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1970 vs Woolwich £10k claim - monthly £35 "mortgage arrears fee" across 3 accounts !!
Hi,
Got my SAR data today. They were charging me £35 per month (£105 total) on 3 accounts for 3.5 years. The charges were for paying late.
I've done my spreadsheet and the total is £4.5k making a total including CCI at 6.85% of £10,000.85.
The period is 1999 to 2004. The first part of the claim is beyond 6 years but I'm going to argue the limitation act does not apply. Or I could deduct this part as it's only £700 of the claim.
Here is my prelim which I shall hand deliver and post special delivery tomorrow.
Please let me know if there are any flaws in this letter. Many thanks.
The Branch Manager
The Woolwich
xxx
xxx
xxx
xxx
DELIVERED BY HAND AND POSTED SPECIAL DELIVERY - GUARANTEED NEXT DAY
24th May 2007
Dear Sir/Madam,
ACCOUNT NUMBERS: 92-277-xxxxx, 92-277-xxxxx, 92-277-xxxxx Requesting repayment of £4,515.00 Plus contractual interest totalling £10,000.85.
Thank you for sending me a complete list of all the charges you have applied to the three mortgage accounts I held with you. I am writing to ask you to refund to me the charges which you have levied from my mortgage accounts as detailed above from 20/05/99 to 15/06/04.
I now understand that the regime of fees which you applied to my account in relation to direct debit refusals, returned cheques, arrears fees and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent consumer regulations.
If you say that they are not, then will you please demonstrate this by letting me have a full breakdown of the costs to which you have been put by as a result of my breaches, in order to reassure me that your penalties really do reflect your costs.
Additionally, it has now been confirmed that your particularly high level of penalties are considered to be unfair according to the OFT who reported on the 5th April 2006 and are therefore presumed to be unlawful in the absence of specific proof to the contrary.
I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract, which you agreed to at the time that I opened my mortgage accounts. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.
I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.
I consider that your repeated representations that your charges are fair and reasonable are deceptive and that they have deceived me into agreeing to pay them.
Your concealment of the true nature of your charges has prevented me from asserting my right until now.
You have held on to and benefited from my money for a number of years. When I re-mortgaged and closed my account with you, I was forced to borrow additional funds from the new mortgage company as a direct result of your unlawful charges. I will be paying interest on this additional borrowing for another 22 years.
I calculate that you have taken £3,980.00 by way of unlawful penalties. See attached schedule.
I have paid you interest of £535.88 on the money you have taken, as the unlawful charges were added to the balance of the mortgage. See attached schedule.
The total amount you have charged me is £4,515.88
I am also claiming compounded contractual interest at the rate of 6.85% which is the rate you charged me.
I believe I am entitled to this interest rate due to the implied term in our contract based on the principle of "mutuality" or "reciprocity"
Therefore the total amount I am reclaiming is £10,000.85. See attached schedule. Please note, in an attempt to resolve matters swiftly and amicably, I am only charging you interest on the individual charges you have levied from my mortgage accounts rather then the total amount you have levied.
I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.
I am very well aware that you have made a number of unconditional refunds in relation to your charges to other customers over the last 12 months.
I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive the payment of £10,000.85. Please make your cheque payable to D Francis.
Alternatively, you can transfer funds by BACS to the following account:
If you do not respond, or you do not respond positively, within 14 days, I shall send you a letter before action giving you a further 14 days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments.
I am expecting this matter to be resolved by Friday 8th June 2007.
After that, there will be no further communication from me and I shall commence court proceedings at the expiry of the second deadline, which will be Friday 22nd June 2007.
Re: 1970 vs Woolwich £10k claim - monthly £35 "mortgage arrears fee" across 3 account
Hi,
With regards to questions you need answered for the late mortgage fees it may be best to have your thread moved to the mortgages section where you would get the help from people who have knowledge in this area. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...age-companies/
Re: 1970 vs Woolwich £10k claim - monthly £35 "mortgage arrears fee" across 3 account
Thansk for this post 1970.
My ex mortgage provider,Bank of Ireland, charged us £35 a month for the whole of 2006 as our account had gone into arrears.
The annoying thing was that we were paying them an agreed amount of £75 to clear the arrears and they were taking £35 from this as their fee for managing the account!!!
As you can imagine we are not with them anymore but we are starting out on the Road to Recovery.
PPMAN159
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