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Published: 31/01/07
Millions of borrowers are in line for refunds of up to £220 each after the monetary Services Authority's decision finally to take action on unfair mortgage fees Financial letters has been campaigning against the charges for almost three yearsWhen borrowers close their mortgage financial records - as millions do each year when switching to improved deals - lenders have been imposing ' salvation administration' fees of up to £295Yet the real cost of final mortgages has been estimated at nearer £50, something that Financial Mail has been pointing out since 2004, when lenders suddenly in progress drastically bumping up their fees
What was twice as unfair was that lenders were raising their charges after borrowers had signed up In the worst luggage they were not even effective the customerNow the FSA has said that some fees must be slash and indicated that borrowers who were unfairly emotional should be compensated Most of the big banks are implicated as are many of the supposedly customer-focused building societies
During 2004 and 2005, Halifax raised its mortgage final charge by £100 to £175, Abbey by £125 to £225, countrywide from nothing to £90 and Cheltenham & Gloucester by £45 to £225 NatWest,Royal store of Scotland and Woolwich - now part of Barclays - all increased their fees by about £100 during that occasion Yorkshire and Portman building societies greater than before theirs by nearer £50The worst was Alliance & Leicester, which had set the trend with jawdropping charge increases during 2003 and 2004
By August 2004, A&L boasted a mortgage account end fee of £295 - the highest of all - a figure that almost trebled in two years Northern Rock was nearly as awful with a charge that jumped by almost £100 to £250 in 2005Now, millions of those who salaried the higher fees are entitled to refunds, but they must complain Those likely to be eligible would have signed up before the increases - in most luggage before 2005 - and switched lender since
The number of borrowers affected could top 500,000 at Halifax, and 200,000 at each of Abbey, A&L, C&G, Northern Rock and Woolwich Lenders which applied inferior fees, such as Nationwide, might not be required to disburse any rebatesTHE FSA has indicated that lenders should not have significantly increased mortgage redemption cost after borrowers had signed upTherefore, current borrowers will not have to pay more than the fee affirmed on their agreement when they leave
Where borrowers have already paid cost that were unfairly increased, they will be entitled to a refund of the difference between the charge paid and the fee at first stated on their agreementBut they need to mark to former lenders asking for this refund If the official procedure is lost and the amounts salaried forgotten, but they think they were affected, they should mark a letter asking former lenders to investigate and to disburse refunds dueLevying extortionate fees for make-believe services and then trebling those charges after customers have signed up is patently unfair
So when Alliance & Leicester hugely increased its mortgage explanation final charge to £295 in August 2004, Financial Mail wrote a public letter of complaint to the bank's millionaire superior Richard Pym He wouldn't move Nor would Financial MailWeeks later, we delivered 100 A&L borrowers' mail of complaint to the bank's Leicester headquarters
For two hours we argued with its lawful secretary Simon Lloyd and its conceited mortgage supremo Stephen Leonard that what they were doing was unquestionably unfair and possibly illegalThey wriggled and waffled (read a transcript at this time but did nothing So we published a breeze complaint letter on thisismoney, serving hundreds - if not thousands - of irate borrowers to win rebatesMeanwhile, we complained to the monetary Services Authority
In addition, we spelt out the difficulty to Financial Ombudsman repair boss Walter MerricksWe succeeded in preventing at least one other lender - Leeds structure Society - from copying A&LLeeds ditched plans to raise its mortgage charge from £165 to £260 after monetary Mail warned its boss Ian Ward in writing that we would attack its injustice as fiercely as we had criticised A&L'sHelicopter pilot trainer wrench Atkinson, 60, from Banbury, Oxfordshire, was one of the winning complainants
In a letter to A&L in April 2005, he asked: 'If you could close a mortgage for £75 in 2002, why does it price £295 now' A&L never answered his question, but offered a £100 repayment He pressed for a full £220 repayment - which would take the fee down to the £75 it had been when he signed up - and the bank eventually paid upWhen Financial letters contacted him last week, he said: 'I'm very satisfied something's happened at last
It's the principle, not the money'When I switched the mortgage from the Halifax in January 2002, they made us pay £2,554 as an early salvation fee What are the chances that a) the fee was pale and b) we'd get any back if we complainedSelect a loan word 12 months (1 year) 24 months (2 existence 36 months (3 existence 48 months (4 existence 60 months (5 existence 72 months (6 years) 84 months (7 years) 96 months (8 years) 108 months (9 years) 120 months (10 years)Please choose a type of insurance Life insurance Home and contents Car Breakdown armed forces Health - medical Health - dental journey Pet - dog
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Primed to explode - Published:03/11/06
