Lloyds mortgage charge

[jon2516]

Recently recieved a statement for my Cheltenham & Gloucester mortgage on Lloyds headed paper.
I fell behind with my payments but agreed a payment plan and will be up to date in January.
I did not miss any payments but failed to make two of the agreed over payments.
On the bottom of the statement it says that from this agreement over £300 of charges have been added.
Can I claim these back?

[Tools]

Re: Lloyds motrgage charge

Is it possible you could scan the statement or list the exact wording relating to the fees. The accompanying letter would also be useful too.

[jon2516]

Re: Lloyds motrgage charge

Hi tools

Away for weekend but will do it as soon as possible on Monday.

Thank you

[Tools]

Re: Lloyds motrgage charge

No problem, enjoy the weekend.

[jon2516]

Re: Lloyds motrgage charge

Ok the letter reads:

I am enclosing an information sheet for customers with mortgage arrears produced by the Financial Services Authority, our regulators. Please read this leaflet as it contains useful information about your options and sources of help.

Your arrears now amounts to£xxx.xx (approx £600) and the balance outstanding on your account is £xxxxx.xx. I enclose a list of patments missed or only paid in part.

An administration charge of £31 will be added to your account if the arrears are not cleared. Should you make an arrangement to repay your arrears and if you fail to maintain that arrangement you will incir a charge of £36.

At the end of the statements it comments
"The amount of arrears fees that have been charged to your account over the statement period are £340"

The statement I have is from June to October inclusive with all payments made plus over £200 over payment every month so in effect the arrears will be cleared with Januarys payment.

Any ideas?

[Amethyst]

Re: Lloyds motrgage charge

I think one of the effects of the GMAC RFC intervention is that arrears fees cant be included in the arrears amount. (so that £300 of charges can't change the amount of arrears you have/had)

Did you make the arrangement in June ? If so then I guess its 5months of £36 for not clearing arrears and 2 months of £31 for not keeping to arrangement ?

And yes I would say those fees are unfair and disproportionate to the cost. Have a read of the GMAC thread in announcments - should help a lot

[WendyB]

Re: Lloyds motrgage charge

I think one of the effects of the GMAC RFC intervention is that arrears fees cant be included in the arrears amount. (so that £300 of charges can't change the amount of arrears you have/had)

Did you make the arrangement in June ? If so then I guess its 5months of £36 for not clearing arrears and 2 months of £31 for not keeping to arrangement ? well this only equals £242 so where do they get £340 from?

And yes I would say those fees are unfair and disproportionate to the cost. Have a read of the GMAC thread in announcments - should help a lot

I read the GMAC thingy to mean that the charges couldn't be included in the total arrears figure, presumably for the adding of interest to the arrears amount? i.e they should state the arrears on the account is xxx plus xxx in charges, and for the purposes of how many months arrears, it should only be the actual arrears, not the total including charges? Becuase if the charges are included in the arrears figure it would have the effect of making someone's arrears lokk far worse than they actually were?

Am I making sense here? Or shall I just get back into my cupboard lol.

[Amethyst]

Re: Lloyds motrgage charge

lol makes as much sense of me but think we're saying same thing.

[jon2516]

Re: Lloyds motrgage charge

Dont know what the above post is about?

So what are we saying? Forward a letter detailing the charges and ask whether they are seperate or included?

[jon2516]

Re: Lloyds mortgage charge

So where do I go from here?

[jon2516]

Re: Lloyds mortgage charge

?????????????

[WendyB]

Re: Lloyds mortgage charge

I am not quite sure what to suggest really, but it seems to me that a letter asking for the charges back wouldn't go amiss. I'll bump this up for more opinions. Sorry it got missed.

BUMP . Any suggestions anyone?

[scoobydoo]

Re: Lloyds mortgage charge

I have seen some successes recently by following the same proceedure as with bank charges - adapt the letter - make an official complaint and then go to the FOS.

However most borrowers have been too frightened to do this - as they cannot just change mortgages as you could with a bank account. The successes I have seen so far have been with subprime lenders.

I will try and post some links later.