In Swift land what they do or say is always right and good luck if you don't agree. They refunded me £600 from £31,000 of charges (I only had a mortgage with them for 30 months) Being Swift they didn't bother to break the refund down so I asked them to send one through. It took 3 requests to finally get it. @r5eh0les.

Recently my MP got in touch with the FSA regarding my account and repossession. She got a reply from Clive Adamson, Director Of Supervision/Conduct Business Unit. He pointed me in the direction of the FOS regarding my complaint, but he added that Swift were carrying out this redress programme, so I've written him a letter today pointing out that with the FSAs blessing, Swift have paid back less then many of us paid to them. (If your interest rate was over 8%) And on top of that they will also be keeping the interest that 2 million pounds has made them over the years instead of it earning interest in our bank accounts where it should have been. I await the fudged reply.

I spoke to Swift earlier regarding the interest they're paying on the refunds the FSA have told them to make. In my opinion it's obvious Swift should be paying back the interest I paid on the debt (10.5%) and then they should pay interest on the refund amount because they shouldn't have had it in the first place. No surprises that they refused categorically but the thing that irritated me most was this....their argument that they didn't have to pay back all the interest I've paid, or pay interest for the fact they've been holding my money, was that the FSA hadn't told them to. Thanks FSA. So Swift can lend us money and charge interest, but when we "lend" them money they don't have to pay us interest. What chance do you stand when the governing body come up with rulings like that?

Sawyer, I've attached 2 files to this post. Are they what you are after? They are both Swift First tariff sheets. scan1.pdf scan2.pdf

You may be able to answer something for me Dougal. Mine was a 1st mortgage with Swift First and all the paperwork has Swift First letter heading....until they sent replies to my SAR, and the two letters they sent (on totally different occasions) were both on Swift Advances letter heading. Any thoughts?

Hi Mariknub What I was referring to (That Caro replied to) was Swift First. They've been investigated by the FSA and made to pay back certain charges and fees that were considered excessive. I don't think it included Swift Advances, although I believe they are also being investigated at the moment (Maybe somebody could correct me if I'm wrong) Apart from this refund which is small compared to the outrageous fees and interest rates I was charged, I've got my MP on the case and she is in touch with the CEO of the FSA and the FOS have also instructed Swift to provide them with all the details from my account so they can look into it. I get the impression that Swift are going to have to be more cooperative in future or risk losing they're license so now is a good time to be demanding answers to questions that they might previously have ignored.

Apparently Swift are paying a flat rate of 8% interest to everyone they overcharged. To be honest it's better than I expected but nowhere near the 14% they were charging me.

Hi LL I'm not sure I understand this. My mortgage was only taken out in 2007, the letter above was dated 23/12/2010, and the £360 of charges are listed on the list of transactions on 22/02/2008 (£250) and 22/05/2008 (£110) Also, the trading name above says Swift Advances but my mortgage was with Swift First (Although a couple of recent letters have come through on Swift Advances letter headed paper. Shoops

In what way Andrew?

I know Eastern Counselling have caused some concern in the past so I thought I would print the reply I got explaining who/what they are. It may be old news, I'm not sure. "Following the repossession of your property in *************** 2010 you were concerned about fees charged to your account notably a charge of £360 related to Eastern Counselling. This charge was comprised of two charges, £250 relating to the first occassion that your account went into arrears on ********* 2008 and a subsequent £110 charge applied on the second occasion that your account went in top arrears on ********* 2008. I would like to clarify that in 2008 it was the companys practice to place accounts in default under Eastern Counselling, these charges were reflected in Swifts tariff of charges in force on completion of your mortgage in October 2007. I would like to clarify that as of March 2009 accounts are no longer placed under Eastern Counselling, however the charge appears on your completion statement as it forms part of the account history" Dont know if thats relevant at all or nothing new. Shoops

Dougal and Caro Dougal, i've just tried the legal aid route and they said i need to exhaust all other options first. I'm about half way through the process at the moment but need to give the Chief Exec a chance to reply to my complaint and cooperate, then when he doesn't help (We already know he wont dont we) i need to go to the FSA. If they dont get anywhere i can go back to Legal Aid and they will get involved. Caro, thanks for the links, i guess that template will come in handy if the FSA dont get anywhere and at that time the threat of court action will be real. Shoops

I did wonder about that but i assumed they wouldn't be able to help because there isn't a clear crime or fraud. I should have checked though, I'll phone them tomorrow. Thanks Dougal.

My thoughts exactly Dougal. Indirectly I've paid all these bills from the proceeds of the sale and Swift wont even tell me what the charges are for. The FSA have advised me to write to Andy Punch directly and if i dont receive the answers after that they will take it up on my behalf. Unfortunately i'm still struggling financially after losing the house and cant even afford a bad brief let alone a good one

