£300 fee to be told I couldn't have mortgage

unlimitedsaving

Some time ago I went to Cheltenham & Gloucester Building Society for a mortgage. In principle they said there would be no problems, so filled out all the forms, gave them £300.00 only to be told that I couldn't have a mortgage with them afterall. This was because at the time I was self employed.
:mad:
Does anyone know whether I can claim this back? It seems an awful lot of money, especially as they were the ones that told me in principle they would lend to me.

Moggett

What was the £300 fee for? If it was for a valuation and the valuation never took place you can claim it back, but if the valuation did happen, then sorry you are out of luck. If it was an arrangement fee or booking fee you should be able to reclaim it . If you have any difficulty just ask them what happened to the FSA's 'Treating Customers Fairly' guidelines.

unlimitedsaving

The £300.00 fee was just so that they could look into our finances and see if we were ok to give a mortgage to, so I suppose it was an arrangement fee. We never got as far as having a survey done!!!

dunstonh

C&G used to (may still do so) had a non refundable charge on fixed rate applications. It is not reclaimable.

[Deleted User]

1) put in a complaint with them asking for the money back
2) once complaint not satisfied put in a complaint with the fsa saying other companies dont do this and its unfair

you should win some of the money back.

dunstonh

1) put in a complaint with them asking for the money back
2) once complaint not satisfied put in a complaint with the fsa saying other companies dont do this and its unfair

Its not unfair though and its not unique to C&G. The FSA have issued nothing to say these are unfair.

C&G literature always used to make it clear that this charge is not refundable if you submit the application.

For them to then change their mind on lending, it suggests that information came to light that was not supplied to them when making the decision in principle. C&G do not refuse applications to the self employed. So, that isnt the reason.

you should win some of the money back.

Nothing is impossible but there are no legal grounds and there is no pressure from the FSA for them to do so.

The only thing the FOS could overule them on is if C&G were responsible for the incorrect information being used on the decision in principle. If the OP was responsible, then it is their own fault (dont mean that harsh but it is a system that appoints blame and responsibility).

MortgageMamma

DunstonH is right with all of his points, but just one more thing.

A decision in principle is not a guarantee that a lender will give you a mortgage, it is a preliminary check on your income, employment status, affordability and credit score. Once your application is submitted a C&G underwriter will look at yur credit record and circumstances in depth, a depth which is not possilble in a basic agreement in principle. This is obviously the point when yur application could have been rejected.

Lenders underwriting criteria is never as simple as you would think, and bank advisers often do not understand all of it, the underwriters are responsible for decision making not the branch staff, however as I used take part in part time market research (mystery shopping) of bank and estate agency advisers, I can tell you in no uncertain terms there are plenty of them that will tell you anything to get an application through the door. some advisers are paid on how many applications they get through in a month, rather than how many actually complete so I will leave you to draw your own conclusions about that. I'm not saying ALL bank advisers are like this but lets face it they are highly targetted and answerable to rather pathetic big knob middle managers who think the NB figures are a matter of life and death.

For real and accurate financial advice go to somebody independent from banks and estate agencies, ask around your friends and family for a recommendation.

[Deleted User]

id still do as i said above complain

say the charges are not in proportion to the work completed and ask them to justify it then complain to the fsa.

dunstonh

say the charges are not in proportion to the work completed and ask them to justify it then complain to the fsa.

The charges dont have to be in proportion. Its not a penalty. Its a retail charge.

You cannot complain to the FSA either. The FSA do not handle individual complaints. They regulate the industry but would return any complaint sent to them back to the company you are complaining about.

MortgageMamma

Even if you could complain and get your money back, banks and lenders are not charities they are businesses. If they cannot take your money with charges they will just increase the interest rates and have you that way. It a no win situation for you. The lender will always set terms for the borrower, not the other way round. Thats the problem with this country, we have a culture which wants everything for free. And we say the scots are tight!

[Deleted User]

ok then the financial ombudsman, its only a couple of second class stamps have some fun!