Mortgage Assessment and possible compensation

HurdyGurdy

I've had a look through the forum for a thread on this subject, but haven't found anything.

I've just seen an advert on television where they claim that some people may be entitled to compensation for mis-sold mortgages or mortgage overcharging.

The company which is advertising claims they have "developed industry-leading mortgage auditing software" (of course!) and can reclaim thousands (of course!)

They also say that mortgagees can pursue this compensation themselves via the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Is this "legit"? If it is, I'd like to go via the FOS obviously, especially as the company advertising charge a maximum of 35% + VAT of any compensation awarded, as well as wanting £2,356.80 for an After The Event insurance policy (I think so that the solicitors get paid?? ). I'm not financially savvy, nor do I understand much of what is said on their website, but unless I'm going to get tens of thousands of pounds in compensation, it strikes me that they could end up taking all the money for their fees and this insurance policy.

So - sorry for the lengthy post - is this compensation "a thing", and if so, does anyone know how you would go about investigating it and involving the FOS?

haras_nosirrah

First question is why do you think your mortgage was missold?

Thrugelmir

HurdyGurdy wrote: »

So - sorry for the lengthy post - is this compensation "a thing", and if so, does anyone know how you would go about investigating it and involving the FOS?

Each case would have to be considered on it's own merits. On what grounds would you consider your own mortgage to be mis-sold ?

kingstreet

HurdyGurdy wrote: »

They also say that mortgagees can pursue this compensation themselves via the Financial Ombudsman Service

The mortgagor is the borrower, the mortgagee is the lender.

ACG

If you have been overcharged, the bank will refund you automatically. If they find out that there was an issue with their system they will go back to all affected customers. I would imagine you have no been overcharged.

That leaves miss sold. You do not need auditing software to determine if you were miss sold. You were miss sold if:
You did not need it - I assume you did.
You did not want it - I assume you did.
You did not need it - I assume you did.
If you went down the advised route and there were better products available through the route you went down (if that was the bank directly and they sold you a 90% 2 year fix rate but you were eligible for the 85% product for instance or via a broker who chose a more expensive product because of the commission being more for example) then you may have a claim on that front, but it is unlikely to be tens of thousands, you could check it for yourself via the bank/broker and go via the bank/broker or ombudsman.

In any event, if they are that confident they can get you money, presumably the £2k is only payable if they secure you more than £2k plus their 35%?

HurdyGurdy

I *don't* think our mortgage was mis-sold. It was the charges aspect I was considering. (I never thought I had a claim for PPI, until I received the cheque, so I just wondered if there was a possibility for a refund on the mortgage.)

On their website it states that the insurance is to ensure that the client doesn't have to pay anything if they lose the case, and the £2,564.80 cost of the policy, will be deducted from any compensation they may receive. Which seems to mean that if a client does receive compensation, they then have to use some of that compensation to pay for an insurance policy to protect them from paying something if they don't receive compensation. Oh and some legal expenses may also be payable if these are not recovered as part of the compensation.

On balance, I don't think it's even worth pursuing.

Thank you for the responses.

HurdyGurdy

kingstreet wrote: »

The mortgagor is the borrower, the mortgagee is the lender.

Sorry, I know that. Typing in haste.

ACG

What charges?
If you are disputing charges, at most you would get the charges back plus some interest. That assumes they are in the wrong and you win.

You will know if that is likely to result in tens of thousands of not depending on the figures involved.