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Reclaim Mortgage Arrears Charges. NEW CAMPAIGN.
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Probably not, this is very early days for being able to reclaim mortgage charges - its not an area where I admittedly know a great deal but if anyone has any success stories to share with us all, it would be very enlightening.
Personally i would like to see lenders take a compassionate stance - if they have to reposess eventually that is understandble, but if someone is genuinely in trouble I think they should leave off the charges for 3-6 months, then if they have to reposess recover it then
I know we do not live in an ideal world, and harsh things happen to innocent people sometimes but the human touch in everything seems to have goneI am a Mortgage Adviser
You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a mortgage adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.0 -
Human touch and Shareholders are never in the same sentence.
I too welcome any success or non success claim stories - it will be an interesting few months to see where this goes.
If it does become deemed a penalty charge, then look forward to higher admin fees elsewhere - and extra £100 on the reservation fee or survey admin fee might just help the lender cover it... then again why not add .1% to interest rates too.I am a Mortgage AdviserYou should note that this site doesn't check my status as a Mortgage Adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.0 -
I agree Dunston - Kensington have their Collections team about 8 miles from where I live and they have about 30 people (may have gone up now) chasing missed payments. That is from 9am to 8/9pm at night 5 days a week and 9am-5pm on a saturday.
The cost of this together with team leaders etc and the separate teams for when it gets past the early arrears stages this increase the team up probably to about 40-50 people.
It is very different to a bank sending a letter to say, we have paid your electric but you had insufficient funds for this and them automatically taking it back out of your next salary etc.
As I said previously - miss 1 month and there will not be a whole lot of work involved but when you hit 3 months, there will be a lot more work involved and then when it goes to litigation and then repossession - more admin work.
A fair point made by these two, however while it is true that the cost is not just 'the piece of paper' £30 to £40 per late payment is certainly going over covering costs.
Having has dealings with debt management companies through the call centre the number of people who have ended up IVA / Bankrupt due to the following cycle is staggering...
allowed to obtain unafordable (or just affordable) mortgage --> unplanned event --> missess payment --> charges stack up --> debt out of control --> in trouble
I'm sure that some of the people on these forums will point out that there are people who get into the situation above through their own fault. I don't doubt it but there are perfectly normal, honest people who get trapped. 2 major factors being...
1) IRRESPONSIBLE LENDING
2) UNFAIR CHARGESYou get out of life what you put in!Although I am not a financial advisor per se I run a call centre that that has some financial services among it's portfolio.0 -
MortgageMamma wrote: »Probably not, this is very early days for being able to reclaim mortgage charges -
I would suggest ingnoring the above comment. I waited to claim for my bank charges until 'it all became crystal clear' and look what happened.. On hold!
The cycle of claiming for bank charges went a little like this.....
1) Few early adopters (companies / people) thought 'hey this can't be fair/just/legal/ethical' and started the ball rolling
2) Banks paid up, cheaper to pay these out then risk the cost but most of all THE PUBLICITY of going to court
3) More people start to cotton on. Banks continue to pay still better than PUBLICISING by going to court and everyone knowing
4) Momentum builds. More people claim. More companies get involved. The issue becomes widely publisied (Martin etc) the banks release the cats out of the bag and start to go on the defenbsive
5) Banks get together and get the whole thing tied up for at least 2 years. 2 years that is not only them not paying up but people who would have claimed dropping out (can't be bothered a second time), companies assiting go bankrupt. THE BANKS WIN!!!!!
Anyone see a patern?
I've seen the dirty tricks big business can pull to avoid payouts where they are to blaim. At university I studied Risk Management which basicaly states if the cost of a potential claim / fine multiplied by the probability of a claim / fine (or number of claims) is less than the savings you make dumping sewage / poisoning water / letting of toxic gas THEN DO IT!!!
Big buisness is intrested in profit only and banks / lenders are about as big as they get!!!!!
If you have a chance to make a claim for these charges (at no or little risk to yourself) then I would go for it!You get out of life what you put in!Although I am not a financial advisor per se I run a call centre that that has some financial services among it's portfolio.0 -
I think its good advice personally on the basis that some people failed to win their claims on the basis that they did not present their cases with the right legal arguments.
Whilst it seems that the bank charges and mortgage arrears charging claims look similar in principal, it has yet to be seen that they legally are and if legally they are then it wouldn't surprise me if the lenders went to the FSA and said "can we log the claims until the OFT case has been fully heard and decided"
I am not saying don't try your luck, I am just saying that if they are the same, to me it stands to reason that there is a chance these claims may also end up in the void.I am a Mortgage AdviserYou should note that this site doesn't check my status as a Mortgage Adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.0 -
major factors being...
