Thread: Woolwich Arrears charges/misc debit

I don't know whether I am doing the right thing by starting a new thread here but I have been fighting the Woolwich since 2004 over an interest only mortgage taken out in 1988. I became seriously ill in 2004 and they did nothing to help me despite me asking them for assistance as I could not work. The mortgage accounts went into arrears as a result, despite the DSS paying some, but not all of the interest.
In 2008, for some reason, the pension credit people who had been paying the interest stopped paying because my income exceeded the limit by 52p. In November 2008, the Woolwich sought to repossess our house, but the judge gave them a suspended order on the basis that I could pay the mortgage payments now and in any case, the mortgage ended in 2 years. Barclays were very miffed and the clerk who had turned up at the hearing expecting it to be a push over told the judge he was wrong and that they wanted to appeal. The judge said that he would not allow an appeal so Barclays when to his boss, The District judge and asked him for an appeal. He allowed it on the basis that it would probably be an important test case and they would get their way one way or the other.
However, our son lent us the arrears and we paid off what Barclays solicitor told us were all the arrears, before the appeal took place.
However, on asking the Woolwich for the new repayment amounts we were told that there would be no change. As we had paid over £15,000 in arrears and the mortgage was interest only, we said there must be a reduction in the payments to the tune of 4.99% on the £15000+ and despite writing to them a number of times, we got no reply. I then complained to the fos who have also written to them several times and have had to reply either. We have also been wrangling about the amount of the main mortgage because I originally borrowed £88,000 and this has now risen to £97,000 despite having paid over £6,000 that were the arrears according to them, in May of this year. The figures they have shown in their court papers, and subsequently, do not add up and this is also part of the complaint to the FOS. Looking back on my statements, I note that they have been charging me £40 "arrears charge" monthly, since 2003 and have also added £539 for "Agents Fees" and £3500+ for "misc charges", no explanation! There is a total of £6500+ in charges back to 2003, but this doea not account for all the increase in the amount owing by over £3000.
My question is, do these arrears and misc charges come under the heading of unfair bank charges and should we go back to the judge who
heard the repossession case to ask that he looks into this case again with regard to the charges, because I suspect that some of them will be their solicitors fees, despite the fact that the judge did not award them costs, nor did they ask for them, apart from the court fees.
The benefit of the experience of your longer serving members would be greatly appeciated.

I posted this thread a few days ago and would really like some advice, please.
I have now had my 2008/2009 statement that shows that I have been charged £40 per month for "arrears charge" even in September after I had paid off the arrears. ( But they had put July's payment for my 3 accounts onto one account, despite individual paying-in slips were made out for the 3 separate accounts).
More worrying is that they have debited my main account with £539 10 for Agents Fees. Who is the agent? And £3687.61 for a misc debit - no explanation.
I have been charged £40 a month for Arrears charges since Oct 04 and this amounts to £2360, a lot of money.
In view of the GMAC ruling by the FSA, do you think that I would stand a chance of getting these fees refunded? I already have a complaint in with them about the Woolwich, but in true FSA form they have told me it could take up to 6 months to get an answer!
Help please

I would really like some help,please. Has anyone anything to offer?

Hi Slick132
Many thanks for the reply. I have asked them to let me have details of these 2 odd charges severaltimes, but I do not get any replies at all from the Woolwich. I have heard from the fos and they have assigned my complaint to a case officer, but after 3 months, still nothing has happened. The last time I spoke to them they told me that it could be 6 months before anything happened!
The thing that infuriates me most is that they have continued to charge interest on the £16,000+ arrears that we paid back in May for 5 months after. How can they get away with this? It is just theft.

Hi Slick
Thanks.
I went to the FSA first but they referred me to the fos. I thought they they didn't deal with individual complaints. Am I wrong about that? I will send the SAR as you suggest and see whether that produces anything from them.