Mortgage conversion accepted in writing now withdrawn, when a contract?

maz1964

Hiya guys,

hope anyone can throw a little advice, our tracker mortgage came to an end, got a letter from the mortgage company asking us to contact them to see if they could convert our mortgage that had gone to their svr, which i did,

I explained we had arrears on the mortgage and i accepted the 3 yr fixed with a small fee. Had conversion letter and conditions and the amount had been included with the arrears and shown as marked as amended. We signed and their own local branch faxed documents on, now after much hoo ha, due to the arrears they have withdrawn their conversion offer, they say they CAN WITHDRAW THEIR OFFER AT ANY TIME

my hubby thinks this is wrong, if we have been offered a product and we have signed to accept and their conditions met by returning within 14 days, now they say we shouldnt have had it given to us in the first place they are withdrawing it

when does this kind of scenario become a firm contract, there are no info that they can withdraw anytime or for us to withdraw at any time neither

any legal sharp people want to guide me pls, now awaiting on their complaint finalisation letter and to see what thier legal team are proposing how we can be assisted in clearing the arrears, or they might just issue court proceedings,

i have been to cab this morning, they cannot see anything wrong with what ive done, but advised to seek further legal assistance, due back to them in the week, once i have letters from the mortgage company.

Ive also advised them if im not happy with their responce i will get FOS to investigate this further, however, am also scared re possession papers, not yet had but i feel are on the way., (will update you later though)

Much appreciated, any guidance i will action.

Have a fun day Ciao MAZ

dunstonh

say they CAN WITHDRAW THEIR OFFER AT ANY TIME

my hubby thinks this is wrong

They can withdraw the offer at any time.

when does this kind of scenario become a firm contract

Once the funds have been advanced or when the deal has been put in place on the mortgage.

Mostly once the contract/offer letter is issued, then its rare for them to change their mind like this. Typically it only happens when new information has come to light that they were not aware of at the point of offering those terms or they have tightened their lending criteria.

luckyfool

Have you been paying your mortgage on time recently, with just an arrears balance built up historically, or are you still not paying? Have you been in touch with your lender to negotiate a plan to repay arrears . . . even if over an extended period of time? Unless you have made no effort to come to an arrangement or you are still not paying the mortgage then I feel it is unlikely they would start repossession proceedings (though this depends on the lender).

maz1964

Hiya dunstonh - many thanks for your advice and help

Mostly once the contract/offer letter is issued, then its rare for them to change their mind like this. Typically it only happens when new information has come to light that they were not aware of at the point of offering those terms or they have tightened their lending criteria.

They were very aware of the arrears at the time of my discussion with them and have talked about the arrears. So when the conversion letter came the amount did include the arrears thus the total sum was being offered to the new fixed rate. So this is not new information, perhaps i feel, they have tightened their lending, and perhaps now feel they do not want to offer me the fixed rate to keep me on the svr, the arrears at the time were about 2200.00. I was keeping the same lenght of the mortgage, nothing else was being amended.

However, i do see how you have put it makes sense. Thank you.

Hiya luckyfool - thanks for your help and guidance too

I had been on top of the mortgage payment and had been trying to clear the arrears upto the march date, since its been what i can afford each week, due to the complaint and the conversion being halted in april and ive lost my sick pay im awaiting the legal team to let me know what the option s are they will consider to help us in keeping on paying the regular mortgage and clear the arrears, i am aware of the Norgan case v cheltenham gloucester, however, not sure if i need to be taken to court for this to be used in defense, as if its a reasonable possibility of the arrears to be spread over the rest of my short time i would be happy for this to happen without having to go to court.

Will update you later in the week once ive had my letters from the complaints team and legal team.

Ciao for now MAZ

dunstonh

Some rates have been expiring with less than half a days notice and have only been available for days. Did you get the paperwork back to them quick enough to qualify for that deal? Have you been offered an alternative deal?

maz1964

hiya dunstonh, thank you again for your interest

yes spoke on the phone the 18th got paperwork 19th and faxed by local branch on 22nd, and paperwork stated within 14 days -

can i just clarify, this was with the same mortgage company i had the tracker deal with, not that a deal with another mortgage company. They invited me to call them to offer me a better deal than me going onto their SVR rate.
i am talking about nearly 3 months ago now, when all this started.

Ciao for now MAZ

minimike2

At the end of the day they have the right to do it. If you have arrears then you too have broken your contract, by not making the contractural payments on the mortgage, so in a way you can understand thier reluctance to offer you a new deal whilst the arrears remain.

Im sure they will be happy to offer you something new once the arrears are cleared, but until then I wouldnt be suprised if they only offer you the SVR.

maz1964

Hiya minimike2

thanks for your advice,

i can see what you are saying - i totally understand that , but im asking if they were aware of the arrears at the time of my phone call to them and they included the arrears in the amount of the paperwork they submitted to us to sign and return, they were aware of the arrears at the time of their offer.
Whilst what you are saying could lead me now to believe perhaps they made a huge error in offering me the deal in the first place, ive never had anything in writing from them to state it has been withdrawn only a telephone conversation advising oops we have made a mistake, i could not establish exactly what they meant as a mistake, they kept passing me back to the arrears team.

Now they want to compensate me only for the phone calls and the time i spent, im trying to establish i guess could i have any call for the FOS to investigate that they infact missold me a product although there were made aware at the time of the phone call and their conversion letter stating the amounts and amendments to the rate from a svr to a fixed rate. The offer was made by them, i accepted the offer and signed the paperwork sent to me and returned thus does this not constitute a contract made?

There is nothing on the conversion offer paperwork stating they have a cooling off period or for me to withdraw from the offer, or if they are made aware of anything they can withdraw the offer.

My gut is telling me that they have relooked at this after 10 days and realised they shouldnt have even ventured into a conversation with me just should have advised me that until the arrears were cleared they could not offer me any other products.
Then if this is the law of contract law i will accept that they have made an error and the advisor missold me their product, even after all facts of the arrears had been presented to him.
Compensation is being offered but now nearly 3 months later, all the good deals are difficult to find and they have rendered me to stay with their svr rate which due to their very poor service and inside dealings and policies have caused me to be in a much worse position than before their invite to me to call them to offer me a better deal than their current svr deal at the time,

Guess life is like a chessboard, just now awaiting on their responces to my letters and what their next move is for me to react and see what sort of compensation they decide to give me.

Have a fun day and catch up later in the week ciao MAZ

minimike2

It would certianly appear that the person who you originally talked to ballsed up. Ive never known a lender offer a new deal with current arrears. I would certianly persue a complaint for the hassle they have caused, maybe be a hundered quid or so to compensate for your time and effort, but I wouldnt bank on getting the product you wanted im afraid.