SPML/LMC anyone claimed for mis selling and unfair charges?

[peterjm]

Important Announcement for Capstone Victims.

 

A great spot by brassed off 2, this is a follow up to a previous article.

The national press has at last taken notice,this a real opportunity to get some action taken.

So please take the opportunity to add your comments and stories.

There were 80 comments on last months story which could be the reason for this follow up.

Please don't let the opportunity slip.

 

 

 

Mortgage company son of Lehman makes profits from harsh charges and waves of repossessions

 

 

By Richard Dyson

Last updated at 10:12 PM on 6th November 2010

 

 

• Comments (6)
  
• Add to My Stories
  

 

A secretive British mortgage company established by failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers is back in profit – thanks in part to the scores of repossessions it pushes through the courts each week.

 

Capstone, which has 80,000 UK borrowers with mortgages totalling £7 billion, also profits from punitive charges it repeatedly inflicts on customers, vastly inflating their arrears.

 

These charges include hundreds of pounds applied on top of arrears and interest under the guise of ‘arrears management fees’ (£85), ‘litigation management fees’ (£115), ‘referral to solicitors fees’ (£50) and others.

 

 

Fighting back: Danny Bovill does not trust the calculations of Capstone

 

Capstone, whose Mortgage offshoot profits from harsh charges and waves of repossessions aggressive staff reportedly bombard borrowers with as many as 15 phone calls a day demanding payment, also sends ‘financial advisers’ to knock on their doors – sometimes without a person’s knowledge or permission – and then bills them up to £250 for the ‘service’.

 

The Financial Services Authority sought to restrict such practices with rules introduced in June. It appears Capstone then altered certain processes. But Financial Mail is aware the FSA, which will not comment on individual firms, continues to receive complaints.

 

 

More...

 

 

• What next for mortgage rates? {thisismoney.co.uk}
  
• Should you take the mortgage gamble? {thisismoney.co.uk}
  
• SUNDERLAND ON SATURDAY: Zombies lurch towards financial abyss
  

 

Capstone employs 430 and has offices in London and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Most customers were borrowers with Southern Pacific, Preferred or London Mortgages, which had all stopped lending by 2008. It is now part-owned by its management, which includes at least one former Lehman banker (see below).

 

The number of repossessions sought by individual mortgage companies is difficult to pin down because courts publish case details just before hearings and records are not collated. But based on information from court workers, Financial Mail believes Capstone is responsible for about 70 repossession hearings a week, roughly one in

ten of all repossessions sought, even though its mortgages represent only 0.5 per cent of the entire market.

To make matters worse, Capstone’s administration is shambolic, with interest rates and terms frequently altered, sometimes without notification. Borrowers’ statements include arbitrary charges that are not explained.

Capstone customers also allege it routinely loses documentation and fails to respond to requests for statements and other information, even when made by courts.

 

Danny Bovill, a successful landlord with seven properties who also runs his own construction firm, has one mortgage with Capstone dating from 2006.

 

After a year, Danny, 34, from Canvey Island, Essex, realised it was wrongly charging him for insurance he did not need. He repeatedly sent Capstone the information it required to give him a rebate of the premiums, but it ignored him.

 

Danny and his broker logged 126 calls to Capstone on the subject. In disgust, he eventually withheld payments to recoup what he calculated was £1,460 owed him. But its collections department slapped hundreds, and then thousands, of pounds of charges on to his account, saying he was ‘in arrears’.

Danny resumed his payments, but Capstone pursued him for the charges, seeking to repossess the property on four occasions. Possession was not granted by the courts, but the legal actions triggered thousands of pounds of costs that Capstone wanted Danny to foot.

 

Capstone has now conceded some of the charges were wrong and that money is owed to Danny. But its records are so slapdash and contradictory he will not trust its calculations. The matter is with the Financial Ombudsman Service.

