Did my mortgage lender TRICK me before & when I signed their contract?

thewhistleblowersdog

Advice sought or experience shared. Thank You.

1. Just discovered that prior to my signing my mortgage contract,
2. my lender repeatedly sent my financial details and data
3. to two wrong addresses
4. before I signed the contract with them.

What legal rights did I have or do I have 18 years later?
Spoke to FCA this morning & still unclear.

2024
I've just found a documents that verified that my mortgage broker had to repeatedly remind the mortgage company of my correct postal address. (I had not received documents that I had been told had been sent to me). Except, it seems that the mortgage company kept ignoring the mortgage broker's warnings by phone and then by FAX.

September to November 2006
My mortgage company sent my personal details to 2 incorrect addresses.

• One site was too dangerous for me to return to because my violent ex partner still had access to that property.
• The other address was the house that I was about to buy, but hadn't yet purchased or had been given the keys to.

Hood-winked
Further to loads of evidence of my mortgage lender acting fraudulently towards me for over 18 years; if I had know that they were ninnies with my data before I signed my mortgage contract, I would not have signed.

Does this mean that I was scammed/hoodwinked/duped before I signed my contract?
Is there a time-limit to any civil action under the Fraud Act?

Many thanks for your time in reading this. 

user1977

I have no idea what "fraud" you think has taken place, can you elaborate? You can complain about them sending post to the wrong address but I'm not sure what relevance that has 18 years later?

tacpot12

...

Does this mean that I was scammed/hoodwinked/duped before I signed my contract?

Is there a time-limit to any civil action under the Fraud Act?

... 

You were not scammed/hoodwinked/duped before you signed your contract just because the mortgage company were incompetent. Errors are a part of human life.

The time limit for civil claims under the Fraud Act is six years from the point at which you reasonably could have brought a claim. So if, for example, the fraud had been hidden from you for 18 years and you found out about it yesterday, you would have a further six years (less 1 day) in which you could start legal action. However, if you had cause to bring an action seven years ago and you did not do so, you are out of time.   

elsien

So, you haven’t been defrauded into any sort of financial loss then? Just for the sake of clarity. 

What did they allegedly trick you into doing that you wouldn’t have done otherwise? 

Please clarify what claims you think you may have under the fraud act? 

EssexHebridean

I'd echo the response previously though - it's not easy to see what fraud you think may have taken place here - as all you have described in your OP is a straightforward "human error" mistake made at a time when electronic systems were a lot more robust than they are today. what is the fraud or scam that you think you may have fallen for? 

For clarity also - your OP suggests that there are 4 points to your question, but in fact it appears that it is just a single issue? So for 

thewhistleblowersdog said:

Advice sought or experience shared. Thank You.

1. Just discovered that prior to my signing my mortgage contract,
2. my lender repeatedly sent my financial details and data
3. to two wrong addresses
4. before I signed the contract with them.

we should actually read

Advice sought or experience shared. Thank You.

1. Just discovered that prior to my signing my mortgage contract, my lender repeatedly sent my financial details and data to two wrong addresses before I signed the contract with them.

Is this correct, or are there further points which have somewhere got lost in some rather odd formatting? 

saajan_12

Please outline the other fraud over the 18 years is. Sending data to the 'further thewhistleblowersdog said:

Hood-winked

Further to loads of evidence of my mortgage lender acting fraudulently towards me for over 18 years; if I had know that they were ninnies with my data before I signed my mortgage contract, I would not have signed.

Any damages / recompense has to be actuallly causally linked to the 'fraud' committed. Accidentally sharing data doesn't have any link to you getting access to funds over 18 years or paying interest. At best you get an apology or token amount for the data leak, though unlikely if its not some systematic issue. It won't irradicate paying back the mortgage with interest. 

Schwarzwald

Where’s the TRICK?

propertyrental

What financial loss and how much (if any) have you suffered as a result of this 'trick'?

thewhistleblowersdog

Hello user1977  tacpot12  elsien  EssexHebridean saajan_12 Schwarzwald &  propertyrental

Thank you for your time, interest and feedback.

