***If you have a mortgage then this is for you***

[mrsfoot]

Hello

I have been reading the updates on what Mr Brown has tried to agree with the leading banks of UK. He wants them to pass on the rate cuts. All well and good. However we all know thet 10% of the mortgage products are sub prime and that it is more likley to be a sub prime mortgage payer that is evicted. Therefore I feel Mr Brown should be talking with the CML and all mortgage lenders to reduce the rates. Lets be honest...many people who have a prime market mortgage already enjoys a lower interest rate that the sub prime equivalent (if such a link actually exists). So the 10% are already being discriminated against then along comes the idea of actually passing the cut rate along to the customers (who would have thought of doing that!) and again its the sub prime market (SPM) who miss out.

Lets not get confused here. Many of the SPM are backed by the high street lenders. Those lenders are winning two fold. They already have a return from the rate not being passed on, and then have a further, more enlarged return, from their SPM.

I am in the process of writing to my MP asking what he is going to do about this clear case of discrimination. I am asking you all to do the same.

Please let me know of any response you have from your MPs.

Thanks Mrsfoot x

[Hopeful1]

It is a nightmare. My fixed rate on my sub prime mortgage is due to end next month. I have already had a letter informing me my payments will be increasing by £200. I'm guessing that's just for starters

[adamski]

I have an Sub Prime Mortgage a tracker and I am getting all the cuts I am with the Mortgage Business, the Sub Prime arm of Halifax.

[mrsfoot]

Hi Adamski

Thats great news that you are being passed the cuts......but the main banks sub prime mortgage business is not really the problem. They work with more transparecy...unfortunate ly its the likes of Kensington, SPML, Swift etc who are hiking the monthly cost up and are not passing on the reductions.

Ok here is the response from my MP

Dear Mrsfoot

Thank you for your letter dated 18th April regarding interest rates. I have attached a copy of the Chancellors intended speech in which he addressed the difficulties we face economically globally. The UK Gvmt has only limited ability to influence the larger global situation.
There are other losers in the sub prime market besides mortgage holders including loss of jobs when companies close down offices / business's.
I would suggest that unless the Gvmt take complete ownership of all mortgage companies tey would not be able to control the interest rates, those people eho are forced to take mortgages at higher rates will be largely those who have less attractive financia; backgrounds to those eho are able to obtail lower rates of interest.
The Chancellor has already taken unprecedented steps to try to assist this market but has to balance not only the housing situation of the community but also the tax payer. It is not an easy path to tread but I reiterate the Chancellors view that banks themselves do have a responsibility to manage the risk of their own lending.

Anyone have any comments??

[midge61]

Yep
Sounds like a load of bollox to me!
The goverment are not interested those of us stuck with the like of SPML.
These companies do as they please and seem to get away with it.

I had letter on 17th April to say my fixed rate (7.9% i think) ends on 31/5/2008 and interest rate will go up to 9.99%. Payments to go up by £100pm they think but will let me know within the next 4 weeks but nothing sent yet.
They also state that payments to be reviewed after any change to the LIBOR rate.
Luckily my mortgage is relatively small 50k but I still feel I am being screwed.
I can't re-mortgage due to credit history and have been screwed by the 10p tax cut and will continue to be so as my p/t job does not pay well.
Sorry for the rant but I am sick of working hard and being pushed towards the bottom of the pile.

[TaffR]

Great thread....more info here too...

possession order on my house

Read all 8 pages

Taff R

[JonCris]

Yes I have a comment ............. don't vote for the bum next time ......... .......... cos apparently it's all the borrowers fault

[midge61]

So from reading the above (I'm half way through) this means that Capstone are the administrators for SPML my mortgage is only a debt and I haven't a cat in hells chance of renegotiating my mortgage terms!

[Hopeful1]

Originally Posted by midge61

So from reading the above (I'm half way through) this means that Capstone are the administrators for SPML my mortgage is only a debt and I haven't a cat in hells chance of renegotiating my mortgage terms!

I'm with the same company Midge. My payments are expected to go up by £200 next month. I rang to ask what offers were available. They said they are not taking on any new customers or offering new deals to current customers.

In reply to Mrs Foots letter - what a useless load of rubbish. But how can we expect people travelling round in Jags and getting 'free' (to them, not the tax payers) holidays to understand the effects of all this on people who are struggling?

