Claiming back arrears charges from Mortgages PLC-help.

[Teetacbin]

Hi

 

I've claimed back my bank charges from my bank, am not trying to attempt to with a cc and was wondering if I can claim the following back as well.

 

I used to have a mortgage with Mortgages PLC, I am no longer with them. During the few months when we had financial difficulties, we were charged around £700 of arrears charges, plus I would imagine interest on these as they were added to the loan outstanding. So can I claim for the charges and interest (solely this interest not the general interest which I realise I can't)?

 

I have a breakddown of all the charges so what would I need to do next?

 

Have read through a lot of threads but I'm so boggled not that I am not sure if anyone has actually won these cases or not.

 

just for the record there were no ERC involved this is purely arrears charges.

 

TIA

[tonycee]

Hi Tia.

 

It can be overwhelming at times.

 

Have a read through this >>>>>PRESS HERE

 

Take as long as you need and let us know when you are ready to start.

 

Good Luck

[Teetacbin]

Thanks for that, I've read through that now and I don't see why I shouldn't give it a go. My bank rolled over and paid up so I've nothing to lose by trying this one. As I am not trying for ERC, I would of thought that makes it a far more cut and dried issue as how can they possible justify £54 a month?

 

So I will print off the letter tonight and then try to get my head around any interest that has accrued.

 

Can someone confirm that this isn't one of those cases where they could come after me for their legal costs. I mean as I am no longer with them, could that still apply?

 

Thanks

 

Tia

[Blossomandebony]

Hi,

 

Your claim is less than £5000 and will be almost certainly allocated to the small claims track, where each side's costs are generally paid for by themselves. They may apply for costs but it is very unlikely they will get any as long as your behaviour in following court procedure rules etc, is okay.

 

Anyway, the likelihod is that they will pay out long before that stage!

 

BAE

[IS IT ME?]

but some judges award costs even in small claims cases, which as you say they should not.

[Teetacbin]

So, this means that costs wouldn't be that high then does it? Are the mortgage companies paying out or have they tried to hold off while the bank case goes through?

[Penfold92]

Hi Teetacbin,

 

It appears on here that not one has gone to Court (and someone please correct me if I am wrong!) so yes you should be ok. With regards costs I really would not worry as it is highly unlikely under £5000. Also if you have not issued a claim as yet, I would check to see if they are also processing your data post the agreement ending. If so have a read of my thread for the POC's (or ask for help regards them) and add those too. They cannot give you a LEGAL reason for the continued processing and so you will just add another point that they cannot defend in Court giving them yet another reason NOT to attend...

 

Good luck and keep us posted,

 

Penfold

[Teetacbin]

Due to many reasons I never followed this up before but feel that I would like to now. Can someone advise which letter I should be sending as I am slightly confused and also is it right I can go for the interest as well?

[The Unfairy]

It would be this one I think?

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mortgage-companies/71276-mortgage-charge-letter-templates.html

[Teetacbin]

Sent them a letter only claiming for the charges, I didn't ask for the interest so the total was aroun £750 in the end. They have sent a letter back saying as I was paying the mortgage when I was with them, then clearly I was agreeing to their t&c's, one of which was that they would charge if I was in arrears. So now what?

 

Do I carry on with this? Would that be their court arguement? HELP?

[thesergeant]

All Mortgage penalty charges can be argued to be repayable.

 

You need to send an initial letter of request, then an LBA. You need to serve them with a DPA request as well as per the bank charges procedure.

 

When they decline your requests then start a claim.

 

I am now at the Court stage with Woolsnitch have a look at my post http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mortgage-companies/80638-thesergeant-woolwich.html, and look through similar ones.

[Teetacbin]

Thanks I'll have a look at that. So I now have to do the LBA then by the looks of things, can I put this is with a DPA?

[thesergeant]

No - my reply was not in order !!

 

If you have not served a DPA request on them you need to do that first in order that you have all the information to calculate the disputed charges. Then you send an initial request and then your LBA then to Court action.

 

Read all the FAQs as per a bank charges claim.

 

Good luck

[Teetacbin]

I had already received a full break down of the account, so I knew exactly how much these folk had charged me, the penalty fees were all added to the loan rather than paid off separately. Having had their bog off letter back, I take it I am straight to the LBA letter? I am happy to do the DPA request, but will it give me any other info I need to proceed?

[Teetacbin]

sorry another question, I enclose below the relevent part of their reply because I am unsure whether these means I cannot use the standard template letter?

 

" In respect of late payment charges that have been debited to your balance, please note that when you were provided with a Tariff of Charges. This document detailed all administration charges applicable to your mortgage account including arrears monitoring charges....

 

....As you completed on this mortgage, I feel it is reasonable to conclude that you would have read the Offer document and familiarised yourself with the conditions of your mortgage prior to the completion date.

 

Had you been unsure of the meaning of any of the information contained in this document, I feel it is reasonle to conclude that you would have sought clarification either from your broker, Mortgage Plc or your solicitor. I can find no evidence to suggest that you sought clarification...

 

....We regularly review all our fees and charges and we feel that these are fair and reasonable in view of the labour and use of facilities involved in the administration of mortgage accounts, and we therefore condier that these do not exist to punish our customers but are there to compensate us for the cost of administering your mortgage account effectively including the cost of taking legal action (I would imagine they would charge you court costs wouldn't they if it got to that point?) We are satisified that the fees and charges applied to your mortgage to date are an accurate reflection of the work required to administer your account and I am therefore unable to uphold your complaint in this respect nor refund default charges applied to your account.

 

In view of the above I am unable to uphold your complaint as we have acted entirely within the terms and conditions of the mortgage and within our own collections procedures. Whilst I understand that our decision not to uphold your complaint nor re credit (should not be re credit should it as they account is now closed?) default charges debited to your account balance to date may come as a disappointment, I hope you find my explanation nonetheless helpful.

 

 

 

 

So do I still go with the normal LBA letter? Also is it now time to use the spreadsheet and give them a total plus whatever it says in the interest column?

[thesergeant]

The purpose of the DPA request is to obtain all account information in order to pursue your claim. It is not merely to obtain your account statements. You need to request all account notes, details of manual intervention, where charges occur full details as to how that charge reflects their actual cost etc etc.

 

As they state in their letter it is their position that it is not a penalty but a reasonable charge for administering the breach of contract, ie late payment etc. Therefore there must be notes and details of what their employee did on your account information that they hold that demonstrates this ............ (I think not!).

 

Of course they will not be able to produce this information, which is what you need.

 

Do not get in to a long winded exchange with them at this stage - save that for the Court. Follow the process as per the Bank charges templates.

 

Can they claim Court costs - unlikely. However some dubious mortgage companies have been known to write in their terms and conditions that you are liable for any Court costs invovled with claims against them ....... check for this. It would be very unlikely for such a term to be upheld in Court. The bit in their letter seems to be referring to their charges which could involve Court action ie eviction etc.

 

Last bit - you should (must) give them a schedule of the charges you are claiming with each letter ie Initial, LBA etc. Do not show interest, unless you are going to claim Contractual interest - which I do not recommend. Interest only becomes applicable once you start your County Court Claim.

 

If you think you have not followed the template you can simply start again with the initial including schedule then to LBA with schedule. But get the DPA in, you will be relying on the information you get and don't get when this gets to Court.

 

Good luck ..............................

[The Unfairy]

Thanks luckily I was in time so have sent off the LBA as you have suggested with no interest etc and the cca.

 

Thanks