Sorry if I did best present the back-story clearly enough.

I fled DV & DA over 18 years ago. I worked my socks off to restart my life. Due to the high rents in the area, I sorted out a mortgage loan on a rundown property, whereby the interest based loan was a 3rd cheaper than the rent that I was paying for a tiny terrace.

For 6 weeks I was told that my lender at sent me my mortgage details in the post. But I kept explaining that I had not received them. Neither my mortgage lender or my mortgage broker best explained the error to me. In the end my mortgage contract was sent to me by FAX. I signed it and FAXED it back.

It turns out that my lender had repeatedly sent my financial details and docs to an address in Manchester that my violent ex still had access to. I've recently found a copy of a FAX whereby my mortgage broker reminded the lender of my correspondence address. Except the lender ignored the mortgage brokers written reminder that my correspondence address was the place that I was renting at the time, not my previous Manchester address. The lender continued to send my mortgage papers to the address in Manchester.

Then, whilst redecorating, I found evidence that after I signed the mortgage contract, the lender responded to my signed contract by sending writing to the address of the property that I had not purchased yet.


18 years later, I now realise the reason that my violent ex was able to find out the location of my new home in Suffolk. He continued to harass me, threatening and terrorise me - after I thought I had found a Safe Refuge from him at the other end of the UK.

The error by the lender may explain the reason that I was burdened with the fines and warrants of unpaid bills by the former homeowner of the property that I had purchased. When I purchased the property, I continued with my direct debit with the energy companies I had joined through U Switch when I was renting.

I use the term "fraud" because;
If my mortgage company had best complied with one of the dozen Subject Access Requests that I had made to them between 2009 and 2024; I would've have had a better understanding of issues that have perplexed me and impacted on me within months of my purchasing the property that I became too ill ( and beaten-up) to maintain the mortgage.

I know I sound dumb here - but as the song goes " I can see clearly now ...".

Within years of my purchasing the property, I had a breakdown.
Anyone who thought that they'd escaped DV & DA may empathise.

I hope this makes things clearer? Many thanks again for your time and insights.

thewhistleblowersdog

Oh deary me
Due to my home being repossessed, sleep deprivation & the lender ignoring 8 protocols of the "Mortgage Charter"; I can see that I've missed a few typo's. Don't bite my head off. Really struggling against a corporate monster.

EssexHebridean

OK - yes, that does provide sufficient context to explain the root of your complaint. well done on being brave enough to walk away from your situation and build a new life for yourself - and I'm sorry that it was made harder by the fact that the lender used that incorrect address for you. 

The error is still a basic "Human Error" mistake though I think - rather than being a fraud, scam or a trick. There was no malice involved - no deliberate attempt to harm you, see you financially worse off etc. Indeed, I imagine that the lender did not even know of  your background of DV etc? It seems as though it was at worst simple incompetence. 

 Do you still have the paperwork where you gave them your correct correspondence address, as this may be material in proving your case - it is highly unlikely that they will have correspondence dating back that far now.

What is the document that you now have that proves the mortgage company's failings? is there a clear path showing that you have only just had sight of this?  

You may well have recourse for the failure to answer the SARs, although I have no idea what the requirements around those were at that time. 

It is highly unlikely that the lender played any part in your being pursued for debts owed by the former owner of your new property - it is pretty standard that debt collection agencies in particular with employ all sorts of "fishing" tricks to try to persuade "someone" to pay debts owed to them, even if they are sure that person is not liable for those debts. It does sound however as though you may not have correctly taken over the energy supply at the property you purchased when you moved in - as the contract and DD you had in place for your rented property would have had no relevant to your new home, so it may have been that some of those "unpaid bills" were in fact due by you! Hopefully that is all long resolved now, but for avoidance of doubt for anyone else reading, when moving in to a new property generally speaking you need to take meter readings on first entry, and then give those readings to the current provider of energy to the property. They will then set you as the new account holder. Once that is all in place, you can then switch to a provider of your choice if you so wish.