 

While Danny is confident enough to fight Capstone in court, there are worries that other borrowers will succumb to its aggressive tactics and lose their homes, perhaps unnecessarily.

 

Danny says: ‘Capstone has added charges to my account, accepted overpayments without telling me, failed to notify me of rate changes and generally mismanaged my account to the degree that I cannot accept any of its figures.’

 

Capstone said: ‘We work hard with all customers in financial difficulty to come to a mutually acceptable arrangement whenever possible to pay their arrears over time.

 

‘Where arrangements on arrears accounts are maintained, fees are not applied. It is inappropriate to comment on individual cases. We do all that we can to help customers in financial difficulty and repossession remains a last resort.’

 

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1327263/Ruthless-march-son-Lehman.html#addComment#ixzz14bApQrOi

[sohoscribbler]

Yes, please all of you add your comments. They might make a difference.

[peterjm]

Yes, please all of you add your comments. They might make a difference.

 

They most certainly do this is the second article in less than a month and there were over 80 comments on the last one,only a few from the degenerates.Who IS this Shill?

[peterjm]

Been told theres actually 2 stories concerning Capstone this is the other web version,it mentions the CEO and her apparent reluctance to endorse her own product!!!!

 

GET YOUR COMMENTS ON THERE IF YOU WANT TO SEE SOMETHING DONE

 

Harsh charges profit Lehman's UK offshoot

By Richard Dyson

6 November 2010 Reader comments (1)

A secretive British mortgage company established by failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers is back in profit - thanks in part to the scores of repossessions it pushes through the courts each week.

Fighting back: Danny Bovill does not trust the calculations of Capstone

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

 

 

• House price tables: what the reports say
  
• Should you take the mortgage gamble?
  
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MORTGAGE TABLES

 

Mortgage finder: Cut your monthly mortgage costs, with a quick comparison

- Mortgage tables

 

 

Capstone, which has 80,000 UK borrowers with mortgages totalling £7bn, also profits from punitive charges it repeatedly inflicts on customers, vastly inflating their arrears.

These charges include hundreds of pounds applied on top of arrears and interest under the guise of 'arrears management fees' (£85), 'litigation management fees' (£115), 'referral to solicitors fees' (£50) and others.

Capstone, whose aggressive staff reportedly bombard borrowers with as many as 15 phone calls a day demanding payment, also sends 'financial advisers' to knock on their doors - sometimes without a person's knowledge or permission - and then bills them up to £250 for the 'service'.

The Financial Services Authority sought to restrict such practices with rules introduced in June. It appears Capstone then altered certain processes.

 

But Financial Mail is aware the FSA, which will not comment on individual firms, continues to receive complaints.

Capstone employs 430 and has offices in London and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

Most customers were borrowers with Southern Pacific, Preferred or London Mortgages, which had all stopped lending by 2008. It is now part-owned by its management, which includes at least one former Lehman banker.

 

The number of repossessions sought by individual mortgage companies is difficult to pin down because courts publish case details just before hearings and records are not collated.

 

But based on information from court workers, Financial Mail believes Capstone is responsible for about 70 repossession hearings a week, roughly one in ten of all repossessions sought, even though its mortgages represent only 0.5% of the entire market.

To make matters worse, Capstone's administration is shambolic, with interest rates and terms frequently altered, sometimes without notification.

Borrowers' statements include arbitrary charges that are not explained. Capstone customers also allege it routinely loses documentation and fails to respond to requests for statements and other information, even when made by courts.

 

 

Part-owner: Amany Attia

 

Did this woman create the problem? While Capstone boosts its profits by repossessing borrowers' homes and inflating their debts with eye-watering charges, who benefits?

One answer is the disgraced bankers who helped to cause the credit crisis in the first place.

Capstone, initially set up as a subsidiary of failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers, underwent a complex reorganisation in June in which current management, under chief executive Amany Attia, assumed part-ownership.

Until 2007, the French-American banker was a driving force behind the process whereby risky sub-prime mortgage debts were bundled up and sold on swiftly.

