Help - Mortgage payment increase weekend payments

Moneytree_3

Dear All;

I have a mortgage with halifax, they have just moved to a new IT system and since then my mortagage has gone up by £1.12 a month with no real explanation.

I am on a SVR and have not borrowed any further money/switched products or lengthened my term.

I am being told that the increase is being applied whereby my monthly payment date has fallen on a weekend or bank holiday and therefore is outstanding interest that has been applied??

Is this a valid explanation? can they do that? as won't my mortgage payment go up every year?

Appreciate any advice

In addition, I now seem to have 2 sub accounts attached to my mortgage, 1 with 5p in it?? and the other with the rest of the mortgage. fees are supposed to be shown under sub accounts 99 so I know that the 5p is not related to that

Moneytree_3

so... I think the extra 5p sub account is quite suspicious and maybe the real reason the payments have gone up - there are no payments to and from that sub account and halifax cannot seem to tell me what the sub account is for

kingstreet

Sub accounts are used for further advances and for the mortgage account fee which is now charged in lieu of a deeds release fee at the end of the mortgage.

Moneytree_3

Hi King Street, I still do not understand why there is only 5p in this sub-account and why it is not shown under a 99 sub account (where all fees should be shown), after 3 calls no one seems to be able to tell me what this sub account for 5p is for? plus there seems to be no record of any payments to or from this account and no future ones set up

Is the explanation around accumulated interest for mortgage payment dates falling on a weekend or bank holidays a valid one? Seems strange since for past 3 years being on variable I have never accumulated any interest for this??

Im not sure how to proceed further with Halifax as I do not buy their explanation as valid.

dotdash79

Moneytree wrote: »

Im not sure how to proceed further with Halifax as I do not buy their explanation as valid.

In writing would be the best way forward, they have made a change to your account and you don't feel it's been explained to you correctly.

Goldiegirl

Prior to these mortgage changes, your Halifax mortgage always did have sub accounts, which could be seen on their records, they just didn't make it generally known. All the information was presented to the customer as just being one account.

So this 5p could be something that happened years ago.

I think the Halifax have created a whole can of worms for themselves with their systems change.... glad I don't work there anymore.

JimmyTheWig

Do you pay by direct debit? Have you always done so?

Thrugelmir

Moneytree wrote: »

Dear All;

I have a mortgage with halifax, they have just moved to a new IT system and since then my mortagage has gone up by £1.12 a month with no real explanation.

I am on a SVR and have not borrowed any further money/switched products or lengthened my term.

I am being told that the increase is being applied whereby my monthly payment date has fallen on a weekend or bank holiday and therefore is outstanding interest that has been applied??

Is this a valid explanation? can they do that? as won't my mortgage payment go up every year?

Appreciate any advice

In addition, I now seem to have 2 sub accounts attached to my mortgage, 1 with 5p in it?? and the other with the rest of the mortgage. fees are supposed to be shown under sub accounts 99 so I know that the 5p is not related to that

Halifax now use the Lloyds system. So highly likely that the figure now is calculated to be precisely correct. Whereas in the past you were effectively undercharged. As Halifax's system didn't recognise bank holidays just weekends.

Moneytree_3

Thanks dotdash and Goldiegirl, Jimmythewig, yes I do pay by direct debit and have always done so.

Thrugelmir - Is it common practice for banks to increase monthly payments to allow for payments that fall on bank holidays?

Moneytree_3

Blondygirl - they should be able to tell me what the sub account if for though? surely? everytime I ring up they tell me, that "no it does not look quite right" and that they will "look into it".

I am getting a letter about what has "apparently" caused the rise, I think I will reply to that.

I would still like to know though if most banks penalise you for when your payment day falls on a bank holiday or weekend?

Dave_the_Ginger_Cat

Moneytree wrote: »

I would still like to know though if most banks penalise you for when your payment day falls on a bank holiday or weekend?

They don't penalise you as such, they just charge daily interest, and the amount charged will depend precisely on when it is received. If you look at your annual statements (or online account), you should see when the account is posted.

Some systems make the assumption that it will arrive on the due date in calculating future payments, and some make allowances for bank holidays and weekends. I have worked for many of them and they vary - don't think there's a majority. In any event, you will have been charged the correct interest for what and when you have paid so you should not be better or worse off by this.

I had an explanatory letter a month or so again on mine, and found it helpful. Mine varied a little bit, but not material to me.