Bank of Scotland unfairly double billed customers says judge

[purplefile]

Thought this may be of some use.

 

 

Bank of Scotland has been unfairly double billing customers who fell behind on their mortgages, a High Court judge in Belfast has ruled.

 

 

In a scathing verdict, Master Ellison said the bank's behaviour had been "unconscionable"

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-28842534

 

The judge said this meant borrowers had been held in fear and were being threatened with repossession on account of an "erroneous and fictional arrears balance".

[purplefile]

http://www.housingrights.org.uk/news/bank-scotland-held-account

 

More on the case. I'll post the full judgement as soon as I get it.

[legallabs]

I have read the Judgement and it is very revealing about how Banks deal with arrears. The Bank have time to appeal

we will see!!

[citizenB]

This is very good news and as it is a High Court Judgment, others will be able to rely on it.

 

I understand this is what Sub Prime lenders do as well !

 

I have amended the thread title to provide more impact

[purplefile]

Thanks

Yes the sub primers do it too. May set a useful precedent for folk.

 

Here's the judgement https://www.courtsni.gov.uk/en-GB/Judicial%20Decisions/PublishedByYear/Documents/2014/%5B2014%5D%20NIMaster%2011/j_j_2014NIMaster11Final.htm

[LateDeveloper]

I have a similar case going through the Financial Ombudsman in the UK at this moment in time, so hopefully he will take heed of this judges ruling, despite it being in Ireland.

 

This is apparently common practice, not just with RBS, but with all mortgage lenders, and the adjudicator apparently thinks it is fine, despite an earlier court ruling that capitalisation without an agreed change in the original mortgage agreement is not legal.

[SivEd]

This is apparently common practice, not just with RBS, but with all mortgage lenders, and the adjudicator apparently thinks it is fine, despite an earlier court ruling that capitalisation without an agreed change in the original mortgage agreement is not legal.

 

Yes it is common I think, I had a similar situation with Coventry Building Society. Essentially my "arrears" were only their charges and, following a redundancy, they tried to repossess on that basis.

 

In the end I had to get my MP involved a couple of days before the bailiffs were due to arrive, they backed down immediately, cancelling the court action (I had a new job), but the arrears remain on my mortgage.

 

I think it is unfair that they can make me homeless solely on the basis of charges of a kind and amount that caused the bank charges scandal a few years ago. That is fundamentally what putting the charges on the mortgage can mean.

[sickasapig]

My house was repossessed by BOS two weeks ago. Wish i'd of known this sooner. I knew they were robbing me

[LateDeveloper]

My house was repossessed by BOS two weeks ago. Wish i'd of known this sooner. I knew they were robbing me

 

In your case I would take them to court and sue them, given RBS have just been fined £20.7 million (£14.5 million for early payment) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28948518

This is just gross mis-selling of a product and a change to a contract must be agreed by both parties for it to be legal.

 

It is encouraging that the FCA are actually doing something, although it is rather cynical, given the amount of cases reported by various people of them having done nothing to date. I would presume people take the adjudicators opinion of a case, and not let the case go all the way to the Ombudsman. Personally that is something I found to be quite misleading with the FCA.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

This is very good news and as it is a High Court Judgment, others will be able to rely on it.

 

I understand this is what Sub Prime lenders do as well !

 

I have amended the thread title to provide more impact

 

 

It's happening/has happened in all forms of "lending" the Welcome Finance agreements seen on CAG have " capitalisation" and rewrites galore!

[citizenB]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?431606-FCA-fines-RBS-and-NatWest-for-failures-in-mortgage-advice-process&p=4601163#post4601163

 

RBS have been fined for failures in mortgage advice - I think people really need to think about making complaints.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?431606-FCA-fines-RBS-and-NatWest-for-failures-in-mortgage-advice-process&p=4601163#post4601163

 

RBS have been fined for failures in mortgage advice - I think people really need to think about making complaints.

I agree it seems that the FCA is well up on this, so the more complaints the greater the effect on their judgements on the banks conduct.

[iconoclash]

My house was repossessed by BOS two weeks ago. Wish i'd of known this sooner. I knew they were robbing me

 

I - wow, and I bet they included all their double billing in the total sued for, wonder if you can get an immediate court order to stop/prevent the sale of the property by them, some kind of injunction and then take it back into court.?

[LateDeveloper]

That is called a set-aside order, where the court sets aside a previous decision to allow for new evidence to be submitted.

 

Even if a Building society is granted a repossession order, it is not the end of the story by any means, and if they can be shown to be misleading or fraudulent in their dealings with their client, then that decision can be overturned.

[jutolo]

Hi Siacasapig,

As LateDeveloper said it may be possible to set the order aside so long as the bailiff have not taken possession. Even if they have and they have not sold it, it may be possible to stay the sale, so long as you can prove any form of detriment or prejudice suffered as a result of their behaviour before the order was granted. According to the the criticism in the Bos v Rea case in NI, there might well be a lot of grounds for staying the possession order and/or possible sale. It is advisable to see the CAB to look into the matter.

 

PS: I am not a solicitor and anything i post is based on my experience and should not be construed as legal advice.

[hesanmp]

i had a bos mortgage and a repo order, fees were high etc. i managed to keep the property. is i believe i was overcharged is there a template letter to send to them for a breakdown of charges etc?

 

cheers

[citizenB]

i had a bos mortgage and a repo order, fees were high etc. i managed to keep the property. is i believe i was overcharged is there a template letter to send to them for a breakdown of charges etc?

 

cheers

 

I don't think there is at the moment - I will ask if there are any plans to draft one for the library.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

I don't think there is at the moment - I will ask if there are any plans to draft one for the library.

Would it not be a little too early to even consider a template for this, it is in my opinion at the moment too complex given the number of different circumstance relevant to each and every mortgage provided by the bank?

[hesanmp]

ah brigadier

 

what i was getting at was surely there must be 'some way' of establishing whether or not the lender has in fact capitalised the arrears. would a sar show this, or are the calculations simply lost in translation?

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

ah brigadier

 

what i was getting at was surely there must be 'some way' of establishing whether or not the lender has in fact capitalised the arrears. would a sar show this, or are the calculations simply lost in translation?

Yes the SAR should provide the data on how the account has been managed by the lender.

 

 

It would be advantageous to be specific in asking for this data.

[Gemma.]

Thanks

Yes the sub primers do it too. May set a useful precedent for folk.

 

Here's the judgement

 

 

That is very interesting, thank-you for posting the link, It is often so hard to find judgments.