This type of financial engineering, known as mortgage securitisation, was largely responsible for Lehman's 2008 collapse and played a major role in the failure of other banks such as Northern Rock.

The banking crisis triggered the global recession, leading to rising unemployment and financial distress for mortgage borrowers, including Capstone customers.

Attia, 49, who lives in a £3m home in fashionable Brook Green, west London, has a mortgage with Nationwide Building Society, Land Registry documents reveal.

She came to Britain in 2001 to 'head Lehman's mortgage securitisation business in Europe', according to reports. Previously she had worked in the US.

Attia is trying to rebrand Capstone as 'Acenden' to sever the negative Lehman's connection. Financial Mail sought to talk to her, but was told she was abroad.

 

 

 

Danny Bovill, a successful landlord with seven properties who also runs his own construction firm, has one mortgage with Capstone dating from 2006. After a year, Danny, 34, from Canvey Island, Essex, realised it was wrongly charging him for insurance he did not need.

He repeatedly sent Capstone the information it required to give him a rebate of the premiums, but it ignored him. Danny and his broker logged 126 calls to Capstone on the subject. In disgust, he eventually withheld payments to recoup what he calculated was £1,460 owed him.

But its collections department slapped hundreds, and then thousands, of pounds of charges on to his account, saying he was 'in arrears'.

Danny resumed his payments, but Capstone pursued him for the charges, seeking to repossess the property on four occasions. Possession was not granted by the courts, but the legal actions triggered thousands of pounds of costs that Capstone wanted Danny to foot.

Capstone has now conceded some of the charges were wrong and that money is owed to Danny. But its records are so slapdash and contradictory he will not trust its calculations. The matter is with the Financial Ombudsman Service.

While Danny is confident enough to fight Capstone in court, there are worries that other borrowers will succumb to its aggressive tactics and lose their homes, perhaps unnecessarily.

Danny says: 'Capstone has added charges to my account, accepted overpayments without telling me, failed to notify me of rate changes and generally mismanaged my account to the degree that I cannot accept any of its figures.'

Capstone said: 'We work hard with all customers in financial difficulty to come to a mutually acceptable arrangement whenever possible to pay their arrears over time.

'Where arrangements on arrears accounts are maintained, fees are not applied. It is inappropriate to comment on individual cases. We do all that we can to help customers in financial difficulty and repossession remains a last resort.

 

 

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/mortgages-and-homes/article.html?in_article_id=517814&in_page_id=8&ito=1565#ixzz14ghL4neX

[peterjm]

AND YET MORE

This is Money Blog

 

 

 

 

November 07, 2010

 

Capstone Mortgages: the appalling Lehman legacy that each week throws dozens of families out of their homes

 

Each week secretive mortgage company Capstone turns to the courts to seek possession of scores of borrowers' homes.

Financial Mail on Sunday estimates that while Capstone administers mortgages representing under 0.5% of the UK's mortgage market, it is responsible for 10% of repossessions. This shocking disproportion is perhaps one reason why there are unconfirmed rumours that the Financial Services Authority is investigating the company.

 

There is plenty to worry about at Capstone, in addition to its apparently brutal haste in forcing borrowers to court. Look at the mortgage statement, right, issued by Capstone this year to a client with a £148,000 loan. What you will quickly see (click on the image to enlarge it) is a litany of unitemised, unexplained and apparently arbitrary charges applied on top of interest due.

 

The charges are described vaguely as 'legal costs' and 'arrears management fees', etc, and they vastly inflate the sums owed by the borrower - on which further interest is to be charged.

This single page of statement, from February 2010 to September 2010, includes sundry charges totalling over £6,000. There are no fewer than three billings for 'legal costs' of more than £1,400 each.

