Mortgage application complaint

SRR

We are in the process of moving house and spoke to our current mortgage lender Santander 3 months ago to start the mortgage application process. Everything started well and we had the DiP within a week and the mortgage interview went ok and we passed the affordability checks. It was at this point that the delays started to kick in and errors on the part of the underwriters and mortgage advisers started to occur. Initially the mortgage application was declined (we later found out that was due to an error on the part of the mortgage adviser) so a new application was submitted by the mortgage adviser and the slow process continued.

After nearly 8 weeks we still didn't have a mortgage offer and after more errors on Santanders part we decided to move to another lender who issued an offer within 2 weeks. However it is now going to cost me £6500 in early repayment charges to move away from Santander.

I made a complaint to Santander regarding the issues and errors we had experienced and asked that as a gesture of goodwill they waived the early repayment charge. Eventually I got a response back and to my surprise they agreed that they had made numerous errors including ones that we were not aware of and even confirmed that our application should not have been declined in the first place. Now whilst I have got an admission on their part (all confirmed in writing) they are only willing to offer me £170 as a gesture of goodwill.

In my opinion (yes I am a little biased) we have a good case to get the fees waived given their admission. Santander had left us with no alternative but to move mortgage lender as no matter how much we chased and tried to work with them it never seemed to make any difference. We were at the point that the person buying our house were about to withdraw their offer and the seller of the house we are buying were going to put their house back on the market.

What options do I have with regards to taken my complaint further? I know that I can take my complaint to the FSO but I'm a little reluctant on this as from reading posts on other forums they seemed to just tell the customer to accept any offer that has been made. Is there anywhere within Santander I can escalate my complaint or does anyone have any tips on how to approach getting the repayment fees waived?

Any help or advice on this would be most welcomed.

Thrugelmir

The terms of your existing mortgage with Santander were contractual. Although the delays were unacceptable. Santander are not in breach of contract. Santander are not obliged to offer you a new mortgage. That's your major stumbling block in seeking recompense. You walked away. That was your decision. Chances of recompense with regards to the ERC are zero.

amnblog

The process if you don't like the Santander response is to go the ombudsman.


That's it.


Santander will not be set up to handle your complaint as a one off with staff authorised to waive thousands of pounds in fees.


They will be handling hundreds of complaints a month.

ACG

You are mixing up the 2 things.
You have ERCs as part of the mortgage - this you agreed to and is regardless of the service received.
You had poor service and they have agreed with you on and that and agreed to compensate for the inconvenience.

Waiving ERCs is not something they are going to do as you have not had £6k worth of inconvenience... in their eyes.

You chose to switch lenders, they never made you. So your first port should have been to speak to a manager in order to get them to walk this case through free from any more mistakes.

Being realistic your not going to get £6k back no matter how far you take this. If the new mortgage has not completed its probably worth speaking to santander in order to get the case through, if you have completed then I think your going to have to put this down to experience.

dunstonh

I know that I can take my complaint to the FSO but I'm a little reluctant on this as from reading posts on other forums they seemed to just tell the customer to accept any offer that has been made.

That only happens where the firm has made an offer and the FOS feel there is no case to answer. For inconvenience cases, most redress payments are around £25 to £250. So, at £170, you are at the upper end of typical.

The official complaints process is as high as it goes internally. The FOS is next. However, asking for redress for delays is one thing. Asking for them to pay you £6500 instead of £170 is another.

amnblog

It's starting to sound like a 'NO'

ri17

I sympathise with you. Awful experience here with santander and its still going on. They tell lies and all the staff have no idea what info is correct and what it not.

I am calling them everyday to be told incorrect info. I HATE them, although we are still taking their mortgage its bloody awful

kingstreet

We've done a couple of Santander ports recently and they were both pretty painless.

One was 1 September app to 9 September offer and the other, 20 October app, to 25 October offer.

dunstonh

kingstreet wrote: »

We've done a couple of Santander ports recently and they were both pretty painless.

One was 1 September app to 9 September offer and the other, 20 October app, to 25 October offer.

The difference between an experienced mortgage broker using them and in-branch staff that dont have the experience, probably tight on time due the way their factory line appointments and probably struggling with lack of training.