Re-claiming Mortgage arrears

[searching70]

I have reading a lot of threads on this forum about how people can reclaim mortgage arrears penalties.

 

I am currently in an arrangement with Paratus AMC previously known as GMAC. My arrears are approx £1,000 and they agreed to let me pay £80 a month.

 

Problem is I SAR'd them and saw that they had been adding so many charges of £39 a month for being in arrears each month and I was wandering if it was possible I can reclaim this money? because if so then that would knock a hell of a lot off the £1,000 I owe.

 

Mind you I have not added up exactly how many x's £39 worth of charges they have added and was hoping or would like to know if I should write to Paratus separately and ask them for a full breakdown and ask them how many charges of £39 have been added to my account.

 

Thank you to all in advance...and any help will be gratefully appreciated.

 

[rdm2006]

Here is the letter to reclaim Mortgage Charges

 

and here is the spreadsheet [ATTACH]40044[/ATTACH]

[searching70]

Thanks for that rdm2006....my word that is quite a harsh letter as it involves me saying that if they do not do as I want I will start county court procedure.

 

I am worried that as I have only recently come to an arrangement with my mortgage lender that firing off a letter like that will make matters worse for me? do you think?

 

The letter is very good and exactly what I was looking for and sorry I cannot see the spread sheet you said that is attached?

[searching70]

whoopss....sorry you have attached it...thanks very much...

 

Another thing was that I am not entirely sure how much in total I want to reclaim...apart from going through all the charges in my SAR.....but I am certain that there are more too...as the charges I have last go back to a couple of months.

 

Not sure if it is worth writing to ask my lender for this info or just add up the best with what I do have?

[tifo]

Been there .... even took it to the FOS who said the bank's arrears charges are fair because they've provided an estimate of future costs which is exactly the amounts later charged !!

 

Could not get the FOS to investigate how each charge was applied for a particular breach.

 

Remember that most mortgage contracts have a term for legal costs to be met by the borrower so taking them to court will only cost you. I don't know whether even if you win ....

[rdm2006]

Been there .... even took it to the FOS who said the bank's arrears charges are fair because they've provided an estimate of future costs which is exactly the amounts later charged !!

 

Could not get the FOS to investigate how each charge was applied for a particular breach.

 

Remember that most mortgage contracts have a term for legal costs to be met by the borrower so taking them to court will only cost you. I don't know whether even if you win ....

 

The FSA appear to think differently as they have fined companies for overcharging

 

[ATTACH]40124[/ATTACH]

 

In this case the charges were £50.00

 

If a judge awarded costs to you - then i am guessing a contract term which overrides that decision would probably be considered to be unfair

[tifo]

I used that fine as well as others from the previous few years.

 

FOS said it wasn't my lender that was fined so it make no difference to the complaint.

 

At one stage the FOS said they don't investigate mortgage arrears charges but they agreed when I pointed it out in their annual report. They then said charges had been decided to be fair in the test case and I pointed out that the test case was about personal current account overdraft fees and not a mortgage arrears fees.

 

Their decision cost me around £4,000 plus I nearly lost my house.

 

The bank took me to court as soon as the FOS made their decision (I had built up some arrears) and the application hearing etc cost £2,700 + around £1,300 in previous charges (from 4 years ago which i thought they'd already put on) and I had to pay £2,000 in a lump sum to get the possession order from 4.5 years ago suspended.

 

My claim against the bank was for around £12,000 in arrears charges and other fees with statutory interest. So that is the sum the FOS made me lose.

 

I'm wanting to pass a complaint about the FOS to someone else but there is no one that will look to their biased decisions.

 

For another case where there was clear bias towards an insurance company, I've passed the matter to my MP and also am looking to pass something to EU as it was a EU directive through which the FOS were established. Meanwhile, I now have to take the insurer to court.

 

I'm also wanting to open a judicial review on the insurer case as soon as I can get ATE insurance for costs.

Edited December 20, 2012 by tifo

[searching70]

Thanks tifo for your input & rdm2006 for your useful info.

 

I have a friend who recently contacted a company....not sure what they were called but they helped her with her charges and claim against Paratus/Gmac...and I have not seen her for a while so cannot get any details at the mo.

 

I will need to find out if I am eligible to reclaim these charges as I don't want to start any court process unless I am 100% sure what I am getting in to...if you know what I mean.

[rdm2006]

I used that fine as well as others from the previous few years.

 

FOS said it wasn't my lender that was fined so it make no difference to the complaint.

 

At one stage the FOS said they don't investigate mortgage arrears charges but they agreed when I pointed it out in their annual report. They then said charges had been decided to be fair in the test case and I pointed out that the test case was about personal current account overdraft fees and not a mortgage arrears fees.

 

Their decision cost me around £4,000 plus I nearly lost my house.

 

The bank took me to court as soon as the FOS made their decision (I had built up some arrears) and the application hearing etc cost £2,700 + around £1,300 in previous charges (from 4 years ago which i thought they'd already put on) and I had to pay £2,000 in a lump sum to get the possession order from 4.5 years ago suspended.

 

My claim against the bank was for around £12,000 in arrears charges and other fees with statutory interest. So that is the sum the FOS made me lose.

 

I'm wanting to pass a complaint about the FOS to someone else but there is no one that will look to their biased decisions.

 

For another case where there was clear bias towards an insurance company, I've passed the matter to my MP and also am looking to pass something to EU as it was a EU directive through which the FOS were established. Meanwhile, I now have to take the insurer to court.

 

I'm also wanting to open a judicial review on the insurer case as soon as I can get ATE insurance for costs.

 

From personal experience i have absoloutely NO faith in FOS whatsoever nor would i believe a word they say.......................

[wishboneash]

they are rubbish the FOS