Building Society Accepts Wrong Advise

Leeds_Fella

Hi, need advice.A well known building society have accepted they badly advised me when I attempted to port my mortgage to a new house and hence I lost a 3.5K early repayment charge and also the 4.99 fixed I signed up to 2 years ago.I sold my house, paid the 3.5K ERC and am in renting until this is sortedThey have now accepted blame and will refund my ERC if I take out a new mortgage with them - but the new mortgage is a higher fixed rate and I would be tied in longer.Do I have to accept the offer or can I demand the ERC to be paid back to me and walk away.Good advice needed !

homer_j_3

What have they actually admitted to?

What I mean by that is that have they admitted that you should have been able to port or is it just a gesture of good will?

17Dave

Have they put anything in writing?
If not will they?

Leeds_Fella

I could not complete on my next house at the same time as selling and had a delay.

6 weeks prior to redeeming my mortage the mortgage advisor stated I simply had to call up the week before and obtain a mortgage offer for my next property and I would have a 3 month time period to complete. She stated I did not need a valuation in place prior to obtaining the mortgage offer, hence lost me ERC.

I complained in writing, appealed, they listened to the original call and admitted the advise was very misleading. I have this in a letter together with them asking me to sign acceptance of thier offer to repay the ERC and redemtion administration.

Can I not accept this, would it be wise to want more, i.e, the money and walk away?

homer_j_3

I could be looking at this from the complete wrong angle but I would say that by asking you to take a new mortgage at a higher rate is not putting you in the same position as what you should have been had the advice been correct. The key is what they have admitted and why they have made this offer.

I wouldn't like to say how the FOS would view it but I know that if they had admitted that the advice was wrong, then I wouldn't be happy until I had the old rate.

Disclaimer: I do not have enough information for you me to direct you in your decision. If you decline the offer and subsequently the FOS side with the BS then you may lose out.

TEDDYRUKSPIN

Very strange. Obtain written confirmation that they were at fault. This will support your case to obtain your ERC without picking out another mortgage. If they can not provide you with the fixed rate you want, they are obliged to compensate the equivalent of monthly repayment you will be paying now, hence lost.

They should have told you to carry out a bridging loan in order previously. Very bad advice the advisor provided you. Send a letter out again. Ask for written confirmation. Don't accept and financial ombudsman. Trust me. You will get your answer.

This may take you six weeks at most to get what you want.

Leeds_Fella

Hi, thanks all for your help here. he reasons I want to get this fee back now is and walk away is

1. I have been messed about so much by them
2. The rates they currently have are no competitive at all and I do not want to be tied into the high rate with the current market conditions

I have 28 days to accept the offer so could wait and see if they have any new mortgage products coming on the market. Their current fixed rate are 5.87 and trackers 5.9%

dunstonh

I dont think you will win on it.

Financial services doesnt have compensation. It has redress and goodwill. The redress puts you in the position you would have been had you not gone with that transaction. Goodwill payments are at discretion of provider.

If you take your mortgage elsewhere then you would have paid the ERC regardless. So, in that case they dont have to pay it. If you keep the new lending with them then they have they will not charge you the ERC and you have what they should have done in the first place. You could push for a continuation of the fixed rate but asking them to pay you back the ERC and doing a runner to another lender is pushing it.

homer_j_3

The way I understood it was 4.99% fixed rate on current home, sell house and transfer same rate and t&c to new property.

BS give wrong information but say, as a result of our staff telling you the wrong thing, we have cost you so because of this, if you stick with us on a current product then we will refund the ERC.

Putting the client back in the position that they were surely would have been to offer ERC and 4.99% rate, not current rate.

I would not go anywhere else or as Dunston states, you would have had to pay the fee if you had left.