Aggressive Capstone has tried to take possession of this borrower's property four times, based primarily on arrears built out of these charges. It has failed. But Capstone's record-keeping is so inexplicable, error-ridden and opaque that it is not clear precisely who is owed what, and the borrower, quite rightly, won't take Capstone's word for anything. Nor is the borrower prepared to pay thousands of pounds of legal costs for what he claims was never a legitimate case for possession. The dispute is currently with the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Other mortgage statements issued by Capstone, and seen by Financial Mail, suggest the example above is no exception.

Capstone is the remnant of several subsidiaries of disgraced US bank Lehman Brothers. Capstone's current chief executive, banker Amany Attia, pictured, was a driving force in setting up the original UK Lehman-backed mortgage businesses which went under the names Southern Pacific Home Loans, Preferred Mortgages and others. Focusing mainly on subprime markets, these outfits ceased lending ahead of Lehman's collapse in October 2008. Capstone now administers the remaining loanbooks, which have 80,000 borrowers and a face value of £7 billion.

Financial Mail has tried to speak to Attia, 49, but were told by Capstone that she was unavailable. This report, here, sheds some light on her aspirations for the business, 23 per cent of which now belongs to management following a June 2010 restructuring. I wondered whether Attia, who is described on Companies House files as French American, had a mortgage with a lender specialising in the subprime markets. But no. Attia's own housing arrangements are rather different from the majority of the borrowers her business deals with. According to documents lodged at the Land Registry, Attia lives in a four-storey town house she bought in 2005 for £1.9 million. Situated in Brook Green, a stone's throw from London's Kensington (boasting some of the most expensive real estate in the world), Attia's property is now valued at £3 million. And a mortgage? Hers is with the very respectable Nationwide Building Society, documents reveal.

When talking to the mortgage trade Press Attia paints a positive image of caring Capstone.

By contrast threatening behaviour, administrative nightmares and other worrying goings-on are what you are likely to hear about if you ever speak to a Capstone client. Borrowers have complained repeatedly, using threads on sites such as the Consumer Action Group, here. Several CAG threads regarding Capstone have attracted replies in their thousands. Some borrowers have even set up a dedicated protest site, the Capstone Action Group, here. Many have submitted complaints and documents to the Financial Services Authority.

But unfortunately large numbers of Capstone clients do not complain and, worse, do not attend possession hearings. It is feared they are being so bullied and crushed by Capstone and its collecting agents that they are prepared relinquish their properties rather than contest Capstone's actions.

 

If you are a borrower with Preferred, Southern Pacific or any other lender administered by Capstone, and you feel you have been unfairly or aggressively treated, the following might help:

DON'T PHONE CAPSTONE'S CALL CENTRE - WRITE DIRECT TO ITS CHIEF EXECUTIVE

As Capstone's customers' consistently attest, this company doesn't listen to people who phone in. Its staff repeatedly fail to follow instructions, give contradictory information, and seem unable to do anything other than pursue arrears. Always write, keeping copies and logs of correspondence and using a signed-for mail service if necessary. Write direct to: Amany Attia, chief executive, Capstone Mortgage Services, Fourth Floor, Royal London House, 22-25 Finsbury Square, London, EC2A 1DX. As an executive director of a regulated company, Attia could be fined or censured personally by the Financial Services Authority for any regulatory breaches, or even banned from ever again working in UK securities industries. So it is only fair to make any serious complaints direct to her.

INVOLVE YOUR MP

If you think Capstone is applying excessive or unjustified charges to your mortgage account, exacerbating your loan position, or in any way treating you unfairly, tell your MP at once. Find him or her here. Alert your MP to the negative Press surrounding Capstone, and encourage them to write to Attia above. Alternatively, ask your MP to write direct to the Financial Services Authority (address below), questioning its supervision of Capstone. Remember to point out to your MP that the FSA has tried to clamp down on companies operating businesses like Capstone's, see here.

INVOLVE THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY AND THE FINANCIAL OMBUDSMAN SERVICE

The FSA can't usually help with individuals' complaints but it's worth letting it know if you're being subject to treatment which you believe breaches FSA rules. Write to Lesley Titcombe, Head of Mortgage Regulation, FSA, 25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, E14 5HS.