[jake44]

Thankfully we ' hopefully ' remortgage within the next few months. I have made an appointment to see a broker. We are currently with redstone on 8.79% . we were paying 9.73 at one time on an interest only. I am not sure what deals the broker will come up with or who it will be with . When our fixed rate finished that wasn't the end of the interest rate rises !! I will be very wary when changing this time.

[midge61]

Hi TaffR
I spent the afternoon reading throught he other thread and found it very intersting and worrying.

I will write to Capstone tonight and will be very interested in their reply but as hopefull says above he/she has just done so and been given the answer that they are not taking on new customers etc.

Re the issue about Experian if I understand it Capstone are NOT lenders just administrators so they do NOT hold a credit licence therefore they would not have any right whatsoever to do a search. Surely this then is an issue to be taken up by the Information Commissioners Office.

The other thing I was wondering as my origional contract is with SPML and I was only informed that Capstone were acting as administrators then surely that contract must still stand. If I have not been informed that my mortgage has been sold on how can this be fair and legal.

I think when I get paid I will send a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) to SPML and the broker who arranged the mortgage to see what info they supply.

You have provided a lot of info and it will take time to digest it all but I must say you explain it well. Thanks

[midge61]

Another thought is if the mortgage contract contains the " we may at anytime pass your account to a third party" and this turns out to mean that they package it and securitise it thereby putting you in a position of not being able to modify the agreement in anyway surely this must be able to be challenged under the UTTC rules.

If it can be classed as an unfair term in your contract then surely you must be able to get some recourse on this basis.

[midge61]

On the FSA register it says that Capstone are "unable to hold clients money"
So what exactly does this mean?

[TaffR]

The agreement is signed before the sale, In your contract before signing it it will say those terms somewhere. Post FSA (Nov 2004) all mortgage contracts are regulated by the FSA. As securitisation (packaging for a portfolio sale etc) the intended 'purchaser' or as they class themselves as 'lender' Grrr! will be mentioned, as under FSA MCOB rules they must tell you.

Normally the T & C of your mortgage do not change after the transfer of the mortgage to the new company.

I once questioned an orginator on this term and they told me it never happens and its just like they could be bought out (similar to the abbey national acquisition etc). Sounded feasible and I even checked with a bank manager who (as I know now) really didnt know but he said that was feasible. It rarely happens in the prime market. Solicitors in general have no idea either so the advice to take legal advice before signing is knowingly not going to prove negative for them and by this time anyway they have used stealthly all your time up so they know your prob desperate to sign and not going anywhere else since they talked to you on the telephone a couple of weeks previously and a few more telephone calls in between to guage your continued interest, to tell you, you have been accepted. I hope that makes sense. Very clever.

By signing the contract with this very obscure clause that lacks (purposfully) any explanation to it, you have provided them the right to do just that. Then you find you're with an SPV. But discounting this, you may find that your contract could not be changed or modified anyway but remember they are created in readiness for this.

It is very clever.

TaffR

[TaffR]

Originally Posted by midge61

On the FSA register it says that Capstone are "unable to hold clients money"
So what exactly does this mean?

I really didnt get to the bottom of this one but I am not too concerned as it generally means that they as a company could not hold deposits or customers money in their own right. It may be worth asking the FSA directly and get it in writing too but my feeling was it was not a concern.

These people are very clever and I dont think you will trip them on such things.

TaffR

[TaffR]

Originally Posted by midge61

Another thought is if the mortgage contract contains the " we may at anytime pass your account to a third party" and this turns out to mean that they package it and securitise it thereby putting you in a position of not being able to modify the agreement in anyway surely this must be able to be challenged under the UTTC rules.

If it can be classed as an unfair term in your contract then surely you must be able to get some recourse on this basis.

You would think so. I think what is meaningful here is whether you thought, felt or led to believe that at anytime going forward you could ask for a change in the T & C's and for what reason and whether you specifically asked this question. The contract is signed by most on an 'understanding' or 'perception' of the market and hence they always tell you to obtain legal advice before signing. They work on the princinple of less told the better and it is never in laymans terms.

The only one I have come across is where it states in the contract you still have to pay your mortgage whether your ill or out of work and I think this really does border on unfair terms (whether signed or not) as these two issues are the main reasons people are unable to pay their mortgage and it is contray to CML guidlines of treating borrowers fairly and sympatheticaly etc. It is another way of saying...get lost and dont ask for help when in difficulty and you signed that so go away without telling you they dont have the means or mechanisms to help you anyway.

Just my thoughts

TaffR