Hi everyone One or two of you may remember i had my house repossessed by Swift and i sent a subject Access Request to them. Initially they replied with about a tenth of the info i had requested so i wrote back asking for the rest of it. The 40 days are now up and i haven't heard anything so this morning i phoned them. They claim to have written to me on the 23rd of November informing me that they cant provide any of the info because they can only supply me with info that is directly personal to me. I asked them to explain what that means and they said if the documentation hasnt got my name and address on they dont have to give me any info off it. What a joke. So basically i cant be told about any of the charges relating to the repossession and sale of the house because it was Swift that employed the management company and estate agents. And it was Swift/management company who sorted out the property insurance, the conveyancing fees, the HIPS pack (which was billed for on the day they were terminated) the tradesmen, the RICS valuation etc etc etc. All these things will have had Swifts details on as it was them who employed these companies even though it was me who eventually paid the bills. They got into a right muddle when i asked about Eastern Counselling and their charges. I've asked them to resend the letter telling me about their decision not to send this info and hopefully it will arrive this time. I'm not really sure where to go with this now though. Any suggestions? Shoops

Hi Dougal I sent you a pm a while ago, i was just wondering what you made of my agreement, if anything. Shoops

If anyone looks on here because they're thinking about taking out a mortgage with Swift, think about this. After all the trouble i have had (all of us on this forum have had) and trying to work out what this charge is for and that charge is for, i've just taken a step back and looked at the top line and bottom lines alone. The top line is this. We borrowed £215,000 in October 2007 The bottom line is this. When our house was repossessed and the debt settled in July 2010 we had paid back £311,000. Thats £96,000 in interest and charges in less than 3 years. And for most of that time Bank Of England interest rates have been at 0.5% Dont do it.

Wow, that's useful info LL, thanks.

Thanks Gallahad.

There's a lot of food for thought there SC. Thanks very much for the advice and support, it really is appreciated. I've sent a follow up SAR letter because the detail, or lack of it, in their first try was a joke. I'll post on here if and when i get somewhere. Shoops

Hi All Just a quickie. Can a lender pay a broker for arranging a mortgage? I paid my broker Central Credit £2000 which was added to the debt, but i've just noticed a line in the agreement saying..."Swift 1st Ltd will pay £6,455.70 to Central Credit in cash and benefits if you take out this mortgage"

Hi LL The letter was issued AFTER the court ordered the eviction so could it be called a debt collection letter after the order has been made or simply a confirmation from Swift that we will be evicted on the date ordered by the court. Shoops

That sounds about right Smarterchick.

I thought i would just scribble down a few of the things that i consider dodgy. As i have already outlined the house was repossessed in April this year. The house was put up for sale for £275,000 which we believe was at least £20,000 below it's true value. That may be backed up by the fact it sold for £280,000. I've asked for all the dates in the SAR but we think it only took 8 weeks to sell. That's from the day it was put on the market to the day everything completed. Hardly enough time to gauge what interest there might be. On the list of transactions there is a charge for the HIPs pack, that date is the same day HIPS were cancelled. I'll be interested to see a copy of the HIPs pack...if there is one. There are 2 charges for "Repossessed property insurance" One is for £181 and the other for £297.....a total of almost £500 for 3 months insurance seems a bit steep. We were charged £245 for "Solicitors to attend court hearing." I think this is for our appeal on the day of eviction. They didnt even attend, they just sent a fax opposing the cancellation of the eviction. We had one occasion when a councillor came to see us. She was from Excel Councelling and a charge has been made for £110 in line with their standard charges. However, there is also a £360 charge for "Eastern Councelling" who we have never heard of. When we appealed it was VERY last minute and my brother went and stayed at my house while i went to court. The bailiffs etc arrived to evict us at 11am but we were still in with the judge. My brother asked them to wait and they agreed. We lost the appeal and at 11.20am i told my brother to let them in. I have been told we were charged for that 20 minute delay. I'll be interested to find out how much. They employed a company called Aventria to "Manage" the sale of the house. They charged £6,900 in total. I spoke to the estate agents who Aventria used to sell the house and they told me they couldn't tell me the exact figure but they would have charged 1% + VAT. Thats about £3,300 so what did Aventria do to earn the balance of £3,600. I phoned them and asked them. They wouldn't go into detail but said they would have maintained the property like mowing lawns. I know they didnt mow the lawns at all and when pushed she admitted they hadnt. I asked what else they might have done and she refused to say. I have a written settlement figure of £263,000 which stood up until May 18th. It was issued on April 20th, 6 days before the eviction. The figure we had to pay in the end was £281,000. I may be missing something here but that says to me that the eviction, sale of house, and 2 months of monthly repayments (4k) cost us £18,000. Seems a bit steep. Then there is the statements where a new line details £23 debit for example, but seems to add £170 to the debt. (I suspect this can be explained away, not even Swift would be that obvious) And there are more irregularities as well. Shoops

Smarterchick The Swift Group Legal Services letter says they have obtained a date to evict us. I will have 14 days to remove my possessions. It details the arrears on the accountwhich "Must be paid in full before (date of eviction) unless an arrangement has been made since we issued the warrant. If the arrears are not made or a satisfactory arrangement made, the court bailiff will take possession of your home on (date and time of eviction)" It goes on to say how i can make a payment and that i will be responsible for any shortfall if the sale doesn't cover the debt. Shoops

Hi Apollo18 Someone else suggested writing to David Blocksidge and Edward Allie. I emailed them and got this reply back.... I write to acknowledge receipt of your email and complaint about Swift Advances plc. Having read the email, I have reached the conclusion that the loan in question is first charge. Regulation of first charge mortgages, as you may be aware, falls to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and complaints relating to them must be addressed to that authority. Please find below information for dealing with the Contacts Centre at the FSA, to which you may wish to address your complaint. Thanks Apollo18 Shoops