Astirman V Abbey

[astirman]

Hi,

My Abey redemption statement dated 31/08/2001 shows a Product Related Charge of £2,617.81.

I sent the preliminary letter requesting repayment of this Product Related Charge on 8th Dec 2006 and have received the following response today :-

“Thank you for your letter dated 8/12/2006. Your complaint is being handled by Abbey Customer Relations Teeside blah blah blah.

My understanding of your complaint is that you’re unhappy that we charged you an Early Repayment Chrage (ERC) of £2609.71 when you repaid your mortgage account in full on the 5th November 2001. You feel this has been charged unlawfully and have asked Abbey to refund this to you.

Castaneda and Others V Clydebank Engineering and shipbuilding Co lTD (1904) 12 SLT 498.

Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co LTD V New Garage and Motor Co Ltd (1915) AC 79.

I am sorry I am unable to comment on the above cases mentioned in your letter as they have no relevance to your mortgage account.

I would like to explain how Abbey fund special rated offered to customers and why we charged you an ERC when you repaid your loan before the products end date.

When we offer special products such as discounted rates. A date is then agreed for Abbey to repay these funds back which is usually the date the special product ends. If a customer pays the loan off sooner than expected, we could find that the interest we are being charged is higher than the returns we can make on the money the customers replied. Also if funds are repaid early we need to find somewhere to invest this money until we’re due to repay it which can mean further costs for us. The ERC ensures we do not make a loss when a customer decides to come out of a product early.

Abbey expects you, your financial advisor and any solicitor acting for you to have read the terms and conditions of your mortgage carefully, because once your mortgage begins you are legally bound by them.

Because you went ahead with your mortgage we believe you had understood the terms and conditions of the mortgage contract, so it is our opinion that you must have been aware of the need to pay us an ERC if you closed your mortgage before the date we had agreed on. The terms and conditions also clearly state how the ERC will be calculated if the mortgage is closed before agreed date.

I cannot agree with your comments that Abbey have acted illegally by making this charge as we have not broken the contract made between you and the company.

In view of the above, I cannot agree to your request for a refund of the ERC that was charged when your account was repaid in 2001. “

Any advice as to where to go now please ?

[zootscoot]

Hi Astirman,

 

Its a standard reply. Move on to the Lba when the 14 days have expired.

 

All the best

 

Zoot

[Les Gunn]

Good luck astirman - i'm well on with mine and court date is set!

 

[rascal3103]

good luck matey

[astirman]

Just a thought :-

 

I am finding some of the legal side of all this very difficult to follow and my wife is absolutely adamant that she does not want me to issue threats to Abby or my other case TMB that I will take them to court due to the risk of losing money. Zoot scoot (and others ) seem to be doing a fantastic job of answering our indvidual letters and so on but frankly without their help I feel totally scuppered.

 

My question is therefore if we are all so sure of our arguements why dont we as individuals employ a solicitor as we would be able to recover the costs once we win ? Wouldn't we ?

 

Any thoughts ?

 

All the best everyone in 2007.

[rascal3103]

astirman,

 

I too found it very daunting, but if you follow the procedure set down by others in fron tof you then you should have no problems. Take each step at a time, and read up on each issue as it arises, You have loads of support here, and any questions you need answering then just ask.

 

WIth regards to the solicitor, the majority of these claims fall under £5k, and therefore get allocated to the small claims track, this option does not entitle you (or them) to recover costs. That way, all you risk when taking these banks to court is the initial claim cost, and a little more for the allocation questionairre, if your claim exceeds £1500.

 

Remember, "fortune favours the bold"

[astirman]

Rascal,

 

Thank you, I was forgetting the small claims track element and the limitations you point out. Still quite idfficult to pick out the relevant aprts of other peoples cases though. however, I am heartened by your comments.

 

Thanks again.