I had phoned the mortgage department to be told I was not affected in any way as I was on a fixed rate. Eventually I was given an address to complain to and after several weeks of chasing I received a form to fill in with further details. I was offered a goodwill gesture of just over £5.5k, based on the period when the mortgage reverted to the svr and therefore impacted by the change in the Cap Margin until it was eventually redeemed to move to a different mortgage provider, ( from December 2011 to March 2014). It was based on being able to obtain a mortgage @ 2.5% (my mortgage would have been for roughly £140k).. I hope this provides some hope for others.. Good luck to all..

fleetingmind

fishing_mad wrote: »

Santander's 'gesture of goodwill' amounted to £17,000.
Our basic contention was that Santander's action in not informing us of the cap margin increase deprived us of the opportunity to make an informed choice based on the mortgage products available around that time. We also sent in a full listing of all mortgage payments (including changes of interest rate, charges etc) based on the information provided in their closing account statement.

Cheers

Thank you for sharing.

Can I ask how long the period was and what amount your mortgage was to get such a big amount?

DMKCAK

Dear All,

Still awaiting legal Opinion but have sent this to the FOS Independent Assessor and the Chief Ombudsman Caroline Wayman in the hope of some response

Financial Ombudsman Service Reference: /////////

FAO: Ms Amerdeep Somal & Ms Caroline Wayman

It is with grave concern that we write to you both concerning the Ombudsman Service’s handling of our complaint against Santander and their non-notification of changes to their Cap Rate margin in 2008.

For the record we both appreciate that the Independent Assessor will not look into the decision of the Ombudsman in any individual case but it should be noted that the “Non-decision” and it’s absolute irrelevance is a part of the issues around the Ombudsman Service’s conduct and handling that we are intent on bringing to your attention. We do not intend to highlight the individual aspects of our complaint as you will be aware of this from reading the file (we would hope) BUT INTEND TO CONCENTRATE ON THE FOS HANDLING OF MATTERS THEREAFTER.

1/- On the 11th September 2013 we wrote to the Ombudsman Service regarding our complaint against Santander

2/- on the 21st October 2013 we responded to an Ombudsman letter dated the 11th October 2013 requesting further comment and specifically outlining the Financial Hardship involved in our complaint.

3/- Between November 2013 and November 2015 we repeatedly chased the Ombudsman about our complaint being informed that they had a large volume of complaints, that this had far reaching industry implications and that they had one test case that they were looking at and when this was concluded that they would undertake the other cases.

4/- This situation apparently took two years – despite the ongoing Financial Hardship concerned.

5/- We were informed that a “provisional decision” was reached on the test case and that as a result Santander decided that the best course of action was to settle the complaints as a gesture of goodwill.

6/- There followed a protracted period of discussion between ourselves and Kim Marsh and Santander over the next 6 months when not accepting several points at issue a “Final Decision” was issued by Ken Rose on the 10th June 2016.

7/- We requested copies of our file and correspondence between Kim Marsh and Santander and received disturbing copies that were unnecessarily redacted.

Our concerns about the process and the Ombudsman’s involvement in it are as follows:

A/- That it took TWO YEARS for the Ombudsman to get around to looking into our case – knowing that there was the ongoing concern of financial hardship.

B/- That the complaints against Santander had far reaching industry implications and that the Ombudsman knowing this failed hopelessly to come to a final decision on the matter at hand being fundamental breach of contract by Santander that has had material and sever implications financially on thousands of borrowers.

C/- That the Ombudsman – by allowing Santander to settle claims as a “gesture of goodwill” has avoided making any decision on Santander’s liability in this matter (either for them or against them) and because of this the Ombudsman has badly tarnished consumer confidence in the Financial Services Industry.

D/- That this course of action calls into question the Ombudsman Service’s independence in this matter.

E/- That by not making a decision on liability the Ombudsman has placed thousands of consumers at the “Mercy” of a Financial Institution (Santander) who have a vested interest in mitigating any payment that the make to individual borrowers. This will call into question the integrity of settlements and the process.

F/- That the Ombudsman Service’s involvement in this and their active attempts to reduce payments made by Santander could be construed as collusion in this matter.

G/- That Ms Marsh’s redacting of the contents of e-mails indicates that personal conversation was being undertaken in these e-mails and this calls into question her integrity.

H/- That by withholding information from us namely “that if we still did not accept the argument for a simple interest calculation then Santander were prepared to settle on a compounded interest basis” – questions impartiality and is a fundamental breach of the process due to Ms Marsh’s deliberate withholding of a material fact.

I/- That Ken Rose’s “final Decision is an irrelevant nonsense. His conclusion – or final decision has no relevance to Santander’s material breach of contract or their conduct. He simply passes an opinion that he thinks Santander’s offer is reasonable and more than he would have offered if he had made a decision in the matter. The fact is he did not – the Ombudsman Service did not and that was not what you were asked to do.

J/- Finally that it appears that at no time in this process did the Ombudsman Service have control of the matter. The Service allowed themselves to be cajoled, influenced and Bullied by Santander. The service failed to address the fundamental breach of contract issue and ultimately have “wiped their hands of the matter”.

A MATTER THAT IT SHOULD BE NOTED WAS RAISED BY THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY IN THE FIRST PLACE AS A CONERN THAT CONSUMERS HAD BEEN DISADVANTAGED AND THAT THIS SHOULD BE ADDRESSED BY SANTANDER.

We await your thorough and considered response.

Regards

WE have no idea what will result from this but we are astounded that there are new people posting on this site who have only just become aware or this. Strong evidence that the original Santander letter was perceived as nothing more than a circular. I will give the Independent Assesor the link to this forum as a matter of background.
Regards
DMKCAK.