Early stage arrears management fee

jo.anne

Can someone shed some light if charges applied were correct. I took a secured loan on my property for £7,000 in 2007 and got into money troubles in 2010 and had to try my best to continue with payments. I couldn't afford the full repayments and paid what I could afford what they accepted. Each time a payment was due and I only paid a reduced amount I was charged an Early stage arrears management fee of £70. This charge continued throughout 2011 up until 2013, totalling £1,755. At this point the mortgage offered me a reduced amount if I could pay the remaining off and reduced the debt by £800. Was the fees in line with what us acceptable?

dunstonh

The FCA ruling on arrears charges is that the reason for the fee should be disclosed and work that they say the fee is for should be carried out.

as you didnt pay the full amount of the debt as terms of settlement, then this is not something that is worth pursuing. Even if they agree that to refund some of the charges to you, they dont have to pay it to you. They can offset it against the amount written off as part of the settlement. So, in effect, they pay themselves for upholding your complaint.