Hi everyone

[mandybobs65]

Newbie here. Have just read an interesting piece on MSE about reclaiming mortgages arrears charges. We had an account with GMAC which we settled in 2008. I cannot find any of the paper work relating to paying back my mortgage and am going to contact my morgage broker tomorrow in the hope he has something. We had some quite serious financial problems from 2004-2008 and had quite a lot of mortgage arrears. When we finally remortgaged out property we ended up borrowing >£40,000 on top of the origianal morgage to pay settlement, arrears, one other £11,000 loan and other fees!

My question is; can I try to claim anything 4 years after ending the morgage, the article on MSE was not very clear.

Thanks in anticipation, Mandy.

[Bill-K]

Re: Hi everyone

Hi and welcome MandyBobs. I can't advise much on the mechanics of reclaiming arrears charges, but if these were excessive (and it sounds like they were) then it sure seems worth looking into. With mortgages, I believe you have 12 years from the date you could have reasonably been expected to believe the charges were unlawful, in which to make a claim.

You could send a Data Subject Access Request, which may get you the info you need for £10. Here's an example:

[ Your Names & Address ]

The Data Controller
[ address ] Date:












Dear Sir/Madam
Data Subject Access Request - Pursuant to the Data Protection Act 1998
Data Subjects: [ xxx, address as above, and formerly of: ]
[ xxx, address as above, and formerly of: ]
Please supply all data that your company holds relating to our entire account history. Whilst not exhaustive, for the avoidance of doubt we list below what we require:
o Full and legible copies of all contracts and agreements that have existed between ourselves and your organisation, including copies of any documents you hold in support of same. This is to include account no.
o Full and legible copies of all statements relating to the above accounts. This is to include all credits, debits, charges & interest applied to my account(s) including details of any instances that required manual intervention. It is also to include monthly account balances.
o Full and legible copies of all correspondence, including all letters, faxes, emails and memos sent and received between ourselves, and any other third party in relation to any of the above accounts.
o Full unedited copies of any telephone recordings and/or transcripts of these recordings as well as any logs or journals that relate to them.
o Full and legible copies of all documents which include any of our personal information including copies of any contracts or invoices, emails or computer records containing our personal information, or any records which pertain to this information.
o Full details and legible copies of any documents upon which you relied when you have provided our personal or financial information to any individual, organisation or third party.
o Full and legible copies or transcripts of any computer logs or database records kept in relation to ourselves or in relation to our financial or personal information.
o Details of all systems you currently have in place to ensure our personal or financial information is kept securely, including details of those officers who currently have control of the same, and at the time it was held or provided to a third party.
o If any data has been deleted or disposed of, the methods used to do so, including dates, reason for deletion, certificates or documents confirming details of destruction. If you are unable to provide such certificates, then we require a declaration, signed by an authorised officer of your company, confirming the dates and methods of destruction of this data.
Please be aware that the Data Protection Act 1998 clearly states that all information held must be disclosed and there is no correlation to the Limitation Act 1980 whatsoever. This request therefore lawfully includes any and all data which is older than six years. If you do not hold any data older than 6 years, then we require a signed declaration from your data controller confirming this, and a copy of all documents pertaining to its proper and safe disposal.
All data - including data held on a microfiche or similar systems - must be provided within 40 days, and if you require a fee for this, then we enclose the maximum statutory fee of £10.00 – which must not be used for any other purpose. If you choose to waive all or part of the fee, then please be aware that you will still have a legal obligation to comply with this request. I thank you in anticipation of a prompt and full response and compliance.

Yours faithfully

[ Sign Name 1 ] [ Sign Name 2 ]



[ Print Name 1 ] and [ Print Name 2 ]

Encl: £10.00 fee.

[mandybobs65]

Re: Hi everyone

Thank you Bill-K, will do this straight away. May get something back, may not. But well worth trying!!