Halifax Mortgage Overpayment by 10% - Confused

Bizzywizard

Hi,

We contacted Halifax about paying 10% off our mortgage for the first time this year.
We have always done small overpayments, but never amounted to 10%.

We thought the mortgage was April to April (ie when we took it out years ago). Luckily we were told its changed and now runs January to December.

The advisor said we could overpay by £8900 a rather strange amount (do they usually round up/down). At the time I had already done a small overpayment of £1600 (MY DH HAD NO IDEA)....but I assume he didn't take this one board.

So we called again today (1st December) to confirm the exact amount we can overpay.
The woman from Halifax didn't seem to know and was going to have to call back later after telling us we have 3 sub accounts (we paid off a small one earlier on in the year for £190). Surely their computer systems should show the exact amount of overpayment for this year, if their T&C allow it?!  

I have always found it strange that the bank say you can pay 10% this year and never give the exact figure, this would be helpful as we always get our yearly statement in March. I know banks want to make money, but surely putting their customer first should be their prority....instead we are left waiting and hoping for a call back this afternoon.....surely this is costing the bank more time and money.

Has anyone else had this issue or is it just me?

RelievedSheff

If you log onto your online account it shows you the exact amount you can overpay. The figure takes into account any previous overpayments you have made.

amnblog

The limit is 10% on each product with an early repayment charge (not 10% overall).

Therefore, if you have one sub account with £100,000 balance and another with £50,000, you cannot overpay £15,000 on either sub account without penalty.

You could pay up to £10,000 on sub account one and up to £5,000 on sub account two.

Hence the need to check.

Bizzywizard

RelievedSheff said:

If you log onto your online account it shows you the exact amount you can overpay. The figure takes into account any previous overpayments you have made.

Thanks, We cannot see it on the App.

The lady from Halifax has now come back and said the overpayment is £6920.99, I make it £350 short. So I will hunt round the app and see if DH can log on to the computer to look for it.

Thanks again!

Bizzywizard

amnblog said:

The limit is 10% on each product with an early repayment charge (not 10% overall).

Therefore, if you have one sub account with £100,000 balance and another with £50,000, you cannot overpay £15,000 on either sub account without penalty.

You could pay up to £10,000 on sub account one and up to £5,000 on sub account two.

Hence the need to check.

We only have 1 sub account for £147 with 0% interest. The other one we had we paid it off as advised by Halifax in January time again it was a small amount again. So maybe this is where I think I am £350 short on my overpayment.

Thanks for coming back to me!

Hoenir

Bizzywizard said:

We thought the mortgage was April to April (ie when we took it out years ago). Luckily we were told its changed and now runs January to December.

The bank will work to it's own calendar year when annual statements are issued to all mortgage holders. Not the anniversary date when the mortgage started. As within a mortgage it's possible to have more than one loan account under the charge. 

amnblog

Hoenir said:

Bizzywizard said:

We thought the mortgage was April to April (ie when we took it out years ago). Luckily we were told its changed and now runs January to December.

The bank will work to it's own calendar year when annual statements are issued to all mortgage holders. Not the anniversary date when the mortgage started. As within a mortgage it's possible to have more than one loan account under the charge. 

Halifax work on the calendar year for overpayment limits

RelievedSheff

RelievedSheff said:

If you log onto your online account it shows you the exact amount you can overpay. The figure takes into account any previous overpayments you have made.

If you go into the My Home part of the account page there will be a section in there for remaining balances.

Click on the overpayment tab and it will break down your allowable overpayment amounts.