Early redemption charges

[monkeyface1312]

Hi to everyone

This is my first post just to say a big thankyou to all concerned!

 

I would just like to thank all who contributed the imformation provided on the subject of claiming back unlawful early repayment penalties. Over the last few weeks I have been very intrested in this subject due to having unlawful early repayment penalties added to quite a few accounts of mine that are now closed.

 

I have decided to try and claim back these unlawful charges from these money lenders using the step by step of imformation guide which has been very helpful so far. I have sent a letter asking for these unlawful charges to be refunded back to me and look forward to reciveing a reply to these letters within the 14 days responce time.

Once again I thank you all for the help and imformation on how to go about and make the claim against these unlawful acts:) .

[mochamoo]

Hi Monkey Face,

 

Good Luck,

 

Which Mortgage company are you caliming from?

 

Have you read all the information in the mortgage forum carefully? And have you used the Letters from that forum as they differ from the other letters?

 

If you start a thread in the Mortgage forum we can watch your progress, and help if need be!

 

If you are going up against the mortage companie make sure you read all about the MCOL process and be prepared they tend to play hard ball. Also check your mortgage contract as some have clauses that allow them to claim their legal costs from you!

 

Start a thread so I can follow your progress! Good Luck

[monkeyface1312]

Hi Mochamoo

Thanks for the prompt to start a thread in the mortgage forum. I have read most of the information and noticed the different letters to send.

At the moment I have sent Two LBA letters regarding early redemption charges to Two companies which are the First National Home Finance Limited a part of GE Company, and the secound is GE Money Secured Loans Limited. I still have Northern Rock to write to and I Group Limited who is now part of GE Money. I have noticed that some of these companies are associated with each other financially.

[mochamoo]

You are claiming ERC? Not Mortgage Charges??

 

 

EEK! http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mortgage-companies/62003-important-mortgage-claimants-please.html

 

Be Carefull! You may want to hold fire for a bit first!

[gizmo111]

I have moved you to the mortgages forum - please read this before you proceed any further.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mortgage-companies/62003-important-mortgage-claimants-please.html

[Rebecca Bloomswood]

I began a claim for ERC against GE Money.. got as far as court but ended up withdrawing after getting them to agree to pay their own costs to date.. If I was you, I would hang fire for now...

[monkeyface1312]

Hi rebecca

I have just had a reply from GE Money they tell me that they are looking into my complaint and will be back in touch within 4 weeks. Still waiting for my SAR to come back from them and from other companies like Northern Rock to check on what they have over charged me in penalties and early repayment settlement penalties. I wounder if you or anyone can answere this question.

Is it legal for any Mortgage Company or Loan Company to charge any penalty or early repayment fees if the re-mortgage or loan comes from or is associated by the same Mortgage or loan Company. I have noticed on reading some of the entries that certain companies are refunding these charges to some clients and I am wondering if this might be because its a legal duty to disclose if they are associated with or are the same or associated financially with such companies. Can anyone help please

[dolly]

It is to do with portability and a lot will still charge you even if you are with the same lender. And as it is within the T&C's that you sign, they are within their rights to charge you. Whether it is fair or not is dependent on the judge on the day :-|

[monkeyface1312]

Hi mochamoo

I am just wondering if you can help, do you know the answere to my question I have asked and sent to rebecca?

[mochamoo]

It is to do with portability and a lot will still charge you even if you are with the same lender. And as it is within the T&C's that you sign, they are within their rights to charge you. Whether it is fair or not is dependent on the judge on the day :-|

 

 

Unfortunatly, Dolly (far more knowledgeable than I:razz:) is correct. Its all do up the companies own particular practices, some do some don't.

 

 

Not fair I know, but only a judge will deceide if its legal or not, and going that far at the moment is a definite no go zone:(

[monkeyface1312]

Thanks for the reply dolly,

 

Whats concerning me at the moment is that these companies are still able to carry out selling these Mortgage products and loans to clients who think these financial companies are helping them out financially.

 

These companies then are able to charge these unseen penalties and early repayment charges which then removes equity from the property which then adds to the globle debt.

 

That is one of the reasons why I can not sit back and let these Financial Mortgage Loan Companies think they have got away with our hard earned money.

[mochamoo]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mortgage-companies/74382-sign-petition.html

[gizmo111]

Whats concerning me at the moment is that these companies are still able to carry out selling these Mortgage products and loans to clients who think these financial companies are helping them out financially.

 

Absolutely - and that is why this site is dedicated to helping people with financial difficulties and makng sure they know their rights and the implications of any contract they enter into - particulary when it comes to your home.

[monkeyface1312]

Thanks again to all

 

Just got to wait now for the SAR to come back and then after I check the contents I shall proceed with caution. As soon as I recive any post I will be in touch for any advise on the next steps to take.

[Rebecca Bloomswood]

Sorry I didn't respond Monkkeyface1312.. I haven't had access to a pc for a few days...

