Fixed Mortgage Fees

mrdtrotter

Morning all,

Back in Jan 2023 I secured an AIP with First Direct, the mortgage fee was £490. At the time Mortgage rates had movement and while waiting to complete the rate fell 3 or 4 times. Each time I chased the lower rate and 'renewed' my AIP with First direct who, each time, charged me another £490.

This year my son has signed up to a similar arrangement with FD, same £490 fee, this month while waiting to complete the rate dropped sufficently to justify renewing his AIP, this time, NO FEE. I spoke to First Direct and was advised that the practice for charging to renew to a lower rate while waiting to complete was scrapped in 2025.

Was it missold before then?

la531983

No. They just changed their policy.

mrdtrotter

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82076264#Comment_82076264

Of course that is the case, but I was hoping for a broader discussion, what prompts such a u-turn (can't think of many aside from morals) etc, but thanks.

ACG

Lots of reasons:

• Morals could be one of them.
• Cost of buying in the money.
• Improvements to the back end system meaning it is less labour intensive and so no need to charge.
• Feedback from customers.

Lenders change criteria and processes all the time. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.

kingstreet

I suspect competetive pressure from other lenders who certainly wouldn't get away with this in the broker market.

dunstonh

Was it missold before then?

Clearly no. It was not. If you buy something from a shop and then go back and buy another one the following week, and the price has gone down, you will not miss out on the first one. The same applies here. Deals change, terms change, and whatever applies at the time you buy it, that is what matters.