Lesley Bishop has been waiting three years for her donation mis-selling complaint to be settled The Ombudsman receives 250 more every day There are three million potential wounded and they all want action NOWYears of misery for the thousands attentive in the endowment mis-selling nightmare seem set to drag on made not as good as by the very organisation set up to investigate complaints against the industry extended suffering victims are calling on the monetary Ombudsman Service to hire more staff urgently and improve its overhaulAccording to the Financial Services Authority, more than 3m endowment policies have yet to be occasion barred - sense that a case for mis-selling could still be lodged, so volumes of endowment complaints may stay high or even growBut the knock-on result of increased claims at the Ombudsman, which deals with complaints about banks and insurers, could be disastrous for existing endowment victims They are vocation on the FOS to take instant action to cut delaysLesley Bishop, 54, from Woking, Surrey, first complained about donation mis-selling almost three natural life ago The FOS has had her file since April 2004, after the self-governing financial adviser who sold her policies rejected the container But Lesley, who runs a portfolio of rental properties, is still to come for a decision'I'm at my wits' end and worried ill about my endowments,' says Lesley, who has a sum £60,000 shortfall on three endowment policies with Scottish Provident that she usual would clear a £120,000 mortgage in 2015'The Ombudsman has persons's lives in its hands and the hold-up is agonising,' she says 'I feel as if my life is on hold until I get a decision on my case'The FOS delivered a decision on Lesley's case in February, rejecting her claim of mis-selling, but she supposed the adjudicator missed vital points in her case and appealedThe case has gone to a more senior shape in the FOS, but despite being told that her container would be dealt with promptly as she had already been waiting for more than two years, there is still no sign of a resolution to Lesley's caseTeresa Fritz, principal member at consumer lobby group Which, says: 'It is not satisfactory for someone to wait two years for an outcome on a complaint'We empathize with the Ombudsman and understand it has a significant donation workload But we would like to see cases that have gone to appeal or those that have waited a significant occasion to be fast-tracked'Mortgage endowment complaints represent 49 per cent of the complaints about banks and insurers referred to the FOS, which receives 250 novel endowment complaints every dayThe FOS says that, on standard, it delivers a decision on an donation case within nine months, though complex cases and pleaed decisions take longerIt claims that an plea on an FOS decision, such as Lesley's, should be reviewed in between six to 12 monthsEmma Parker, FOS orator, told Financial Mail: 'During the past monetary year, we recruited 120 more jury and support staff taking the number working on endowment cases to 400'As these new starters have got up to speed, our focus has been on resolving the luggage that have been with us best Complaints volumes have stabilised over the past year and, though this is at a high height, we feel we have adequate capacity to deal with it'This is Money's instructions and advice can help you get the best mortgage, find a vision home or transform your house read:But this is of small comfort to Lesley, who feels hurt at her treatment 'The independent adviser that I consider mis-sold the policy has not co-operated at all with the Ombudsman's inquiry,' she says'It has dragged its feet and been unhelpful I've been asked to recall conversations that took place 20 natural life ago, which I've done to the best of my knowledge The process has been stressful and it is still not over'to come FOR A VERDICT: Dermot Cairns won his mis-selling container, but Halifax bank appealed, prompting more delaysDermot Cairns, 56, who works for Stena row ferries in Belfast, is another mortgage endowment policyholder still waiting for a decision on his mis-selling claim monetary Mail first wrote about his fight with Halifax in February 2005, but 18 months later he is no closer to an outcomeIn July last year, the FOS ruled in his good turn, but after the bank appealed against the FOS's decision the container had to go back to an adjudicatorAs a result, the case has now been with the FOS for two-and-a-half natural life Dermot, who faces a £20,000 deficit on a £55,000 endowment policy due to grown-up in 2011, is understandably angry'It is clear that the Ombudsman's office is covered with thousands of cases, but it has had many years to put resources in place,' he says 'A 12-month wait for an appeal decision is totally intolerable in any industry'Both Lesley and Dermot are considering complaining to an independent evaluator about the way the FOS dealt with their cases, and in exacting the long delaysTo complain about the service from the FOS, you should first tell the member of staff you have been dealing with If you are dissatisfied with the outcome, you can write to the service review boss, who should respond within 20 days If you are still unhappy, you can write to the self-governing assessorThe self-governing assessor cannot consider whether the FOS was right to uphold or refuse a complaint, only whether it dealt with the complaint correctly, efficiently and in reasonable time The FOS waged out about £30,000 compensation to 76 complainants last year over complaints that were dealt with inadequatelyBARCLAYS is secretly writing to thousands of customers offering to reconsider mortgage endowment mis-selling complaints it had previously rejectedThe bank is supposed to have negotiated a deal with the monetary Services Authority whereby this review, if conducted quickly, will spare it the community disgrace and fine suffered by Abbey last yearLetters are leaving to customers whose 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