Mortgage Broker Fee Refund

khakilad

Advise needed,

We are currently purchasing a new house with Barratt and advised we needed to use their mortgage broker which we did and booked the advisor over the phone for an appointment at our house.

The guy arrived and proceeded to go through the right mortgage for us and told us that they now don't make a fee from the mortgage company and right at the end of the meeting said we had to pay a fee of £399 in order to take out the mortgage and get the free lifetime mortgage advise. We were pressured into saying yes just so we could get the mortgage.

Then after reading the key facts that he left with us we saw that there was the option for a fee free mortgage and that he was also getting £1,800 from Barclays as the intruder to the mortgage, which goes against what he told us!

We requested that a refund for this fee due to the above and not needing the lifetime advise. He has come back and said that the fee is none refundable.

Where do we stand legally with this? we requested the refund within 7 days of him visiting our house. We paid the fee on our credit card if this helps.

Any assistance would be appreciated!

Thanks

minimike2

The mortgage firm will have a complaints procedure. How to make a complaint is likely to have been outlined to you.

If it has not, ask them for their complaints procedure and take it from there. If you do not reach a satisfactory outcome then you are entitled to refer your complaint to the FoS having exhausted fully the companies complaints procedure.

dunstonh

We are currently purchasing a new house with Barratt and advised we needed to use their mortgage broker which we did and booked the advisor over the phone for an appointment at our house.

General rule of thumb is to not use brokers from builders or estate agents unless they are local independents. They lied to you as you did not need to use their broker.

said we had to pay a fee of £399 in order to take out the mortgage and get the free lifetime mortgage advise.

That is a flawed business model and companies that have had that lifetime fee have frequently gone under and cannot deliver on their promise.

Then after reading the key facts that he left with us we saw that there was the option for a fee free mortgage and that he was also getting £1,800 from Barclays as the intruder to the mortgage, which goes against what he told us!

So, you have been getting multiple lies.

Where do we stand legally with this? we requested the refund within 7 days of him visiting our house. We paid the fee on our credit card if this helps.

Did you see the broker in your home or in their office? If it was in your home, you do have extended rights for refund for 7 days unless you gave instruction to start work and waiving that right. However, to hit the adviser and firm harder, make a formal complaint stating what you have here.

These firms do damage to all the good ones out there.

csgohan4

Connells? by any chance?

amnblog

Fees should be disclosed at outset and provided in a durable medium (meaning basically in some written form).

If this was not done the Broker has breached Mortgage Conduct of Business Rules (specifically 4.4A 8 I believe) and you have grounds for complaint.

I appreciate your difficulty as brokers with a 'captive audience' with limited experience are quick to use your concern on securing the property to their advantage.

No broker should be charging any fees that are not discussed and agreed with the borrower(s) before any advice is given.

This is poor Practice.

The 'Lifetime Fee' is a poor method of asking the client to pay to be obliged to use the broker for future business in my view.