 

The situation, as I see it, with regards to ERC is that we all signed up knowing full well the implications of early redemption and whilst grossly unfair, the practice is apparently lawful.

 

Personally, I still think it could be argued that the 'charge' is to cover losses but there is not, in fact any loss to the mortgage lender because when the money is repaid, it is immediately re-lent to some other poor bugger who just wants to own a brick or two...

 

I'm afraid I'm not in any position to put my case forward as I no longer reside in Europe...

[monkeyface1312]

Just an update

I have had a responce letter to my SAR letter sent on 16th March to Northern Rock.

It states as follows

 

Please find enclosed information, which has been released under section 7 of the data Protection Act and includes all the statments held by Northern Rock on your Morgtgage account.

Northern rock do not automatically produce closing statements. As this would have to be a manually produced, I feel it necessary to notify you that there will be a charge of £20 for this.

Should you decide to proceed then please note as your mortgage is now redeemed you will be required to send in a cheque to the above address before the statment can be sent to you.

If you need more help, please give us a call on 0845 602 8301. Lines are open from 8.30am to 5pm Monday to Friday. For your protection we may record the call.

Yours sincerely

Jane Nash

Mortgage Customer Contact Centre

Existing Mortgages.

 

As you can see from this letter its just another way of how Northern Rock dont take notice and try to avoid what I asked for in my SAR on first paragragh which asked the following.

 

Please supply me with a complete list of all transactions and charges relating to my banking history on ALL MY ACCOUNTS held by me with your organisation over the past SIX YEARS.

 

Alternatively, a COMPLETE set of statements FOR EACH ACCOUNT held by me for ALL PERIODS will be acceptable.

 

I enclose the statutory fee of £10. You have 40 days from when you recive my cheque to comply with my request.

 

I phoned them to let them know that they have not carried out my request fully as they have not sent me all the information on my accounts requested.

 

They agreed that they have made a mistake and will forward to me as requested all the relivent information on all my accounts held with them in the next few days.

I agreed to wait to see if they will send all the imformation requested and told them the clock is ticking and time for them to send this information is running out.

 

Some of the information they have sent me I have never seen before and it seems like they have left out all the important documents that show the transactions on the account, any way I will wait to see if all the docs are sent to me before the dead line.

 

I have not recived a reply from GE Money as yet I sent out a SAR letter to them on 16th March 2007 and await the reply.

[monkeyface1312]

Just another up date for those intrested parties

 

I can not belive the incopidence of the Mortgage Customer Contact Centre regarding my SAR I sent them on the 16th March 2007.

 

After Northern Rock admit they were at fault during my lengthy telephone conversation saying they would send my other documentation thats missing from my accounts, they have sent in post today a duplicate of what they have already sent me two days ago, and left out still all the other relivent information on my accounts asked for in my SAR letter.

 

They now tell me that another department is looking at my request because they say I did not mention in my SAR letter about the other accounts I had.

This is complete and utter rubbish as i explained it was there account number on the paper work, there reference number quoted, and asked them to read the paragragh where it states.

 

Please supply me with a complete list of all transactions and charges relating to my banking history on any accounts accounts held by me over the last six years.

 

It seems quite clear to me that its just another way that they are using delaying tactics in supplying the information requested.

 

The clock is still ticking for them to come up with the goods.

 

Its also quite clear how much more money these companies are making when they keep you waitng on hold for thirty minutes on the phone at premium rates when you contact them over a very simple matter and the mistake is there doing not mine.

So I still await the information requested, time is running out for them.

[monkeyface1312]

Just another up date with my claim with GE Money and Northern Rock.

They Both have not managed to send me all the documentation mentioned in my SAR letter dated 16th march 2007 in the 40 day time period so off goes a letter today being 26th April 2007 to the Information Commissioners Office Cheshire.

Both these companies have cashed the cheques sent with the SAR letter but not sent me the information requested.

I will await the responce from the ICO and see if they then send me the information requested and then issue them with a LBA.

Can any one suggest if I can go straight to court if they have not responded with my request on the SAR on time, please advise

[monkeyface1312]

Hi Gizmo111

Just woundered if you know if I can file straight to court because GE Money and Northern Rock have gone over the 40 day dedline and not sent me what I have requested in my SAR.

I have sent letter to ICO explaining that they have not carried out my request even thouigh they have cashed the cheque sent for SAR request and await the responce from them.

Have I carried out the right procedure?

I have read the FAQS and carried out what it states so far but without the account details that they hold I can not work out how much they have over charged on my accounts.

[craigamc]

I have just sent all my info to the FSO rather than court

 

I think they will be just as fair (and cheaper) than anyone else!

 

craig

[monkeyface1312]

I have just recived a letter back from the ICO regarding my SAR letter sent to Northern Rock who have not responded with all the information relating to my accounts held with them over the past six years which has now gone over the forty day deadline.

