Reclaiming Swift Advances arrears fees

[nelliewops]

Hi there,

We took out an unregulated mortgage with Swift Advances in 2006 which we repaid in 2007. During this time we built up a large number of arrears fees etc (total £3000+) and on redemption our ERC was over £5000.

I understand that reclaiming ERCs is a no-go area, but have contacted Swift regarding reclaiming the arrears fees plus interest.

Swift have defended their charges as being totally fair and have refused to pay up.

Following this we sent a LBA, but have not pursued this any further (a couple of months have elapsed since sending the LBA) because it's a well known fact that Swift defend such claims vigorously with armies of barristers and I don't believe there have been many (if any) successes against them.

Am I right in thinking the FOS won't deal with such a complaint because of the fact that it is unregulated by the FSA? According to Swift's website complaints for unregulated loans can only be dealt with by the FLA.

If anyone can offer any advice how to proceed with this I would be most grateful thank you!

Nelliewops x

[TUTTSI]

Re: Reclaiming Swift Advances arrears fees

Hi Nellie

Try sending your claim to the FOS as I understand that can work and the court route not be so easy.

What sort of level of charges are you talking about?

Tuttsi x

ps. just read this thread, might be worth looking into a bit deeper in case the broker fee has been included as well with interest
http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...ewpost&t=18901

pps. Also take a look at this article http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/mortgag...page_id=8&ct=5

[nelliewops]

Re: Reclaiming Swift Advances arrears fees

Hi Tuttsi,

Thank you for getting back to me!

I've had a read of the two links you provided and as there seems to be a precedent for taking these type of complaints to the FOS, I will give it a go.

The charges are approximately £3000 before any interest is added.

As for the broker's fee etc this is how my agreement is set out (apologies my scanner is dead) -

Loan facility - £53,230.00

Optional PPI - £5323.00

Total loan amount - £58,553.00

Broker's fee - £2500.00

Loan admin fee - £595.00

Monthly rate of interest - 1.21%

Which is the same as an interest rate of - 14.52%

Monthly payment (variable) - £728.23

Title indemnity fee - £135.00

There is no total charge for credit mentioned anywhere in the agreement.

I did try to find out if there was a secret commission paid by requesting the underwriting sheet in my SAR, but didn't receive this.

Based upon the way the figures are set out above I am unsure as to whether interest was being charged on the broker's fee as per the thread you linked me to. If anyone could help with working that out and if the loan figures are correct it would be most appreciated!

Thanks again,

Nellie x

[TUTTSI]

Re: Reclaiming Swift Advances arrears fees

Just one question did you take the PPI as it may have been mis-sold? yes you did take the PPI (silly me)

As for the other question, I will ask Amethyst to take a look and advise you.

Tuttsi x

I just did a little calculation and based on what you have said if you add the loan, ppi, broker fee, loan admin fee using the 14.52% interest divide by 365 then times 30 days = 1 month is £722.04. that is pretty close to what you are paying. I have sent a PM to Amethyst to come and take a look.

[Amethyst]

Re: Reclaiming Swift Advances arrears fees

the brokers fee will be the ''secret commission'' but its not secret so not an issue.

Whts the period the loan was over originally then we can work out what interest was charged on.

FOS will handle it for you but if they don't get anywhere you can take it through the court.


if this link works citizens advice backs up that mortgage default fees are unfair
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&sou...o2OhwH8zqHprMw

Hi Tuttsi,

Thank you for getting back to me!

I've had a read of the two links you provided and as there seems to be a precedent for taking these type of complaints to the FOS, I will give it a go.

The charges are approximately £3000 before any interest is added.

As for the broker's fee etc this is how my agreement is set out (apologies my scanner is dead) -

Loan facility - £53,230.00

Optional PPI - £5323.00

Total loan amount - £58,553.00

Broker's fee - £2500.00

Loan admin fee - £595.00

Monthly rate of interest - 1.21%

Which is the same as an interest rate of - 14.52%

Monthly payment (variable) - £728.23

Title indemnity fee - £135.00

There is no total charge for credit mentioned anywhere in the agreement.

I did try to find out if there was a secret commission paid by requesting the underwriting sheet in my SAR, but didn't receive this.

Based upon the way the figures are set out above I am unsure as to whether interest was being charged on the broker's fee as per the thread you linked me to. If anyone could help with working that out and if the loan figures are correct it would be most appreciated!

Thanks again,

Nellie x

[nelliewops]

Re: Reclaiming Swift Advances arrears fees

Hi Tuttsi and Amethyst,

Thank you for your replies and guidance with this!

Tuttsi -

We did have PPI and are currently trying to get that refunded (in fact that has just been passed to the FOS) because we were told that we were sent two copies of the agreement - one with PPI added and one without, so we could make up our minds whether to take it or not.

