Mortgage lender didn't communicate change in terms

MarcMCFC1986

Edi81 said:

Write to HSBC for an explanation
as others have said lenders have changed their policies on allowing people to switch but for HSBC this happened after you had entered the 3 months. 

If you were switching now the earliest you could have switched would be when they changed policy. 

I don’t think HSBC have done anything wrong - you are just unlucky. 

This is where I'm confused - if HSBC didn't change their terms on this until November, why did L&C tell me that it had already changed in September?

JMA74

maybe they were getting mixed up with 6 month remortgage offers.  There is definitely a mixup as it changed to 6 months from 4 months. It wasnt 3 months either. 

Either way it wouldnt have benefited you as its a mixup on what you were told that would have had no bearing on what deal you ended up with.  

With effect from today, Monday 21st November, the product switch window has been increased from 120 days to 180 days, giving your customers up to six months to complete their product switch with us.

 

Product switch criteria reminder

 

All existing HSBC UK mortgage customers who are on a Fixed Rate, Term Tracker, Lifetime Tracker or SVR are eligible to switch, with the following exceptions:

 

• The mortgage account is in arrears
• There is a consent to let in place
• A product switch application is already in progress (via Intermediary or our Direct channel)
• They have more than six loan parts
• There are more than two applicants
• There are any additional changes to the mortgage (e.g. change of term, repayment type etc.)
• They have less than two mortgage payments left

MarcMCFC1986

JMA74 said:

maybe they were getting mixed up with 6 month remortgage offers.  There is definitely a mixup as it changed to 6 months from 4 months. It wasnt 3 months either. 

Either way it wouldnt have benefited you as its a mixup on what you were told that would have had no bearing on what deal you ended up with.  

With effect from today, Monday 21st November, the product switch window has been increased from 120 days to 180 days, giving your customers up to six months to complete their product switch with us.

 

Product switch criteria reminder

 

All existing HSBC UK mortgage customers who are on a Fixed Rate, Term Tracker, Lifetime Tracker or SVR are eligible to switch, with the following exceptions:

 

• The mortgage account is in arrears
• There is a consent to let in place
• A product switch application is already in progress (via Intermediary or our Direct channel)
• They have more than six loan parts
• There are more than two applicants
• There are any additional changes to the mortgage (e.g. change of term, repayment type etc.)
• They have less than two mortgage payments left

Thank you!

dunstonh

It is worth noting that small localised brokers are usually better on service than large online companies with targets to hit and look to move on to the next person as quickly as you can.   Localised brokers tend to be more experienced and knowledgeable.  Mainly as they tend to learn their trade with the larger firms and go independent after that.   They deal directly with the lenders rather than passing all the work to clerk behind the scenes.  So, they get to see all the quirks.

JMA74 was able to pin point the changeover and the date.   Your broker could have done the same if they really wanted to.