Letter from Halifax re Mortgage

Pugsley_03

I received a letter yesterday from Halifax, who I had a mortgage with last year on my previous house.

The letter said that they had allocated some payments incorrectly and have included a cheque for £20 to compensate for it.

When I called them they said that the difference was pence but they calculated that noone was out of pocket by more than £20 so they've decided to send everyone effected a cheque of £20 to cover it.

It sounds a little strange to me that the bank would send me £20 if I'm only a few pence out of pocket, but I've asked them to send me a breakdown so we'll see what comes.

My question was whether anyone else had received a letter like this from them, what you've done about it, and anyone's pushed them further over it...I don't like the idea of banks messing up and brushing it under the carpet!

The chap on the end of the phone was pleasant enough and seemed like he'd had a few calls about the letter as its worded fairly vague, but its the vagueness that worries me more than anything.

Would like to know anyone's thoughts on the matter.

Cheers,
Pugs

[Deleted User]

It's very common and no reason for suspicion or to be checking under your carpet.

Jockeyjames

As zx81 said, it's actually pretty common. I'd stick to "Thank you for the extra cash" rather than fighting them on it. Who knows, next time they might just give us our pennies!

enthusiasticsaver

It would cost more in staff time to go through each mortgage individually to find the exact number unless there is a simple computer calculation.

Just accept it and forget about it. Did they say how the error occurred and how the payments were allocated in the wrong way?

foxy-stoat

My mortgage is with Halifax, I have not received such a letter with the offer of free money, who do I complain to and how much compensation am I due?

Seriously, bank the cheque and buy a bottle of wine/beer/squash.

Win

owen_money

If it transpires that you have only over paid by a few pence will you be sending back cheque for the difference?

A_Frayed_Knot

No letter for me. Just a few different entries on my mortgage statement.

Redress £20 and Balance Movement £111.70 - thus giving me this amount interest free for the rest of my mortgage.


Bank Manager knew what Balance Movement was but couldn't tell me until checked with mortgage provider.

s88

Sorry to bump this thread, but my mortgage is with HBOS and I also just noticed this when doing my weekly finances. Havn't received letter yet, just noticed on my online banking.


It has taken £86.29 from my account/product fee ( putting it back up to £265 ) and transferred it to my mortgage principal, similar to an overpayment, and also added £20 on top of that, which as the thread suggests must be 'compensation'.


A small percentage of both my overpayments and DD goes towards reducing the product fee, which I never really bothered about. Strange for it to happen, but I'll gladly accept it with open arms.

gaz141

I also looked at my online Halifax statement and they have credited my account with £20 as "Redress". l've never complained, never been in arrears so no idea why they have given me money back. Not that I am complaining, just found it odd.

A_Frayed_Knot

A_Frayed_Knot wrote: »

No letter for me. Just a few different entries on my mortgage statement.

Redress £20 and Balance Movement £111.70 - thus giving me this amount interest free for the rest of my mortgage.

Bank Manager knew what Balance Movement was but couldn't tell me until checked with mortgage provider.

Update . .
[FONT=&quot]Well, here it is . . . letter that explains everything and nothing.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Seems H@lif@x haven't always applied my payments correctly [/FONT][FONT=&quot]which means they charged more interest than they should have , [/FONT][FONT=&quot]And they are sorry for this and given me £20 [/FONT]:cool:

[FONT=&quot]However that doesn't seem to cover it as they have also applied too much payment [/FONT][FONT=&quot]to my interest free sub account, which meant my interest free sub account was reducing quicker than it should have [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]They therefore moved some of my mortgage balance, so more is interest free now. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Hmmmmm ~ me thinks, me wonders, me puzzled.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

[Deleted User]

The £20 covers the incorrectly charged interest plus compensation/goodwill.

The transfer ensures you're paying the right interest going forwards.