Unexpected Refund from Northern Rock/NRAM - slightly suspicious!

incred

I redeemed my Northern Rock mortgage some years ago now but I've had a letter through this morning enclosing a cheque. Now I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth but I can't help feeling really suspicious about this. No bank I've ever dealt with has voluntarily sent customers cheques for errors - I mean just look at PPI claims and bank charges refunds. I can't help wondering if there is some sort of reasoning behind it - such as the error actually potentially requiring them to pay out larger amounts. For that reason I was wondering - should I hang fire from banking the cheque?

The letter says:

'NRAM is committed to providing our current and previous customers with a great level of service. To ensure we maintain these levels, we have reviewed our previous Mortgage Application process and have identified that whilst your account is now redeemed, it appears that we made an administrative error when your account was originally set up.

Therefore a cheque of £XXX.XX is attached to rectify this error.

Included in this amount is £XXX.XX representing 8% simple interest on the amount charged in error.'

Anyone know what this is about? The letter doesn't even state what the charge was!

lawriejones1

Why don't you phone them and ask?

If it was sent in error you are legally bound to pay it back, if it's the correct amount you can enjoy it, if it's a scam you won't lose money and end up whining on some BBC TV programme like Watchdog.

_Andy_

"Anyone know what this is about? The letter doesn't even state what the charge was!"

What did they say when you rang and asked?

kingstreet

A search would have led you to this;-

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4355403

and this;-

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4491521

and this;-

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4339593

which should lead you in the right direction.

lindow_man

I have received one of these letters & cheques too, but the information in the links you give above seems to relate specifically to unsecured personal loans of less than 25k - not mortgages. Have I misunderstood something or is this actually a similar issue.

I rang NRAM today on the number given in the letter, but I might as well have been talking to a trained parrot on the other end of the phone. All I could get out of them was that this repayment was because of a one-off "administration charge" that was made in error when I opened my (now redeemed) mortgage.

kingstreet

Did you have a Together product?

lindow_man

kingstreet wrote: »

Did you have a Together product?

What is a Together product?

kingstreet

Combination of mortgage and unsecured loan.

TBH there have been issues over the unsecured loans and fees which weren't added that should have been...

... so it's difficult to know which "!!!!-up" to attribute you to.

lindow_man

OK - I looked it up :-) and no, I didn't have a Together product where as I understand it you can have an unsecured loan associated with the mortgage. I originally just had an endowment mortgage, then later for a few years I extended the mortgage in such a way that the extended portion was interest-only.