RBS Mortgage payment date problems

chivalry21 · 27 November 2012 at 1:34PM

Hello,

I'm just looking for a little advice.

We took out a mortgage with RBS in March this year and on our application specified the 1st of each month as the payment date.

When our mortgage started the first payment was taken on the 20th, before my wife or I had been paid causing us some financial (liquidity) problems because we had effectively had a months mortgage payment taken early, one we hadn't budgeted for.

I called RBS and complained but was told that that was the way it had been set up and I must have requested that date on my form (which I hadn't) and if I wanted to change the date to the 1st of each month I would have to pay two months.

I didn't think this was right but it seemed there was no option and RBS had made out it was my fault.

After struggling for a few months I called RBS again and was given the same response but this time wasn't happy and asked to speak to their complaint department.

Eventually I spoke with someone who told me that she had looked into it and that our paperwork stated the 1st of each month but I would have to cancel the direct debit and set up a new one; risking a default and my credit rating if it didn't go through in time.

The whole thing has been quite distressing. Eventually RBS agreed to change the payment date themselves and by way of compensation told me that £100 was all I could expect.

To date RBS have not sent out any information detailing the changes to our mortgage, we have had no apology and I don't feel that £100 reflects the distress or problems this mistake on their part has caused us. It's not about the money it's the dismissal of their error, lack of apology and complete disregard for the stress their mistake put us through that is the most upsetting.

If it had been us that were late on our mortgage payments for 6 months we would have been charged for each late payment (£50? / occasion) and it would have severely affected our credit rating.

RBS consider my complaint dealt with. Has anyone had a similar experience or any advice on what I should do?

Should I take this further by writing to the Financial Services Ombudsman or just try and forget about the whole thing?

Many thanks
Andy

Thrugelmir · 27 November 2012 at 1:48PM

chivalry21 wrote: »

After struggling for a few months

Why were you struggling?

What did RBS collect on the first DD and the second?

chivalry21 · 27 November 2012 at 1:55PM

Hello Thrugelmir,

RBS collected first full mortgage payment on the 20th, we get paid at the end of the month and the first payment should have been taken on the 1st after we were paid.

The problem is they took the first payment incorrectly so for 10 days we had no money in our account which shouldn't have happened because RBS took the payment on the wrong date we had to borrow money in that time.

latecomer · 27 November 2012 at 1:59PM

Did RBS not send you a letter detailing what would be taken for the 1st payment and when?

Thrugelmir · 27 November 2012 at 2:07PM

chivalry21 wrote: »

Hello Thrugelmir,

RBS collected first full mortgage payment on the 20th, we get paid at the end of the month and the first payment should have been taken on the 1st after we were paid.

The problem is they took the first payment incorrectly so for 10 days we had no money in our account which shouldn't have happened because RBS took the payment on the wrong date we had to borrow money in that time.

So was the 2nd payment taken on the first of the following month?

chivalry21 · 27 November 2012 at 2:21PM

Hello latecomer,

Possibly, I'll need to look out the paperwork. I'm not sure how that is relevant though?

Our mortgage application states our payments should be taken on the 1st of each month, RBS have this on file and have admitted the payment was set up, by them, on the wrong date; not only that they've paid me £100 compensation for the error.

But I've had no apology, no confirmation of the changes that were made to our payment date and no explanation of how/why it happened.

So do I complain to the ombudsman?

kingstreet · 27 November 2012 at 2:31PM

When you make a complaint, you tell them what you feel they did wrong and what you want them to do to put it right.

If you are not happy with the response, you tell them you're not happy and you ask them to rethink.

Once they write to you with a final response, you can then escalate to FOS if you are unhappy with the outcome.

FWIW, I'd expect a lender to collect accrued interest, the amount of interest from the completion date to the end of the month of completion in a single payment soon after completion and outside the agreed payment date.

The agreed payment date normally applies to the first, and subsequent regular monthly payments, not to the initial one.

However, this is predicated on the lender;-

- publishing the terms of how it collects first payments
and
- writing to you to tell you the payment amounts and their collection dates.

I can find nothing on the RBS website which tells you in advance what to expect. For information, this is a guide Halifax send to all its new borrowers with their mortgage offer. I've quoted the section which would apply to a new Halifax mortgage;-

Depending on when in the month you take out
your mortgage, we will collect your initial interest,
together with your first and subsequent payments
as follows:

• Mortgage taken out on 1st-9th – we will collect
initial interest 14 days after the date of your
mortgage. We will then collect your first
monthly payment on your preferred payment
date in the month following the month during
which you took out your mortgage. We will
collect subsequent monthly payments on your
preferred payment date each month after that.

• Mortgage taken out on 10th-17th – we will
collect initial interest and the first monthly
payment on your preferred payment date
in the month following the month during
which you took out your mortgage. We will
collect subsequent monthly payments on your
preferred payment date each month after that.

• Mortgage taken out on 18th-31st – we will
collect initial interest and the first monthly
payment 14 days after the date of your
mortgage. We will collect the second monthly
payment on your preferred payment date in
the 2nd month following the month during
which you took out your mortgage. We will
collect subsequent monthly payments on your
preferred payment date each month after that.

http://www.halifax-intermediaries.co.uk/pdf/mortgage/all-about-our-mortgages.pdf

latecomer · 27 November 2012 at 2:34PM

From memory for each mortgage I've started, I've received documentation to set out exactly whats going to be taken and when.

I'm not saying that RBS haven't done anything wrong - just that it shouldn't have been a surprise as they almost certainly would have notified you in writing that they were going to do it.

Thrugelmir · 27 November 2012 at 2:45PM

chivalry21 wrote: »

one we hadn't budgeted for.

I suspect that your issue is as Kingstreet has highlighted.

So while the bank has compensated for the lack of proper communication. They have done nothing wrong.

chivalry21 · 27 November 2012 at 3:13PM

Thanks for the responses kingstreet, latecomer & Thrugelmir.

In honesty I was embellishing a little with my tale of financial woe for the incorrect payment date.

I've had another look through statements. We bought the house on the 23rd March and I hadn't noticed the initial payment which was collected on the 23rd April. The next payment was collected on the 20th of May but really should have been the 1st of May(?).

So if I'm looking at this correctly RBS have made a mistake but it was actually in my favour. RBS have now changed the date to the 1st effectively giving me a month with no mortgage payments and £100 compensation.

In which case I haven't been wronged at all and in fact I've managed to be paid £100 for a payment holiday.

Unless RBS have different terms and the second payment should have been the 1st of June in which case they have made a mistake and everything I said in my first post is correct. The only way to know for certain is to dig out the terms and make a decision based on what they say.

Thanks for your help.

kingstreet · 27 November 2012 at 3:14PM

First payment is something on my tick-list of things to discuss with my client at the application appointment stage.

However, I'm a lot more attentive to detail than most, so it's quite possible for an "adviser" to ask "What is your preferred monthly payment date?" and leave it at that, proffering no information on accrued interest, giving the impression (by omission) that payments will only be taken on that preferred date.

If the lender fails to notify the borrower of the payments, or notifies them with only a few days before the payment is taken, it's not the kind of service I'd expect, or accept, if it was happening to one of my clients.

RBS Mortgage payment date problems

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free