SPML charges reclaim - Offer made.. what to do next?

[mustard7]

Hi,

I am in the process of reclaiming charges from SPML/capstone/Ascendon for a mortgage I had from 2005 - 2008
In those 3 years I missed 2 consecutive mortgage payments due to circumstances beyond my control. From there I had a suspended repossession order, charges/fees of around £5500 added to the account and in the long run I was forced to sell the house.

Earlier this year I sent a SAR request and from that sent a letter asking for all charges to be refunded.
I got the usual reply... "The charges are fair and have been correctly applied etc"
They also said that they would only consider the last 6 years so would only go back too 2006
However, they did send me a cheque for £140 a week or so later for a refund of 2 arrears management fees and an admin fee.

I responded by arguing the fairness of their fees, and I also challenged some of their findings.
The fees/charges I was trying to reclaim are as follows..
- Arrears management fees (£50 each)
- Early repayment statement fee (£15 each)
- Early repayment charge (£1000 approx)
- Higher lending charge (£1300 approx)
- arrangement of own buildings insurance (£100 each year)
- Repayment charge (£140)
- Legal costs (£900 approx)
- Administration costs (£40-£80)
- Litigation fee (£100)
- Unpaid direct debit fee (£25 each)
- Arrears councillor fee (£100)
- Interest of arrears (as I would have paid the arrears off within 6 months if they hadnt kept on adding all the charges and fees to the arrears balance)

I asked them to provide a breakdown of the charges but they gave me none. They said they are under no obligation to provide such information as it is considered commercially sensitive.

What they did say though is that the ERC charge of £1000 (approx) could be refunded as a gesture of goodwill as I was arguing with them about giving them 1 months notice.

So my dillema,
Firstly, I have no idea whether I am entitled to be reclaiming the charges listed above or not?
Any advice would be very helpful.
Secondly, if I accept the refund then I have to sign a document saying that it is in full and final settlement of my claim to SPML.

I would expect that if I decline their offer then the next step for me is to challenge them in court. I havent got a clue how to do that at all!
In my head it would seem strange to offer someone £1000 as a gesture of goodwill if they didnt have something to hide. But I just dont know!
They didnt even add the statutory 8% interest onto their refund offer.

Anyone offer any advice?
Thanks in advance

[Bill-K]

Re: SPML charges reclaim - Offer made.. what to do next?

Hi Mustard. Just a couple of observations from me, until someone comes along who knows this area better. I don't think they can limit this to 6 years - it's my understanding that, if any time limitation applies, it is 12 years because this was a mortgage. I also recall that Early Redemption Charges became difficult to reclaim back in 2007, so the offer to refund your ERC does indeed seem to suggest that they don't want this to go to court. As you have asked, though - the question is why ? If we can find the answer to that, we can probably rattle their cage a little more.

That list of the many and varied fees sure looks a bit 'scammy,' but to challenge them in court could be a problem. My own instinct is to challenge their 'commercially sensitive' argument and try to get some more info. When they are trying to hide something, I always believe in giving them plenty of rope by playing the gullible fool (easy for me). Perhaps the next step might be to ask a few simple questions. One possible example I can see is that they have charged £100 for 'arrears counselling.' Whatever advice you were given as a result of this seems to have been of little use to you, as you still lost the house - and paid £100 for the privilege. Then there is a 'Litigation Fee' of £100 - but the litigation was handled by their lawyers, who appear to have charged them £900 (listed as 'Legal Costs').

I feel that - if you can get them to believe that you are prepared to take this to court, they will make a better offer. The word 'disclosure' is the key, methinks. The court can order this - and I reckon that they are trying to avoid it.

Just my 'umble opinion, though.

[mustard7]

Re: SPML charges reclaim - Offer made.. what to do next?

Hi Bill,
Thanks for your thoughts.. I agree with them entirely.
I guess my confusion comes from the fact that lots of people seem to be reclaiming unfair charges. I know these were unfair, I just don't know how to go about proving it.
Why should I pay the mortgage company £100 just for taking my buildings content with another (cheaper) insurer?
Why should they be allowed to send the councillor round to my house (without my knowledge) and charge me £100 particularly as the agreement we came to at the time was rejected by letter a week later!
How can they be allowed to charge me £500 in total for 'admin' costs but not tell me what they are for?

I really need some advice as where to go next. Half tempted to accept their offer as I'm unsure of what to do next

[IanM]

Re: SPML charges reclaim - Offer made.. what to do next?

Hi Mustard. You've been conned!

"as I would have paid the arrears off within 6 months if they hadnt kept on adding all the charges and fees to the arrears balance",

You should really go back to your mortgage file and check through the payment records and work out exactly how much you were in arrears when they repossessed the house and how much arrears they told the court you were in. The fees and charges are not allowed to be counted as arrears so if the mortgage company told the court your arrears were the combined total of arrears plus fees and charges, without admitting they are combined, they have misled the court and could be in serious trouble.

They are refusing to provide you with a breakdown of the fees and charges because they will incriminate themselves in a fraud if they do!

[IanM]

Re: SPML charges reclaim - Offer made.. what to do next?

Do not accept their offer under any circumstances!!!!

[mustard7]

Re: SPML charges reclaim - Offer made.. what to do next?

Hi Ian, and thanks for your input.
Just to clarify a few things. The house was never repossessed. SPML were awarded a suspended repossession order.

I know it was a mistake, but I didnt attend the court hearing in person. Mainly due to embarrassement and also I didnt realise they had done anything wrong. Its only in the last few months that ive started digging.

I know that the total arrears was roughly £1600. I know that it took around 6 months to pay £1600 more than my normal payments. Yet according to their records, I was still in arrears a year and a half later when I sold the house.

You say do not accept their offer under any circumstances... but what should I do instead?

[IanM]

Re: SPML charges reclaim - Offer made.. what to do next?

Personally, i would cause them as much trouble as you can by continuing to dig into their activity surrounding your case. Start at the beginning and go through everything with a fine tooth comb, have a look at the original mortgage offer and see if they mis-sold you your mortgage in the first place, and check for any PPI on the mortgage.

Keep pushing them for a breakdown of the charges, by rights the total fees and charges will have been accumulated over time and they should have sent you letters informing you of charges etc. as they were incurred, if you cannot find anything and they have not provided any documentation to support their claims for fees and charges when you did a SAR on them then report them to the FSA for with-holding documents.

[mustard7]

Re: SPML charges reclaim - Offer made.. what to do next?

Their last letter says that that is their final response on the matter. So is worth continuing with the correspondence?
Or should I bite the bullet and issue a LBA letter and see if that kicks up any dust?

[TUTTSI]

Re: SPML charges reclaim - Offer made.. what to do next?

If you have not already done so, send a SAR (SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST) for mortgages http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...-for-mortgages because as Bill K rightly points out you can go back 12 years, The cost for this is £10 and they have 40+2 days to respond to you with ALL your paperwork uncluding ALL your statements charges that they have charged you for. From what I understand they have only gone back 6 years and this is not correct unless you only had this account 6 years. I also agree with IanM that if you get all your paperwork you may find some other discrepancies as well.

If you have all the paperwork going back 12 years then you can do a final letter before action with a spreadsheet of ALL your charges + interest and give them 2 weeks to respond and increase their offer.

If you are satisfied that the level of refund is not what they should have given you and have only attributed 6 years instead of 12, the bottom line is that you should take this to the FOS as they will obtain your refund for you once you obtain their final response.

The FOS are not quick but they will get you a result and better than taking court action as it is costly and courts still think of charges as being bank charges so they are reluctant to agree.