Early Repayment Charge - Can I get it waived?

Biscuit31

Hi, advice needed on this case please...
I have recently split form my partner therefore we are having to sell the house, we have a joint mortgage with Santander 50% each.  I have found a property and based on my AIP with Santander I was told I was able to borrow what I needed which was £180K (porting £125K from existing mortgage and borrowing an additional £55K).  Offer submitted to vendor and offer accepted, great.  Was passed to a mortgage relationship manager at Santander and went through everything, again they confirmed everything good to go and asked me to upload some recent payslips etc, which I done.  Next day (today) I get a call from Santander telling me that they made an error on the application saying that I don't meet affordability as the person who input my information put the wrong details in saying I just wanted to port my existing amount and not borrow additional, even though I had it confirmed I could borrow more.  Yes I have some short term debts which I manage with no problem and I have never missed a payment on my existing mortgage, but this should have been told to me at the very start when I declared everything.

I now find myself stuck, the house has to be sold as me and my partner have ended our relationship and now I can't port / borrow more with Santander.  My current bank NatWest can lend me what I need no problem at all and I am sure there are loads of lenders that can, problem is to leave Santander during my fixed deal then I am liable for approx £4K early repayment charge.  I find this unfair as I was firstly told I could borrow the money I need from Santander on multiple occasions.  I find myself in an unfortunate situation in the break up, didn't intend for this to happen, what are the chances of Santander waiving this ERC especially as they have messed me about so much with wrong information?  For info my ex partner is able to port / borrow what she needs from Santander for her next purchase therefore her ERC will be waived.

Thanks

ACG

You are no worse off because of the mistake. The ERC would have still been there if they had got it correct from day one, so I do not think you can use their mistake as a way to get out of the ERC. You may be able to get some compensation from them, but you are probably talking about £100 as a goodwill gesture. 

kimwp

ACG said:

You are no worse off because of the mistake. The ERC would have still been there if they had got it correct from day one, so I do not think you can use their mistake as a way to get out of the ERC. You may be able to get some compensation from them, but you are probably talking about £100 as a goodwill gesture. 

Obviously as a mortgage advisor, ACG has greater knowledge, but that was my take on it too.

Might be worth checking how it appears on your credit file - does this mean there will be a recent credit file check and rejection when you apply elsewhere? Again, I don't think this would put you in a worse situation that you would have been if they had not made the mistake, but it might affect your next application.

Thrugelmir

Biscuit31 said:

  I find myself in an unfortunate situation in the break up, didn't intend for this to happen, what are the chances of Santander waiving this ERC especially as they have messed me about so much with wrong information?  

Unfortunately Santander aren't going to break their own internal rules due to a clerical error. The ERC will stand and you'll be offered an ex gratia payment for inconvenience. 

big_saver_5

If you partner is porting the mortgage then surely you dont need to? I didn't think you could both port the same mortgage to different houses? If she is taking it with her to her new house then surely there wont be an erc?

Biscuit31

big_saver_5 said:

If you partner is porting the mortgage then surely you dont need to? I didn't think you could both port the same mortgage to different houses? If she is taking it with her to her new house then surely there wont be an erc?

No, as the agreement was we can split it 50/50 and port half each.  As she has been approved to do so, then I'll be liable for 50% of the ERC.