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Hi everyone,
I am looking for some advice to help my Mum with a second mortgage that she took out from Blenheim finance in 2007. At the time she was struggling to keep up with debt and so this seemed like an option to help her consolidate. She is not the most financially savvy and I was only young at the time so she didn’t really discuss her situation. However fast forward to this year and she is contacted by the now ‘Together’ finance company to advise her that she is not on track to repay her loan by the end of the contractual term. This is apparently the first time she has been informed of this, although she is admittedly a serial non-letter-opener so perhaps they have tried previously? The letter states -
‘You currently have an off schedule balance of £8,294.56 which has accrued as a result of additional interest due to late or missed repayments and any costs or charges that have been incurred’
They then advise that she will need to increase her monthly payment to £615.80 from the current payment of around £400 - something she is not able to do. The letter has been sent as she has had them on the phone a number of times and she asked them to send her the information in writing - so the letter includes a covering explanation, a breakdown of costs and charges including associated interest, and a full statement of her account.
From the charges breakdown I can see that she has been charged a total of £2736.35 which is then calculated at £9504 including interest. The last charge on the breakdown is from 2009, as it seems she had trouble with payments in the initial 2 years of the loan - although my mum maintains that she has never missed a payment as she was fully aware of the consequences.
Following this time, her account statement shows payments being made on time.
Also included in the letter is the following statement -
‘Please note, because you have a preferred payment date of the 27th of each month, additional interest of £4.02 will accrue on your account. To prevent any further off schedule balance accruing in your account your monthly repayments would need to be increased to £619.82 to cover this.’
Mum has been looking for her original loan agreement, but she can’t find it. Therefore I’m not sure how much the original loan was for - the statement of account shows at the beginning of the term:
Refinance to £8519.65
Broker Fee to £1500
Client Advance to £21,480.35
Solicitors Fee to £177
Title Insurance to £150
Loan Processing Fee to £595
Interest Charge (10.1%) £272.89
She is then charged for Buildings Insurance and a Buildings Insurance Block Policy Charge which is all charged and refunded on the same day. 15 days later she is then charged for these things again, but at a different amount?
I have the following questions if anyone is able to help -
1) Should I send a SAR - will this give me any more information than they’ve already sent?
2) If the interest and charges accruing the off schedule balance were from 2007-2009, why have they not advised the impact of this sooner and asked for an increased payment at that time to keep the loan on track. Ia that just another example of their approach to business?
3) Is there any precedent for these interest amounts to be challenged as being unfair?
4) There’s no indication on the interest and charges breakdown that the payment date issue which they raise has previously caused additional interest charges...does this seem right or if the payment date being later has been accruing additional interest since 2007 should this also not be on the breakdown. Mum has her payment date set to the 27th as that’s the date she is paid from work - however had anyone explained that this would cost her more money each month I’m sure she wouldn’t have set it to that date..could the ‘late payment’ charges she has incurred be to do with this 26th v 27th date issue and that would be why she believes she’s never missed a payment?
Any other insight or experience people have of dealing with this company would be really helpful.
Many thanks
I am looking for some advice to help my Mum with a second mortgage that she took out from Blenheim finance in 2007. At the time she was struggling to keep up with debt and so this seemed like an option to help her consolidate. She is not the most financially savvy and I was only young at the time so she didn’t really discuss her situation. However fast forward to this year and she is contacted by the now ‘Together’ finance company to advise her that she is not on track to repay her loan by the end of the contractual term. This is apparently the first time she has been informed of this, although she is admittedly a serial non-letter-opener so perhaps they have tried previously? The letter states -
‘You currently have an off schedule balance of £8,294.56 which has accrued as a result of additional interest due to late or missed repayments and any costs or charges that have been incurred’
They then advise that she will need to increase her monthly payment to £615.80 from the current payment of around £400 - something she is not able to do. The letter has been sent as she has had them on the phone a number of times and she asked them to send her the information in writing - so the letter includes a covering explanation, a breakdown of costs and charges including associated interest, and a full statement of her account.
From the charges breakdown I can see that she has been charged a total of £2736.35 which is then calculated at £9504 including interest. The last charge on the breakdown is from 2009, as it seems she had trouble with payments in the initial 2 years of the loan - although my mum maintains that she has never missed a payment as she was fully aware of the consequences.
Following this time, her account statement shows payments being made on time.
Also included in the letter is the following statement -
‘Please note, because you have a preferred payment date of the 27th of each month, additional interest of £4.02 will accrue on your account. To prevent any further off schedule balance accruing in your account your monthly repayments would need to be increased to £619.82 to cover this.’
Mum has been looking for her original loan agreement, but she can’t find it. Therefore I’m not sure how much the original loan was for - the statement of account shows at the beginning of the term:
Refinance to £8519.65
Broker Fee to £1500
Client Advance to £21,480.35
Solicitors Fee to £177
Title Insurance to £150
Loan Processing Fee to £595
Interest Charge (10.1%) £272.89
She is then charged for Buildings Insurance and a Buildings Insurance Block Policy Charge which is all charged and refunded on the same day. 15 days later she is then charged for these things again, but at a different amount?
I have the following questions if anyone is able to help -
1) Should I send a SAR - will this give me any more information than they’ve already sent?
2) If the interest and charges accruing the off schedule balance were from 2007-2009, why have they not advised the impact of this sooner and asked for an increased payment at that time to keep the loan on track. Ia that just another example of their approach to business?
3) Is there any precedent for these interest amounts to be challenged as being unfair?
4) There’s no indication on the interest and charges breakdown that the payment date issue which they raise has previously caused additional interest charges...does this seem right or if the payment date being later has been accruing additional interest since 2007 should this also not be on the breakdown. Mum has her payment date set to the 27th as that’s the date she is paid from work - however had anyone explained that this would cost her more money each month I’m sure she wouldn’t have set it to that date..could the ‘late payment’ charges she has incurred be to do with this 26th v 27th date issue and that would be why she believes she’s never missed a payment?
Any other insight or experience people have of dealing with this company would be really helpful.
Many thanks
