Accord mortgages cashback confusion

zAndy1

Does anyone have any experience of Accord mortgages cashback? I'm going to ring them on Monday about this (they're closed now) but just wondered if it looks wrong to anyone else really? We completed on Wednesday and haven't received any cashback yet but I wasn't sure how long it takes to be honest although I was under the impression it was supposed to go into my account the day after completion. Looking at this statement though suggests they've debited the cashback from the mortgage account and then credited it back to the mortgage account which is obviously a net payment of £0 and anyway I thought it would be paid into my current account not the mortgage account? Has anyone else taken out an accord cashback mortgage recently and can confirm how quickly they received the cashback and did it go into your current account not the mortgage one? 

ACG

Was it a purchase or remortgage? 
Has it been used by your solicitors towards their bill? 

zAndy1

ACG said:

Was it a purchase or remortgage? 
Has it been used by your solicitors towards their bill? 

Remortgage. Actually I've realised what's happened. The old mortgage redemption statement ended up being about £550 more than the new mortgage amount we applied for, they took the cashback off the difference and I paid the rest separately myself so basically the cashback has been swallowed up making up the shortfall between the old and new mortgage. The shortfall came about because of interest being added to the outstanding amount between the date of the last payment and completion date. I feel the broker should have mentioned that possibility when we agreed the mortgage amount to apply for cos it ended up meaning I had to make good the shortfall amount out of my own pocket which on top of the £599 broker fee wasn't ideal really. 

ACG

Your mortgage balance changes daily, it goes up every day until you make a mortgage payment, at which point it comes down and then goes back up again and so on. 

We ask customers how much their mortgage balance is but the exact amount wont be known until completion when the redemption statement is issued. It should be much closer than £500 - where did the incorrect figure come from? If you provided the wrong figure, I am not sure how the broker could be to blame. 

zAndy1

ACG said:

Your mortgage balance changes daily, it goes up every day until you make a mortgage payment, at which point it comes down and then goes back up again and so on. 

We ask customers how much their mortgage balance is but the exact amount wont be known until completion when the redemption statement is issued. It should be much closer than £500 - where did the incorrect figure come from? If you provided the wrong figure, I am not sure how the broker could be to blame. 

Well the broker asked me what the outstanding balance was on the mortgage and I went with the figure the mortgage company gave me when I rang them. I feel the broker should have been aware of the potential for the redemption figure being more due to interest being added, I was completely unaware of that , ok maybe it should have been obvious but it wasn't to me. Just think the broker should have asked whether I'd allowed for interest when I gave him the amount I thought it would require to settle the old mortgage. 
Anyway I'm still a bit confused about why the cashback is showing as a debit and then a credit on my mortgage account , surely if they've debited it and then credited it back again I haven't actually really received any cashback have I? The solicitors completion statement shows receipt of the mortgage advance and the cashback so I guess in that respect I've gained £250 , just confusing why it shows on my mortgage statement as well I suppose but I guess since the debit and credit cancel each other out and the solicitors received £250 I'm up £250 at the end of the day. Ok, think I've convinced myself I have actually received £250 cashback, ignore me 

ACG

Usually it takes at least a month to complete so you would never expect it to be higher by the time you complete. 

The problem we have is that between what customers appear to expect us to make them aware of (going off this forum) and what the FCA expect us to make customers aware of... You probably still would not have completed if we went through everything. But it is interesting, I come on this site to learn as much as help. 

I actually tend to do things a little differently to what you broker has done and add on about £250-500 to the mortgage balance. Not to earn more commission but to just ensure there is no shortfall. 

zAndy1

ACG said:

Usually it takes at least a month to complete so you would never expect it to be higher by the time you complete. 

The problem we have is that between what customers appear to expect us to make them aware of (going off this forum) and what the FCA expect us to make customers aware of... You probably still would not have completed if we went through everything. But it is interesting, I come on this site to learn as much as help. 

I actually tend to do things a little differently to what you broker has done and add on about £250-500 to the mortgage balance. Not to earn more commission but to just ensure there is no shortfall. 

They added about £250 I think it was to cover any potential redemption fee but the interest was like £31 a day and it was a couple of weeks and that wasn't allowed for at all so yeah, lesson learnt for next time...

ACG

Ive been a broker for nearly 10 years and never had this happen. 
It sounds like I would have done something similar to what your broker did. 

I think you are just the "unlucky" one - although managed to complete a remortgage in less than a month is pretty good. 

I will bear this in mind as I would like to think I do a good job but I would have done the same thing I think. 

kingstreet

Accord credited the cashback to your mortgage account so it would be released to your solicitor ready for completion. They then reversed it off your account as it isn't borrowed money. If they left it there, you would be paying interest on it!

zAndy1

ACG said:

Ive been a broker for nearly 10 years and never had this happen. 
It sounds like I would have done something similar to what your broker did. 

I think you are just the "unlucky" one - although managed to complete a remortgage in less than a month is pretty good. 

I will bear this in mind as I would like to think I do a good job but I would have done the same thing I think. 

I think the problem is (was) that the broker asked me what I thought the new mortgage amount would need to be to settle the old one and I just assumed it would be the figure I saw every month which never changed (it was interest only) with a bit extra for the redemption fee. Of course when you settle it halfway through the month you've got some additional interest to factor in and I hadn't twigged about that. Of course it doesn't help that the solicitors don't ask for a redemption statement from the old mortgage company until after you've put the application in and got an offer and proceed with the application. Anyway as I said I've learnt my lesson and will certainly be wise to this next time as it has put me out of pocket a fair bit