1) IRRESPONSIBLE LENDING
2) UNFAIR CHARGES
You missed out IRRESPONSIBLE BORROWING
This is just now the next sector of society where people who struggle by and meet their commitments somehow are going to be forced to pay more as a result of the actions of a reckless minority.
You truly would not believe some of the enquiries we get from people expecting, even demanding a mortgage - despite the fact they are in IVA's, bankrupt, never pay their loans/credit cards on time
It's the "World owes me a living" mindset, and it's only getting worseI am a Mortgage AdviserYou should note that this site doesn't check my status as a Mortgage Adviser, so you need to take my word for it.This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser code of conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.0 -
You missed out IRRESPONSIBLE BORROWING
This is just now the next sector of society where people who struggle by and meet their commitments somehow are going to be forced to pay more as a result of the actions of a reckless minority.
You truly would not believe some of the enquiries we get from people expecting, even demanding a mortgage - despite the fact they are in IVA's, bankrupt, never pay their loans/credit cards on time
It's the "World owes me a living" mindset, and it's only getting worse
I would believe, as that is exactly the sort of people who my company (until recently) marketed to. It's not a case of "world owes me a living" in most cases, but the fact they KNOW there are companies that WILL help.
High Street Home Loans, who were owned by GMAC-RFC until last week (redundancies), ignore IVA's completely (as long as conducted well), and ignore a bankruptcy the day after discharge. They ignore a reposession if 3 years ago, and lend upto 85% if within the last 3 years! They would also lend mortgages to people with a proven track-record of not being able to pay their current mortgage on time, even upto people who had missed all in the last 12 payments (the max time period shown on credit reports)!
This is 1 of a LOT of companies that do the same (although a few have closed their doors recently due to the situation in the US).
This is irressponsible LENDING, not BORROWING. If lenders are prepared to lend money to people that have proved they can't afford to pay debts correctly, then they must expect it to happen again.0 -
Mortgage arrears fees
I have issued a mortgage arrears fees claim against my old sub-prime mortgage lender.Its into four-figures and they've defended it with a rod of iron with a big law firm so far that after issuing the summons in the summer I finally have a court hearing setup for early in 2008.
Late payment fees are the same as bank charges,its all a total rip off and they see it as a way of making even more money.I went to a new lender a few years ago so im now reclaiming the money which was taken from me.0 -
I agree Dunston - Kensington have their Collections team about 8 miles from where I live and they have about 30 people (may have gone up now) chasing missed payments. That is from 9am to 8/9pm at night 5 days a week and 9am-5pm on a saturday.
The cost of this together with team leaders etc and the separate teams for when it gets past the early arrears stages this increase the team up probably to about 40-50 people.
It is very different to a bank sending a letter to say, we have paid your electric but you had insufficient funds for this and them automatically taking it back out of your next salary etc.
As I said previously - miss 1 month and there will not be a whole lot of work involved but when you hit 3 months, there will be a lot more work involved and then when it goes to litigation and then repossession - more admin work.
When my mortgage got into arrears for one missed payment. I got one letter from my bank telling me they couldn't pay the direct debit. I never received anything from the mortgage people apart from my yearly statement. By that time I had been charged inconsistent admin fees (as earlier post says). Every penny extra went to clearing off the admin charges it never cleared the missed payment it ended up being a catch 22 situation. But my main point is you say above that litigation and repossesion costs. The companies actually bill you extra for that. I had the arrears, the monthly charge then the £300 litigaion cost. Then the £200 solicitors letter & court date charge. Then the Judge said he didn't know why we were at court because I was already paying the arrears off and we would come back and reassess. (He incidentily reduced the amount I had to pay each month because I was struggling. That in turn meant extra months of ADMIN fees) So I ended up with another charge of £600 for a solicitors letter and court date for the second hearing. Although Woolwich/Barclays never got there Possession order put on my house (again Judge refused to do it). Now everything paid off. But no one can tell me why the two letters and court dates cost two different prices. Same letter (different date), same solicitor and same Judge, less time in there second time round. All I get is because that's what it costs!!!0 -
Hi Martin
Ive got a substantial claim in for mortgage arrears fees to my old lender.Theyve defended it with a rod of Iron,have employed a big law firm and a hearing date has been finally set for next year.I filed the claim in late summer!
im a bit worried about it as im going to defend myself,any help or words of wisdom would be appreciated.0
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