Beyond angry with Natwest - please help

thriftypatos

We bought a property with a HTB equity loan in 2015. Our mortgage is with Natwest. In November 2019, I called them to discuss remortgaging options (as we were almost at the end of the then-current 2 year fix) and explained that we hope to move house in 2020, so we need a portable deal - N.B. obviously it would have been stupid to sign up to a new deal if we knew we would have to pay hefty early repayment charges when we move a few months later. I also explained that we intended to repay the equity loan in early 2020.

We were sent a variation agreement and I noticed that it included the following clause:
"If your original mortgage was a HTB equity scheme mortgage this mortgage is not portable…"

So we called Natwest and asked for that clause to be deleted. They said they could not delete the clause from their standard form document, but that we should not worry because the mortgage will automatically convert to a "normal" mortgage once the equity loan has been repaid, and therefore the clause would not be enforced and the mortgage would become fully portable with no early repayment charges payable. We stated this was not clear in the agreement and that we were not particularly comfortable with the clause, and asked for confirmation in writing. Initially we were told that a letter would be sent out, but we received nothing and when we called again to see where the letter was, we were told it would not be possible for written confirmation to be provided - but were again reassured that the mortgage would automatically become fully portable upon redemption of the equity loan. We therefore signed the variation agreement.

We repaid the equity loan last week and had an offer accepted on a house yesterday. I called Natwest to discuss (i) porting our current rate and outstanding balance, and (ii) rates available for new finance, as we are upsizing and need to borrow more money to fund the purchase. The advisor told me that we cannot port our current mortgage without paying the 2% early repayment charge (c.£7,000) and referenced the clause in our mortgage mentioned above. Of course I immediately told her the back-story, explaining that we specifically asked for the clause to be deleted when we remortgaged in November last year and that we had been advised by Natwest that the clause would not apply after we have repaid the equity loan. She said she was very sorry that we have been given incorrect advice but that the only way to exit the current mortgage is to pay the charge!!

I am SO ANGRY. I just cannot believe the bank has done this. We SPECIFICALLY recognised this issue and SPECIFICALLY sought confirmation from the bank that we would be able to port the mortgage without charge once we had paid off the equity loan.  We even asked for the confirmation to be given in writing, but of course it was never sent out so now we face what feels like an impossible battle to prove we are telling the truth.

Can anyone offer any advice? Are calls with Natwest mortgage advisors recorded? I have an appointment with a Complaints person tomorrow morning. As I see it, the bank has two options:

1. They insist on the early repayment charge, we pay it, we make a data protection request for transcripts of the call and go straight to the financial ombudsman / potentially bring a legal action, and never use Natwest ever again.

OR

2. They waive the charge and we happily sign up to borrow >£600,000 with them on a long-term basis.

I know which option makes commercial sense, but I'm worried the Complaints person won't be in a position to make the sensible call.

Really grateful to hear from anyone who has any advice or experience dealing with anything similar.

Thanks in advance.

TN1984

Their calls should be recorded, so I would assume these call records are available. I think you're doing the right thing and speaking to the NatWest complaint department first, as the Ombudsman wouldn't look at the case if you had not yet been through the NatWest complaints process. I think you need to see what their complaint handler says tomorrow, then go from there.

If they refuse to waive it, will your plan be to move anyway, charge or no charge? If so, I would probably mentally prepare yourself to pay the ERC and fight it out afterwards, as the formal complaint process, including Ombudsman and possible adjudicator review as well, is unlikely to fit in well with the timeline to complete the house purchase.

ACG

I worked in complaints for RBS a while back, they only put the experienced people in that department (although I am talking 10 years ago and a different department). I think if you talk to them and explain everything they should be ok - they will probably even appreciate a proper conversation rather than yelling at them. 

Forget threats of a data protection request - the complaints person will/should have access to calls and notes on your file. So if nobody has put notes on or the calls were not recorded then it wont get very far. If they were, then it should be a very easy fix. 

You just spoke to the person in the call centre originally (I say that as someone who did that job) they just have to state the company line, you would not believe how many people say they were told something and it is a complete lie. 

amnblog

I can understand why the portability function would not be standard on a Help to Buy deal.
Since you are going from H2B to standard purchase I would imagine the Lender has a manual work around for portability and this will all be resolved amicably.

thriftypatos

Thanks for replies. Had a long call with the complaints manager. Eventually he found the notes from the calls in question, read them out (I recorded the call), apologised profusely and said he is off to speak to the "Exceptions" team immediately. Not quite there yet, but what a relief.