£150 compensation for Messy Remortgage fair? Optima Legal

joe.grant · 30 July 2019 at 7:12PM

Hello, ill skip most of the fluff

In May I decided to remortgage with Barclays from another provider due to better rate.

Barclays product included free legals. I started the process on 8th June with the legal company uploading all my docs in 24hrs. It then took them till 22nd to contact me. They said they needed to get a quote for some insurance ~£150, i said well my other lender didn't need this as asked them to talk to barclays to see if its 100% needed. They said no probs this will only take a few days.

It then took them around 21 days to finally come back to say yes you need it (with another week on top for quote and for completion). I chased both the legal company and barclays almost every other day asking to speed things up as from 1st july i was on standard rate. therefore costing me 3 weeks standard rate interest.

The legal company was Optima Legal, in hindsight i would have run a mile looking at the trustpilot reviews.

Basically what should have been a remortgage costing £450 including product fee + money transfer fees etc turned into costing me around £1000 with the additional SR interest plus fees levied by the legal company. Far outweighing any improved interest rate gains

I complained to barclays with a 3 page document including the timelines, stress, my time etc by saying that both barclays and the legal company seemed to sit around doing nothing with no or little contact for over 3 weeks whilst i was getting charged standard rate mortgage.

They took 6 weeks to actually contact me, and have offered max £150 in compensation, and said they will also put a complaint into Optima Legal.

Do you think this is fair? should i reject it and go via ombudsmen. I realise that some of the argument was against the legal company but Barclays did also do nothing for a few weeks, and they are the ones who employ this awful legal company and surely they know their customers are going to receive a terrible service for a barclays product.

If i can give any advice from this is DO NOT REMORTGAGE WITH BARCLAYS AND OPTIMA LEGAL!!

Thrugelmir · 30 July 2019 at 7:45PM

What "process" did you start on the 8th June. The mortgage application?

joe.grant · 30 July 2019 at 7:52PM

Thrugelmir wrote: »

What "process" did you start on the 8th June. The mortgage application?

Hi, the mortgage application was started early may, "the process" on the 8th June was the start of the communication with the legal company, ie the first day i had access to their online portal

[Deleted User] · 30 July 2019 at 8:26PM

I got £250 compensation from HSBC as well as the full extra interest refunded when I complained on behalf of a client about their free legals.
For a first offer it's not bad but I'd counter with 'i want £x for the difference in interest paid' and a reasonable gesture for goodwill

The indemnity policy cost is neither here nor there. Barclays required it, you agreed to pay it. You could have gone to a new lender so staying with them was your choice (although it may not have felt like it due to being so invested in the process)

This is generally why I do my remortgages about 4 months ahead of time. And after being bitten too many times I generally insist on not using rhe free legals

joe.grant · 30 July 2019 at 10:07PM

Deleted_User wrote: »

I got £250 compensation from HSBC as well as the full extra interest refunded when I complained on behalf of a client about their free legals.
For a first offer it's not bad but I'd counter with 'i want £x for the difference in interest paid' and a reasonable gesture for goodwill

Evening, thanks for your input. I do feel ive done nothing wrong in all this and it was very stressful, sleepless nights and the whole thing made me regret choosing them.

The indemnity policy cost is neither here nor there. Barclays required it, you agreed to pay it. You could have gone to a new lender so staying with them was your choice (although it may not have felt like it due to being so invested in the process)

Yeah, a shame it wasn't known upfront, again hindsight is a great thing, being my first remortgage i was naive in believing it could be just as simple as moving current accounts etc. I have learnt a expensive lesson, unless the current mortgage company or rate is terrible, stay put. But at the point the insurance thing popped up i was already past accepting the mortgage offer and had paid my £300 product fee plus was far in with Optima Legal and they also 'threaten' charges for works already completed so just felt i had no good financial alternative than to stay the course at that point

This is generally why I do my remortgages about 4 months ahead of time. And after being bitten too many times I generally insist on not using rhe free legals

I am normally very much ahead of the game on car insurance, energy supplier etc, but again being the first time remortgaging i simply(stupidly) thought it would be a straightforward quick process unlike a full on moving house.

Ive just looked at my redemption statement and its was £18 interest a day x 21 days, so about £380 in interest charges alone. Barclays have tried to teflon shoulder most of the blame to Optima but i still think my argument that its their preferred legal firm and they have knowing chosen a bad one.

I know its impossible to say but if barclays stick to the £150, do you think escalating to ombudsmen might yield a better result. Thanks again

mark55man · 30 July 2019 at 10:15PM

the ombudsman is not your friend - its there for the status quo of the industry rather than a consumer champion.so do your utmost with barclays and get it as high as you can. not saying don't go - you may have to, just don;t invest too much in a result

[Deleted User] · 31 July 2019 at 9:01AM

I don't see why they wouldn't offer more. I think it's a cost of like £500 or something to be taken to the ombudsman (that may be very out of date now, remember hearing it years ago)

I used to work in complaints management for a bank and we would generally offer up to £500 as cheaper then going to ombudsman.

Barclays may want to shoulder the blame but they introduced the service so they are responsible for it. That's why I complained the hsbc about the legal service, they contacted the legal firm and got an explanation, saw the errors and paid the money

I would just keep going until they make a full and final offer. Explain your financial losses and say you expect a full refund.

You may have just experienced why most brokers despise barclays :-)

amnblog · 31 July 2019 at 11:28AM

£150 is probably about 4 times what Optima make on a Barclays case, sounds pretty good to me on that level.

muhandis · 31 July 2019 at 12:10PM

OP, does the compensation cover the extra costs incurred because of Barclays not doing their job properly?

If not, I would take it to the FOS once Barclays have given me a "final response".

Every case that goes to the FOS costs Barclays £550 just in FOS fees, so imho they will be willing to up their offer a bit.

Frankly, you have nothing to lose by going to the FOS if Barclays play hardball.

I don't know if you have gone through the process but it is very straightforward and user friendly. Good luck!

Neutrinno · 31 July 2019 at 12:37PM

amnblog wrote: »

£150 is probably about 4 times what Optima make on a Barclays case, sounds pretty good to me on that level.

I think the level of commision Optima earn is irrelevant in regards to what compensation should be offered, it's cost the customer a lot more due to their poor level of service. As another poster has already noted, it would cost Optima a lot more should this go the financial ombudsman.

[Deleted User] · 31 July 2019 at 2:10PM

It wouldn't be Optima going to the financial ombudsman. It is barclays as they introduced the service

I would probably fight for the indemnity money back as well. If they were quicker to tell you, you would have had the chance to review your options and see if another lender would do without

£150 compensation for Messy Remortgage fair? Optima Legal

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