Mortgage exit charges

lisyloo

Just to update this thread (as I said I would).
My £295 fees have been waived completly after 3 letters.
I am not sure whether I was just lucky or whether it was something I said.
Nevertheless I am very pleased.

My advice is to be persistant. A letter plus stamp costs them a lot more than it does you.
Although I cannot of course guarantee that everyone will get the same results. It may just be partially down to luck and who you get on the day.

river_kwai

Can anyone point out exactly what needs to be mentioned in the complaint letter in order to get the mortgage exit fee reduced or even waived?

lisyloo

This standard letter would be a good place to start.

http://img.thisismoney.co.uk/misc/AllianceAndLeicester_010405.pdf

Although the standard reply is usually a polite "no".
So you have to keep going with a second and third (and possibly more).

burnoutbabe

lisyloo wrote:

Just to update this thread (as I said I would).
My £295 fees have been waived completly after 3 letters.
I am not sure whether I was just lucky or whether it was something I said.
Nevertheless I am very pleased.

My advice is to be persistant. A letter plus stamp costs them a lot more than it does you.
Although I cannot of course guarantee that everyone will get the same results. It may just be partially down to luck and who you get on the day.

In fact its not even a letter and a stamp, in their first offer to me, they included a stamped address envelope to repsond to their offer, i simply used that to respond saying NO. At present they have reduced to £220 from £295, I'd be happy with £150 but if they are happy to totally waive, thats better.

Fairdo_2

lisyloo wrote:

This standard letter would be a good place to start.

http://img.thisismoney.co.uk/misc/AllianceAndLeicester_010405.pdf

Although the standard reply is usually a polite "no".
So you have to keep going with a second and third (and possibly more).

Thank you Lisyloo.

Although I don't have an A&L mortgage, I reckon this is a very useful post and you are a great precedent for others to ask for their fee to be completely waived.

So much so I have nominated this as post of the month.

lisyloo

I'd be happy with £150 but if they are happy to totally waive, thats better

Just to reiterate, I cannot guarantee that the same deal is available to everyone.
It may depend on a number of individual factors (which I don't have access to).

However it is encouragement to "keep at it".

burnoutbabe

lisyloo wrote:

Just to reiterate, I cannot guarantee that the same deal is available to everyone.
It may depend on a number of individual factors (which I don't have access to).

However it is encouragement to "keep at it".

Well i have had a quick response to my letter and they have offered £155. Which is £5 more than the origianl charge.

I will accept this, as i can not think of any reason to argue that a £5 increase is unfair.

So am happy and cheers to everyone here for posting that they had done it

Catherine

michaels

Edited as not relevant to this thread

lisyloo

but I have to say holding out for the whole amount is a little bit ott

Hi Michaels,

You are incorrect. I was NOT holding out for the whole amount.

I was holding out for £150 (or thereabouts) which I think is fair.
They offered to waive the whole lot.
When someone who is richer than me offers me something I tend to accept.
I don't have any moral scruples about taking money from A&L.
Long timers on these boards will know that many times when I am succesful in this way, I donate all the money to charity.

as you did sign up to the original t&c accepting the 150 quid

You have no idea what I signed up to, so how can you make that claim?
You also do not know my personal circumstances and the history of my account which can affect the decision.

I have said at least twice that the offer is made on an individual basis (3rd time).
I am not encouraging people to "hold out" for the whole lot.
I am encouraging people to get the best deal that they can as I belive that this is what this site is all about.

Just to re-iterate a 4th time.
I do not believe that everyone will get the fee waived.
It's done on an individual basis.
I do NOT know what the criteria are for deciding but to a degree it will be arbitrary (what mood the person is in).
The quality of the letter, your account history and how many problems you've experienced in the past MAY be factors but only A&L know for sure.

I told my story only to try and encourage others to get a better deal.

May I humbly suggest, that if others are successful and benefit from these boards that they consider giving something to people worse off.

Cheers
Lisa

eml_3

I know this thread has a lot of posts already but I just wanted to thank you for inspiring me to complain about the A&L fee. After my first letter, copied from the link given earlier, A&L dropped the fee to 225 from 295. I wrote again, threatening the Financial Services Ombudsman again and got a letter today reducing the fee to 140! I'll take that thanks!

So, if you don't ask you don't get. It hadn't occurred to me to put up a fight until I read this thread - so my heartfelt thanks to all of you! Hope you are all lucky!