However we were only ever sent the one agreement with PPI added. As we were naive and desperately needed to borrow the money at the time we assumed that taking the PPI was a condition of acceptance for the mortgage so didn't query it.

Amethyst -

The mortgage was over 300 months.

We repaid it in full after only 17 months when we sold our house.

It is reassuring to know that we can at least try the FOS!

I will have read of the link you have provided - I'm trying to glean as much info as I can about all this but it's a slow process at the moment as it seems hard to find many people who have successfully reclaimed mortgage fees - particularly from Swift.

Thanks again,

Nellie x

[Amethyst]

Re: Reclaiming Swift Advances arrears fees

No you werent charged interest on your brokers fee or loan admin fee.

The loan amount and the ppi were both charged at the 14.52% per annum.


If that helps

[nelliewops]

Re: Reclaiming Swift Advances arrears fees

Many thanks for working that out for me Amethyst!

I will go ahead and file a complaint with the FOS and let you know how I get on.

Take care,

Nellie x

[nelliewops]

Re: Reclaiming Swift Advances arrears fees

Hi there,

Just to let you know I contacted the FOS, but they said they are unable to investigate my complaint because the mortgage was taken out prior to 6th April 2007 and only after that date did Consumer Credit Agreements come under their jurisdiction.

So that's that plan scuppered!

If anyone has any advice on my next course of action I would really appreciate it.

Many thanks,

Nellie x

[nelliewops]

Re: Reclaiming Swift Advances arrears fees

Hi there,

I am still hoping to get these fees refunded, but as the FOS are unable to help I'm just wondering if anyone can offer an further advice on what my next move should be please?

Thank you,

Nellie xxx

[Dougal16T]

Re: Reclaiming Swift Advances arrears fees

Good morning all,

I have to say that I have in front of me a transcript and notes by a VERY prominent barrister.

I quote " (1) for an agreement to be properly executed, it or some other document must be signed by the debtor and contain the terms prescribed by regulation 6 and Schedule 6 of the Consumer Credit (Agreements )Regulations 1983 (the agreements regulations); (2) agreements for fixed sum credit must contain a term stating that the amount of credit (see para 2, column 2 of Sch 6 ;(3) if the agreement or some other document signed by the debtor does not include a statment of the amount of credit the agreement will be irredeemably unenforceable (see section 127 (3) of the Act). The agreement may fail to state the amount of credit or may mis-state that amount; in either case the agreement will be irredeemably unenforceable. It is argued that 'no word other than "credit" will do if Sec 6 is to be satisfied.'

After 'Hurstanger Ltd -v - Wilson' it is important that the amount of credit be stated.'

This is where Swift fall down every time, as their agreements do not comply.
It should be possible to recover the arrears charges following this non-compliance. If the agreement is 'closed' (ie: paid off) this will not prevent reclaiming excess fees and charges. An alternative route could be via the new 'Unfair Relationships' legslation, which comes within the Consumer Credit Act 2006.

Hope this helps....

Best wishes to all
Dougal

[nelliewops]

Re: Reclaiming Swift Advances arrears fees

Hi Dougal,

Thanks for that - very interesting!

Amethyst, I realise I made an error when I quoted my loan figures to you and you said I was not charged interest on the Broker's Fee etc.

Actually the total borrowed (£58553.00) included all the fees, not just the PPI.

The original amount we requested to borrow was £50000 and not only did the PPI get added to this, but Swift also added all the fees which is how we ended up borrowing £58553.00.

As I see it we were charged an extra £40.18 per month for the fees, which over the 25 year term would have added an extra £8821.49 (on top of the fees themselves) to the cost of borrowing and that's assuming the interest rate didn't increase - which it did several times during the year or so before we redeemed.

I believe I am right in saying that as we were charged interest on the fees this is not allowed?

Many thanks in advance for any further advice anyone can offer!

Nellie xxx

[nelliewops]

Re: Reclaiming Swift Advances arrears fees

Can anyone advise me what we should do regarding the fact that interest was applied to the fees on this mortgage please?

Thank you,

Nellie xxx

[scoobydoo]

Re: Reclaiming Swift Advances arrears fees

Have you actually tried complaining to the FLA or looking at their website as they regulate the loan?

going to court should really be the last course of action.

Try following Swifts own complaint proceedure first .

bumping you up as well for a more informed answer as I am not familiar with these unregulated loans

[blackie]

Re: Reclaiming Swift Advances arrears fees

Waste of time complainng via Swift complaints procedure. FLA will do nothing. You need a really good solicitors one who knows what he is doing. Swift are completely above the law, and have no respect for FLA, FSA, OFT or anyone else. I have been dealing with this lot of bandits for two years now and continue to fight them.