Melbourne Mortgages-help Needed

[Amethyst]

Re: Melbourne Mortgages-help Needed

1) Yes its fine - you have confirmation they have accepted your DPA request

2) I don't think so - i get weekly texts off tv licence to remind me to pay it which i find very helpful being my memory is like a sieve. If you arent happy with them contacting you in this way then I would write and tell them that you are quite aware when your DDs are due out and you don't need reminding. If they carry on after that or text you chasing money then yes I would consider that to be harrassment.

[ELIZABETH1]

Re: Melbourne Mortgages-help Needed

TUTTSI (not sure if this helps)

Once you've got a figure for all of these charges with dates etc.. they were applied to the Mortgage Account etc.. remember to include stuff like admin charges, counsellor fees etc.. (some companies like to send a riffy advisor to know the door to chase arrears) put them all into a spreadsheet like we do for Bank Charges reclaims.

Then send a Pre Lim request for charges refund request (adapt the bank charges template to suit mortgage account) = gives them 14 days to refund/respond. Then if they don't refund/respond in that time follow it up with the Letter Before Action again enclosing the same list of charges to be refunded (just adapt the bank charges reclaim template to suit)

Then once they reply (they'll probably be telling you no chance you can only reclaim bank charges not loan or mortgage charges) parcel it all up with a complaint form and send it to the FOS - and let them chase the refund for you!! Just explain on the complaint form that you have sent requests asking for a refund etc.. and copy the reply from the company to show you did attempt to chase this yourself and they tol you no.

FOS will pick your complaint up and chase the refund and the company will refund the charges etc.. as though to make your mortgage account as though these charges never happened and you'll also get the 8% interest too similar to as with bank charge refunds.

I did mine with a High Street Bank last year and successfully got a total refund from our lender and we still with them now etc.. - FOS were very good and sorted it.

It's easier than fighting a court claim etc.. and filing a claim against them like the Bank Charges stuff and risking costs etc.. if it goes wrong. FOS will take a few months dealing with it - but they do get good results. Don't think cause you in arrears you need to tread carefully - FOS will make sure the company deals fairly with you.

The last thing any of these companies want is for FOS and other regulatary bodies crawling through files etc.. - so they'll pay up sharply to avoid being investigated :tinysmile_grin_t:




Copy the pre lim request letter and the LBA with the list of charges - remember you can go back 12 years with a mortgage account

[TUTTSI]

Re: Melbourne Mortgages-help Needed

Thanks Elizabeth

Melbourne are our 2nd Mortgage and the really big one is with Rooftops so we will do the same for both. Both Companies have run up a mock with charges. We were horrified with the account balance with Melbourne being shed loads more than we owe having been paying them back continuously.

With both Companies they have just added it all to our Mortgage account balance and of course we are paying heavy interest on all the charges being added. They charge even if you sneeze. Melbourne do not notify us of the charges in advance whereas Rooftop do.

So even if the charges are in their T&C's they can all be claimed back 100%!

xx

[ELIZABETH1]

Re: Melbourne Mortgages-help Needed

Thanks Elizabeth

Melbourne are our 2nd Mortgage and the really big one is with Rooftops so we will do the same for both. Both Companies have run up a mock with charges. We were horrified with the account balance with Melbourne being shed loads more than we owe having been paying them back continuously.

With both Companies they have just added it all to our Mortgage account balance and of course we are paying heavy interest on all the charges being added. They charge even if you sneeze. Melbourne do not notify us of the charges in advance whereas Rooftop do.

So even if the charges are in their T&C's they can all be claimed back 100%!

xx

YES you can claim all of this back through FOS really!!

when claim is done (it'll take a couple of months maybe depends on how much the lender plays up) it will take account back to as though charges never happened = a huge chunk off remaining mortgage balance will be the result cause you can reclaim all the admin/letter fees, arrears charges, any advisor/consultant fees if they send someone to discuss arrears with you etc.. and you'll get the 8% interest from using spread sheet as it adds 8% from date charge was made like on bank charges.