The FOS, by contrast, can help in individuals' disputes - see here. By pursuing a complaint through the FOS you might effectively halt, or at least delay, court proceedings being taken against you.

ALWAYS ATTEND COURT HEARINGS

If defendants fail to attend repossession hearings, the court invariably finds in favour of the claimant (ie mortgage lender) more or less regardless of the circumstances of the case.

- RICHARD DYSON, Financial Mail on Sunday

[Crapstone]

I can see some people picking up on no payments made but the interest on arrears is low so it's not a large amount. Seems more like a dispute on the insurance and the legal charges . If that looks complicated you should see some of mine with adjustments all over the place. 3 times this year they have written to say they have got the interest wrong. Mr. Dyson should also mention sending for all your documents, asking them to justify all legal fees and that you want copies of receipts.

[peterjm]

This is Richard Dysons response to the usual detractors whose agenda remains completely mystifying,and a message for shill "have some pride in yer sen man,get yer sen a life"

 

Just a quick response to the points made by B Ryde(on info. received aka Shill) and PauseForThought. Thanks for your comments, but I should make clear that the clip of statement I reproduced above shows just the 'payments due' column, not the column on the right hand side, which shows credits made to the account. Regular payments were made throughout this period as per the contract. I reproduced the statement in that abbreviated form because I wanted primarily to show how large, and apparently arbitrary, the charges were, and because of limited space. I sympathise with your point, PauseForThought, that 'we're not getting the full story'. There is something rather unsatisfactory about this: it sounds too bad to be true. All I can say is that I sent Capstone a comprehensive list of questions ahead of publication, and gave them a very generous opportunity in which to put their side of the story, or at least offer us a more complete version of it - and they chose not to. They refused to comment whatsoever on this case, or on any of the concerns I raised about their record-keeping, the accuracy of their statements, or their failure to properly describe or itemise costs. And that's where we are.

RICHARD DYSON

 

Posted by: Richard Dyson |

Edited November 10, 2010 by peterjm

[Crapstone]

Anyone else had a letter from Capstone stating that they will no longer be issuing quarterly statements and will instead be sending one annually?

[littledotty27]

Anyone else had a letter from Capstone stating that they will no longer be issuing quarterly statements and will instead be sending one annually?

 

No I haven't received anything, but looks like only time will tell!!

[zither]

Weve just got ours, I thought it was an annual thing anyway?

[brassed-off-2]

Hi Little Dotty

 

Did Capstone comply with the courts recent request

[littledotty27]

Hi Little Dotty

 

Did Capstone comply with the courts recent request

 

 

No they didn't comply,it's being taken back to court,judge knows about it and will be issuing a sanction to them.

[zither]

Has everyone seen this article from "This is money" http://blogs.thisismoney.co.uk/2010/11/capstone.html sorry if its already been posted.

[Crapstone]

Hi Zither,

 

For the last 7 years we've had our statements quarterly. I'll quote parts of the letter.

 

' The statement of account that is currently sent each quarter will now be sent annually based on the completion date of your mortgage. To assist you, we have enclosed an account statement from Southern Pacific Mortgage Limited detailing the account balance brought forward from your last quarterly statement along with your new account balance as at the 5th November 2010. Your next statement will be sent to you on the anniversary of your mortgage completion date.'

 

In smaller font on the same paragraph,

 

'If your account falls into arrears before this date you will also receive a seperate arrears statement whilst your account remains in arrears' .

 

There is also a change in their building insurance via Royal & Sun Alliance if anyone is unfortunate enough to be on that. They will be taking 2 payments in November as they are adjusting it from the beginning of the month to the end of the month.

 

A yearly statement? That means they can screw up as much as they like, save themselves money, have more phonecalls made to them and letters sent. Not everyone has internet. I'll stick to my guns and insist on the service I signed up for and that they have failed to provide on many levels. Maybe the postage is getting to be too much with all those court cases they have.