The ICO have told me that they will be writing to Northern Rock with the next batch of complaints at the end of May 2007 and outline to them that they will need to send this information as a matter of priority. They have also made it clear that the will be asking Northern Rock what steps they are taking to ensure their future compliance with the Act and will be monitoring this issue.

The ICO have explained that a breach of the data principles is not a criminal offence and they cannot punish an organisation for a breach of principle. The ICO say it is their priority to get organisations to take steps to solve the problem and ensure they handle personel information properly in the future.

The ICO have mentioned that if I feel that I have suffered a loss because the organisation has broken the law then i may be entitled to compaensation and should go through the court procedure to claim because they have no power to award comensation.

They also have thanked me for bringing this matter to thier attention and will be monitoring the outcome.

I am now waiting to see if I get a responce from Northern Rock and see if they now send me the information I requested that they hold regarding my mortgage and loan accounts over the past six years.

[mochamoo]

I got the same from ICO.

 

I am now doing this

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/helpful-external-links/7054-data-protection-act-taking.html

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/6971-data-protection-act-non.html

[monkeyface1312]

I have recived from Northern Rock a letter including my account statments in responce to my SAR after contacting the ICO because they were in breach of the Data Protection Act

I have now finally been able to work out the amount of penalty charges that they have charged to my accounts held with them over the past six years.

I have had time to look at all the statments and found a number of areas where they have added charges.

I have compiled and sent the following letter to them which is in responce to the Data protection Act letter.

 

Dear Sir/madam

 

You probably realise you are in breach of the Data Protection Act because you have not fully complied with your obligations under the Data protection act 1998 within the 40 days which I asked for.

 

I must bring to your attention that you will be receiving a letter from the ICO and also Experian because Northern rock has not responded to previous communication by telephone regarding an entry on my credit file.

 

Northern Rock agreed to remove the entry when I pointed out the mistake months ago, but on checking my credit file on the 24th April 2007 it was still showing the mistake when the account had been settled in April 2004.

 

To help you with your enquire my first Mortgage was taken out in March 2002. The first monthly payment came out of my bank account on the 07/04/2002, so I know you hold this information which you have chosen to withhold from me.

During the time that I held my first Mortgage with Northern Rock I have never known that the first Mortgage was partly a Secured loan and part Unsecured loan.

When my partner had become very ill with Cancer I telephoned Northern Rock to explain my situation at the time.

Norhtern Rock explained that I had built up payment holidays which I could take to help with our financial problem of my partners lost earnings which I explained at the time.

After explaining that my partner would be off work for quite a while you explained due to the arrears on the account that you would consider a re-mortgage.

You did not tell us that the new mortgage which was offered to replace the first mortgage to help with our financial situation was a fully secured mortgage on our property.

Now that my partner and I have had time to reflect we noticed that the first mortgage was a partly secured and partly unsecured on our property.

 

Why would anyone change to a new mortgage deal from a partly secured mortgage to a fully secured mortgage with an early repayment penaltie added which made us worse off than if we had kept the first partly unsecured mortgage we had.

It is only that we have had time to reflect over the past few months that this has come to light and feel that Northern Rock had put us into a far worse financial situation by offering this re-mortgage with hidden early repayment charges.

We have looked at the financial payment history with our accounts with Northern Rock which have been paid and feel that Northern Rock had miss sold us a Mortgage product that made us financially worse off.

I had always kept Northern Rock informed of our financial problem at the time of my partners illness and can not believe that a company that I had always trusted could miss sell a product by making us belive that it would be the best thing to re-mortgage to a fully secured mortgage product that would make us worse off than if we would have kept the first mortgage as it was.

If you check the accounts that we held with Northern Rock the accounts were always paid until my partner became ill.

 

When I paid back the first mortgage account i was paying back on a repayment basis of around £649 per month which included the unsecured part of the loan and owed around £101,500 before the re-mortgage took place.

The new mortgage was offered with an early repayment charge of around £10,000 which went up to £732 per month at the end.

I paid back this re-mortgage in November 2006 which had escalated to 114,386 which included the £9,149 early repayment charge.

My complaint is that I have been sold a re-mortgage which has escalated to have cost me a large proportion more than the first mortgage would have cost if i had keptthe first mortgage account with out re-mortgageing with Northern Rock.

If you are prepared to offer me a fair settlement payment after working out the difference in financial loss that i have incurred between the first mortgage and the miss sold mortgage product, then i would consider accepting this gesture on your part in full and final settlement and then i would not take any further action on the matter.

I would be most greatfull if Northern Rock would respond with your proposal within the next 14 days to stop further action from being taken, thank you.

 

Northern Rock have phoned me to tell me that they note what i have sent in this letter but it will take a further 8 weeks to make the investigation and will let me know what they decide to do.

I have asked them to acknowledge this by letter and await the reply.