I just used the bank charges reclaim spread sheet and same Pre Lim & LBA letters adapted to suit mortgage account. Once our lender told me "you can't reclaim mortgage charges you made a mistake" (they kid me NOT ha ha ha) I just parceled it all up to FOS and I'd forgotten all about it - till I got a lovely letter last year saying my lender wanted to make a refund - I got more than I asked for cause interest was still accruing while I was waiting the outcome!!

Because we'd actually swapped our mortgage product since the charges had happened (but were still with the lender) they sent us the juicy cheque which was lovely!!

I would still do this even if an account has been closed/paid off and loan remortgaged elsewhere - because the money was still added to mortgage unfairly and calculated into balances owing etc.. - so therefore the money can be reclaimed by customer because it was unfair.

From what I understand FOS doesn't use the six/twelve year limitations act when looking at claims so I would even try recoupe older charges if I had stuff older than these time scales - I'd be digging back through mortgages as far back as I could go and ask FOS to look into them - worse case reply is NO you can't have them. BUT nothing ventured = nothing gained???

Going the FOS route is certainly easier than court route in my own experience = you file complaint and wait for outcome no worries about defences, court appearances, legal cases etc.. to support claims etc.. - FOS do the work for you and it's free!! If the lenders mess about FOS will fine them etc.. so companies aren't going to mess about with FOS too much are they?

Good Luck

[TUTTSI]

Re: Melbourne Mortgages-help Needed

Thanks Elizabeth for your help and advice. I do not expect Melbourne or Rooftop to be an easy ride but will have a go and also our previous Mortgage lenders,as I am sure as eggs are eggs we have be charged an absolute fortune even over the last 12 years. With Rooftop our main mortgage provider we had decided to tread carefully as we are already on a suspended possession order and have been working to bring down our arrears. The reclaim of charges taken off our account would drastically reduce the amount of interest we are paying in addition to the libor rate which has dropped amazingly and we will benefit from this in Feb09 when Rooftop are due to cut our mortgage interest.

We had already sent the SAR to both Melbourne and Rooftop so I just have to do the spreadies.

When you got your refund did they allocate it all against your mortgage balance with the interest as well!

What rate of interest did you use in your calculations! the statutory 8% or the rate of what you were actually charged!

xx

[ELIZABETH1]

Re: Melbourne Mortgages-help Needed

Thanks Elizabeth for your help and advice. I do not expect Melbourne or Rooftop to be an easy ride but will have a go and also our previous Mortgage lenders,as I am sure as eggs are eggs we have be charged an absolute fortune even over the last 12 years. With Rooftop our main mortgage provider we had decided to tread carefully as we are already on a suspended possession order and have been working to bring down our arrears. The reclaim of charges taken off our account would drastically reduce the amount of interest we are paying in addition to the libor rate which has dropped amazingly and we will benefit from this in Feb09 when Rooftop are due to cut our mortgage interest.

We had already sent the SAR to both Melbourne and Rooftop so I just have to do the spreadies.

When you got your refund did they allocate it all against your mortgage balance with the interest as well!

What rate of interest did you use in your calculations! the statutory 8% or the rate of what you were actually charged!

xx

Tuttsi we just asked the 8% like in bank charges - I didn't want to leave room for questions/argument from lender so I kept it simple = less room for them to mess about.

Our lender was going to allocate money to the mortgage account SO we argued that as they'd already encouraged us to redeem our original fixed rate mortgage 5 years earlier than term ran and put us on a higher rate of 2.25% higher than the original mortgage we were repaying - I asked for the money to cme to us as the charges were prior to us switching products (mess had already been sorted out) - so we got the money paid to us as we were uptodate etc..
Lenders will allocate money to account as their first option usually - I think only way I got refund was cause I played them up

[TUTTSI]

Re: Melbourne Mortgages-help Needed

Having sent the SAR to Melbourne Mortgages, I have just had the opportunity to review what they sent us.

Here is the response from the investigators Lewis Investigagtion Services who actually agree that they should not have called round at 7:15am and that it was not an appropriate time to call.

