Mortgage exit charges

lisyloo

I doubt that its charged if you swap to one of their new (existing customers not moving house) rates either

I am pretty sure that's correct.
There is a "switcher fee" of £250 plus the relevant product fee.

You aren't redeeming the mortgage, just switching product, so no redemption administration charge.
There is a special webpage with products available to existing customers here:

http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/mortgages/index.asp?page=switcher-rates&ct=home

payless

which whilst not geting over the (im)moral issue of high RACs, mght answer OP's ( Gav1) original problem -
( consumers and brokers need to get over the myth that you always have to move lenders to save)

out of interest which lender were you considering a swap too?

Although some high fees for some internal swap rates on that link

lisyloo

out of interest which lender were you considering a swap too?

I think that question was for me (apologies if not).

I am considering swapping to the Lambeth on 4.49% 2 year discount.
The fees are higher than staying with A&L on 4.79%, but overall it's cheaper.
I was going to stay with A&L when they had a 4.64% discount but that has been withdrawn about 6 weeks ago.

To be honest I don't know what their RAC is yet as it's not in their product guide.
The main reason that Lambeth work out cheaper than other similar deals is that they charge £140 for a "property risk assesement" under 75% LTV whereas a lot of other lenders I've looked at would want £500 for a valuation.

I am going to ring A&L retentions department first, but I don't know whether they are open to negotiation.

I would welcome any comments you have, but I haven't found anything better (cheaper).
I have yet to see whether any brokers have any special "broker only" deals available.

michaels

@lisyloo
I was lucky my 2 yr A&L finished in Feb so I could switch to the 'HSBC Sale' offer of 4% fixed for a year (4.4 including all fees/charges) which seemed very good then when it looked like rates would go up another notch or two before falling and still ok even now (till the recession begins to bite at any rate). I wrote to A&L a couple of days a go querying the increase in redemption charge from 150 to 295 - no response as yet - I asked for the case to be referred to ombudsman if they couldn't be mopre realistic - where have you got to with this?

payless

Lisyloo I actually meant Gav1, but I have sent you a PM

bylromarha

I know nothing about anything, but have been following the Mail on Sunday's campaign on this issue. They're campaigning on the grounds that the fee should be capped and has %wise hugely increased for most lenders over the past 2 years. They're targetting A + L with a typical MOS send us your complaint and we'll deliver it to head office type of thing.

Someone out there should be able to say "this is the work involved in closing this mortgage account and it will cost £xxx" and everyone will be happy as you can include the exit fee when initially looking at the product.

Or is this general punter being too simplistic?

lisyloo

I was lucky my 2 yr A&L finished in Feb so I could switch to the 'HSBC Sale' offer of 4% fixed for a year

Hi Michael,

I did see this one, but I belive it was limited to the first £100K so was no good for me.

where have you got to with this?

I have not got anywhere yet.
I may get to stay with A&L (if they cut me a deal) so I might not have to pay it.
If I have to pay it then I will be complaining for sure.

lisyloo

Or is this general punter being too simplistic?

Most of us don't belive it's being used to cover the administration cost anymore.
It's being used to cover other expenses (like the costs of regulation last year).

gav1

Payless - I've actually done a deal with my Mum, which means hopefully I won't have to pay a huge exit charge in 2 years! (silver spoon etc, I know)

Michaels - I have also sent A and L a letter to the same effect. Sent it a week or so ago - also heard nothing to date.

michaels

To Lisyloo, Gav1 et al

I now have a reply from A&L - gist is that they recently review charges and changed to 295 as this includes costs of :
Retreiving deeds from store
Sending them to the solicitor securely packaged
Calculating the redemption amount
Issuing redemption quotes
Adminsitration involved in closing the account

I will of course write back as there is nothing here that is extra since I took out the mortgage two years ago hence requiring a doubling in costs (I particuarly like the bit about redemption quotes as the fee is of course still payable if you kept the mortgage till term).

Does anyone have a copy of the original T&Cs for the mortgage - I have a schedule of charges but it does not mention when they might be varried?