Being charged £30

fishpond

I am being charged £30 if I do not take the company supplying the mortgage, insurance on a property.
Would this be standard as my FA seems to think so?

Written into their T&C's
"£30 payable if you arrange your own insurance"

Just seems a little unfair.
Any thoughts?

G_M

Must admit I thought this had been outlawed some time ago.

Certainly used to be common....

edit: Ah.....

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/consumer_w/consumer_professional_and_financial_services_e/consumer_insurance_e/consumer_types_of_insurance_insurance/buildings_insurance.htm

http://www.which.co.uk/money/insurance/reviews-ns/home-insurance/buildings-insurance-explained-/

fishpond

Can't find any reference to the scam from those 2 websites.

kingstreet

Still going on, I'm afraid.

Leeds BS is the one which tees me off most. We do a lot of shared ownership business and this is leasehold of course. Leeds charges the £30 even when the borrower has no option - insurance is provided by the HA.

fishpond

Kingstreet
Many thanks for your time and knowledge.

dacouch

Mortgage providers used to insist you took out their building Insurance which were / are very expensive.

The government outlawed it some time back but in return allowed mortgage providers to charge a small fee to cover the costs of them "Inspecting" the alternative policy

Better_Days

Yes, I got a mortgage quote from Platform and they charge £30 if you don't take out their buildings insurance - so it does still go on. Of the 4 lenders I looked at Platform were the only ones to make this charge.

G_M

dacouch wrote: »

Mortgage providers used to insist you took out their building Insurance which were / are very expensive.

The government outlawed it some time back but in return allowed mortgage providers to charge a small fee to cover the costs of them "Inspecting" the alternative policy

That's what I was thinking of.. cheers!

Can't find any reference to the scam from those 2 websites

Who mentioned a scam?

CAB
"Your lender should give you a choice of insurer or allow you to choose one yourself. They can reject your choice of insurer but can't make you use their own insurance policy unless your mortgage package includes insurance."

WHICH
"You can arrange your own cover, and often much more cheaply. However, the lender will want to check the policy is adequate and may charge you a 'switching fee'. Your new insurer might be willing to pay this fee for you."

Jonesy_McJones

Better_Days wrote: »

Yes, I got a mortgage quote from Platform and they charge £30 if you don't take out their buildings insurance - so it does still go on. Of the 4 lenders I looked at Platform were the only ones to make this charge.

Mine used to be with Platform and they charged me £30 too. If you do take a mortgage with them, be sure to send them a copy of the insurance certificate with their interest noted on it promptly at renewal, otherwise they'll add a charge on for their insurance.

DRP

G_M wrote: »

That's what I was thinking of.. cheers!

Who mentioned a scam?

CAB
"Your lender should give you a choice of insurer or allow you to choose one yourself. They can reject your choice of insurer but can't make you use their own insurance policy unless your mortgage package includes insurance."

WHICH
"You can arrange your own cover, and often much more cheaply. However, the lender will want to check the policy is adequate and may charge you a 'switching fee'. Your new insurer might be willing to pay this fee for you."

would be interesting to know if anyone has ever got their insurer to pay!

dotdash79

Yep. They wanted to charge me for that (this was Leek). Via them over the phone it was £350 more, got a quote from the website and got it for £250, worked out with the £30 fee that was the cheapest.