[peterjm]

ZITHER you naughty person for not reading previous pages,see the one before this there are actually 3 articles,please post a comment on the blog if you can,the page you highlighted.

[zither]

I did say sorry-sorry:(

[littledotty27]

They have closed one of the article for comments..i wonder why when it only has 30 comments and the one last month had over 80.

[peterjm]

They have closed one of the article for comments..i wonder why when it only has 30 comments and the one last month had over 80.

Threat of serious legal action from you know who I suppose,think everyone on this site has had that and still has that threat hanging over them continually and it comes no more serious than taking your home away.

Blog still open though and its a dialogue direct to the author so post up your questions and comments there.Thanks to zither for the link.

http://blogs.thisismoney.co.uk/2010/11/capstone.htm

[zither]

Thats no problem!

[brassed-off-2]

Had another interesting conversation with a muppet in the litigation department this morning!! Lets just say things are at a critical stage with the Brassed's and the crappers at the moment...without going too much into the in's and outs's. Charges refund still under review with the FOS, muppet confirmed though that if shortfall is not met by the end of Nov they will reinstate repossession, but in the mean time if shortfall is met by end nov they will look at other options, one being arrears consolidation, although this wont be done due to current affordability. In the meantime account is having charges added to it!! When i asked why they are considering consolidation at end of nov and not now, so that we can make an informed decision if this is suitable for us to persue!!, and why not 2 years ago when affordability was much healthier than now..he could not answer. The guy couldnt answer anything i asked because i had backed him into a corner, he was frantically typing away!!! that will make interesting reading, i'm sure!!

 

I know i shouldnt speak with them on the phone..but time is not on our side at the moment..and i would normally do things in writing only, but i am following these conversations up with emails and letters in the formal complaint capacity...plus it's a good feeling to turn the tables, asking them outright things they wouldnt expect the likes of joe public to know or understand for that matter...and yes they are squirming in their seats whilst they try and remain polite...

[littledotty27]

I couldn't help but chuckle at this last bit BO2..we have done exactly the same with them. Not let them get a word in edgeways,loads of q's thrown at them etc and they slam the phone down at you because they can't answer you...reverse psychology..i love it!!!

 

I know i shouldnt speak with them on the phone..but time is not on our side at the moment..and i would normally do things in writing only, but i am following these conversations up with emails and letters in the formal complaint capacity...plus it's a good feeling to turn the tables, asking them outright things they wouldnt expect the likes of joe public to know or understand for that matter...and yes they are squirming in their seats whilst they try and remain polite...

[Crapstone]

Same here and they claimed to have recorded the call, reviewed it on complaint and said it was a misunderstanding . The SAR said nothing and they wouldn't or couldn't provide a true transcript to either the FOS or myself. Very few calls to them were noted despite calling them several times per day at one point and having them hang up when I refused to make an offer of payment and just wanted questions answered.

 

While your case is with the FOS they can't do a fat lot. Anything else you get on them send it to the FOS. They are wise to them and their ignorant tactics on solely blaming the borrower doesn't wash. And neither do their inflated charges for making your life a misery.

 

But then again it's good to hear them cringe and squirm

[Crapstone]

Threat of serious legal action from you know who I suppose,think everyone on this site has had that and still has that threat hanging over them continually and it comes no more serious than taking your home away.

Blog still open though and its a dialogue direct to the author so post up your questions and comments there.Thanks to zither for the link.

http://blogs.thisismoney.co.uk/2010/11/capstone.htm

 

Yes, but still here and kicking.

[Crapstone]

How many people here have a mortgage that goes beyond their retirement date under the Capstone umbrella?

[mhbw3043]

How many people here have a mortgage that goes beyond their retirement date under the Capstone umbrella?

 

Mine does, taken out in 2007 ten year term now in retirement.