GE Money - Settlement fees !!! Disgusting

[WILKINSS208]

Hi

Has anyone dealt with GE Money when settling early?

 

I opened a secure loan for £15K over 10 years in June 2006. I am at the minute remortgaging and joining this loan to our new mortgage. I have just received the redemption statement and states the foolowing:

 

Outstanding account balance as at 15/2/08 £14,710.78

Interest to add to settlement date £145.66

Early settlement fee to add £160.94

Security Discharge fee to add £200.00

 

Sum required to repay on or before 14/3/08 £15,217.38

 

How come we have paid over £3500 since June 2006 and we owe £217 more than we borrowed!

I rang them today and the lady basically just said it was interest and fees and nothing I can do. Said I was given terms when signed, but was not told anything about redemption fees if settle early.

My current mortgage paying nothing to settle early and that was for £100K

What is going on, any advice?

[ananya]

Good old GE Money

 

We had a mortgage with them and when we remortgaged to another firm, we had a redemption fee too. Have a good read through your paperwork and see if you can find anything about it and I'd think about claiming it back once the mortgage has gone through.

[WILKINSS208]

yes thats what i intend. take them to cleaners!

[Killerschick]

The FSA have clamped down on Mortgage Exit Administration Fees (MEAF's) on first mortgages (this is the equivalent of the security discharge fee) which may explain why there was less to pay for your main mortgage.

Unfortunately your loan with GE Money is a CCA agreement and doesn't fall within the remit of the FSA. On the plus side you do then have the rights and remedies under the CCA, although I'm not sure they're much use in this scenario.

[WILKINSS208]

so you think i can still claim back

[ananya]

I'd certainly give it a go, once you're free from them.

 

There's a section in here - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mortgage-companies/52020-mortgages-faq.html that gives details about secured loans under and over 25K.

 

Hope this helps and good luck

[WILKINSS208]

yes i intend to claim once rid.

thanks for link

[lilal]

currently have a secured loan 17k since 2004.asked fo settlement figure in 2006,then it was worked out using 1983 regs.

balance as at 11/10/06

add interest to that date

add future charges

total amount payable before rebate

less rebate

add redemption fee

however asked again feb 08 now worked out using 2004 regs ,redemption fee is now called discharge of security fee £200.also now an early settlement fee £94.86 is asked for.when i queried it with ge ,was told it was on the original agreement to which it definitely is not ,nor an amount that would be payable

[WILKINSS208]

so what have you done or planning to do?

[lilal]

at the mo drawing up a poc to take ge to court on misselling a ppi. .not in a position to settle my loan at present.i am interested in finding out how ge decide on these fees ,as i cannot find the info on the cca and compare mine to yours and the change over 2 years

[WILKINSS208]

do you think i should do that, get copy of cca as i dont have copy of what i signed to prove these fees werent explained

[lilal]

yup definetly.i rang and asked where it was stated there would be a charge ,response was on your cca that you signed, i asked for a copy and was sent it .but it is the same as i already have and seem not to be able to find the charge and also the additional new charge of early settlement fee.whether this came about in changeover rules to do with early settlement regs:confused:

[Rhinoagainstcharges]

Their argument appears to be that you agreed to the fees when you signed the agreement. However, if as you state the fees were not included in the agreement then using their argument they are not enforceable and you have a good case for reclaiming them. Any fees would increase the APR on the loan significantly and so they have mislead you. £200 as a security release fee seems excessive anyway.

[WILKINSS208]

i intend to claim as much back as possible once this loan is paid off next month. i cant wait!

Just because you have bad credit from years ago, these companies take the biscuit!, (putting it politely)

[lilal]

don,t be put off by the response you may get from ge.keep at them:) .good luck:)

[WILKINSS208]

oh i will! i dont give up easy. i won halifax for claim over 6 years and they gave up day of hearing!

[elizabeth1]

An alternative to doing the court claim would be ask FOS to look at it and explain what you want etc.. - because loan is under £25k it will fall into the CCA regs etc.. so FOS can help you with this.

[lilal]

not sure for me as my agreement was in 2004 ge play on this fact and appear to be above the fos knowing that they can,t touch them:mad:

[lilal]

wilkinss208 found this in oft report on non status lending written in 1997 ,might help:)

There should be adequate transparency. The contract documentation and any

customer booklet or leaflet should set out clearly the method of calculation of the

settlement figure and any redemption charges, and should explain the reasons for

these together with the nature of the costs which they are intended to cover. They

should indicate the settlement figure and redemption charges that would apply, on the

basis of current interest rates, at different points in the contract, including after each of

the first five years of the loan. These details should also be included prominently in

any documentation sent to the borrower before the conclusion of the loan setting out

the borrower’s right to withdraw from the agreement. The borrower should be fully

aware before entering into the agreement of the implications of settling early.

63 Lenders should provide promptly to the borrower, on request at any time, a clear

written statement of the settlement figure and redemption charges that would apply at

any particular point in the contract. They should respond promptly to any reasonable

request by the borrower for an explanation of the figures or of the basis on which they

have been calculated and derived.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/consumer_credit/oft192v2.pdf

[WILKINSS208]

thats a great help, thank you

[bach]

Hi Im just about to write to G E for settlement figure, as now sold the house. So will pay the Mortgage and the secured loan off with G E for £50.000. I sent for a CCA which arrived to day on the CCA page that is signed it mentions nothing about early redemption fees, but on their terms and condition it says a charge of 6 months interest will be made.

When its all settled we are going to claim the whole of the redemption fee back, plus all the charges they have ever added, must be £5.000 at least

Best of luck will watch your thread with interest

Lynn

[elizabeth1]

Hi Im just about to write to G E for settlement figure, as now sold the house. So will pay the Mortgage and the secured loan off with G E for £50.000. I sent for a CCA which arrived to day on the CCA page that is signed it mentions nothing about early redemption fees, but on their terms and condition it says a charge of 6 months interest will be made.

When its all settled we are going to claim the whole of the redemption fee back, plus all the charges they have ever added, must be £5.000 at least

Best of luck will watch your thread with interest

Lynn

 

 

Forgive me if I am getting confused here - BUT wasn't there a recent change in these Loans/Mortgages where companies are only allowed to charge a months interest at redemption of loans etc.. ? I do remember something along those lines.

 

Certainly worth an enquiry to FOS etc.. they shouldn't be making all these hefty charges at all.

[WILKINSS208]

yes you are right. on my settlement i only have 1 months interest but other charges for redemption and early settlement fee with the 1 months interest

[lilal]

rung ge twice on requesting copy of cca since the last post ,yup haven,t had it.so today sending a request under dpa with a £1 and have also asked for "as stated" details of the charges that would apply ,re early settlement and deed/charge release

[ananya]

Hi lilal.

 

You should always request information in writing, with the appropriate fee and I think what you should have done is a SAR not a CCA. The SAR carries a fee of £10 and will give you all the information on your account.

 

More information can be found here - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mortgage-companies/139339-what-you-can-cannot.html and here - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mortgage-companies/52020-mortgages-faq.html