[TUTTSI]

Re: Melbourne Mortgages-help Needed

3RD FEB 2009

Pre-lim letter now done and will besent tomorrow £1950 charges + stat int 8%.

xx

[jax007]

Re: Melbourne Mortgages-help Needed

Hi Tuts

Could you post up your prelim letter please? I'd like to compare it with what I originally sent to GMAC and then I can adapt it for LBA

Ta muchly
jax

[TUTTSI]

Re: Melbourne Mortgages-help Needed

Hi Tuts

Could you post up your prelim letter please? I'd like to compare it with what I originally sent to GMAC and then I can adapt it for LBA

Ta muchly
jax

Hi Hun

here is the outline of the Pre-lim it is the one Sapphy used and I just altered it slightly, it is probably the one you also used.

Hope it helps

xxx

[jax007]

Re: Melbourne Mortgages-help Needed

Aw thanx Tuts

Well ............. my letter seems to have disappeared from my computer .... bloody great!

But I did one for SiL and his is similar to yours but not so long (mine was probably the same as his).

We are at 2nd LBA stage - first one sent July last year - and I can't remember exactly where I am with mine.

Both are GMAC so I'd like to resurrect them both - would you suggest starting over with both of them??

Mine is a dead mortgage and SiL is current so he may well have more charges since last year.

jax

[TUTTSI]

Re: Melbourne Mortgages-help Needed

Aw thanx Tuts

Well ............. my letter seems to have disappeared from my computer .... bloody great!

But I did one for SiL and his is similar to yours but not so long (mine was probably the same as his).

We are at 2nd LBA stage - first one sent July last year - and I can't remember exactly where I am with mine.

Both are GMAC so I'd like to resurrect them both - would you suggest starting over with both of them??

Mine is a dead mortgage and SiL is current so he may well have more charges since last year.

jax

Hi J

Use this letter and add something like - following my/our pre-lim
letter last year I /we are surprised not to have received a response.......and head it up LETTER BEFORE ACTION>

You will have to to an updated spreadie on both accounts, because of interest and extra charges.

Don't forget if you are doing the letter from just you alone, you will need to change the we's to I's etc.

[jax007]

Re: Melbourne Mortgages-help Needed

Good thinking that girl!!

If I do updated spreadie I presume I add in 8% (think I did that before anyway).

I did this with another mortgage claim and they really gave me a hard time on the interest and were adamant they weren't going to pay any interest whatsoever.

Much against my principles, I accepted the charges as they only amounted to £455 and forfeited the interest which was about £100 as it didn't seem worth the effort and cost of filing a claim.

jx

[TUTTSI]

Re: Melbourne Mortgages-help Needed

Received a response from Melbourne (current 2nd Mortgage) they have as a goodwill gesture reduced all letter and unpaid DD charges to £15 from £30. These are all non bearing interest chgs and we are not responsible for paying them untill the mortgage is redeemed.

We are writing a letter back, wanting a further reduction as some of those letters are just reminding us that the DD is going out and they were charging us £30 (now £15 ) for the privelidge. Also, they have not supplied a breakdown of costs as we requested. They have now varried their agreement! so they can varry it again.

Also, they have charged us 3 x £100 for Solicitor letters! we want an explation about this!

When they sent the debt collector round at 7:15am in the morning without an appointment from the SAR I now have a copy of a letter from the debt collectors agreeing that their agent was out of order to call at that time and apologised to Melbourne. Well this gave us a lot of extra stress and we will argue that we want compensation from this for disturbance and agrevation and stress that this caused.

They have still never actually given despite out requests a statement of account, what they gave was a redemption statement and charged us for the privelidge - so this is being addressed as well in our letter.

[waveydavey]

Re: Melbourne Mortgages-help Needed

Hi Tuttsi

Just wondered how you got on with Melbourne Mortgages. We find ourselves in a similar position. Their charges and interest are scandalous.

We are writing to FOS regarding them. Can you let us know if you had any response from them.
Thanks