[DownsizingDiva]

Hope someone on here can give me a little advice.

Late last year, I took out a mortgage with the Nationwide. During the initial interview with their "Mortgage Consultant" I was told that "If you choose this product, we pay your legal fees." I then asked "what exactly does that cover then?" and he replied "All you have to pay is the Stamp Duty and the extra cost of having a Homebuyers Survey as opposed to a basic mortgage valuation"

I had to use their nominated Solicitors in order to get the deal, and the Solicitors asked for a £300 up front payment, which I duly paid, thinking Nationwide would reimburse me. Unfortunately, my first purchase fell through, and a few weeks later, I found another property and went back to the Nationwide and was assured I could still have their "free legal fees" mortgage. The purchase went through, and I paid their Solicitors another £735.

To cut a very long story short, four months on, I have still not received any of this back. (The only costs Nationwide paid were £168 for conveyancing which they paid direct to the Solicitors).

I have a very long trail of emails backwards and forwards between myself and the "Mortgage Consultant", in which he replies several times to assure me that he would chase the refund for me. However, after I sent him a very strongly worded email last week, he replied, referring me to the terms and conditions of the mortgage (which we went through very briefly during the initial discussion) which state that they will only pay for the conveyancing. (He categorically stated I would only have to pay the SDLT and extra survey fee as we went through this document).

Had I known that I would have to pay the £1,035, I would have gone to another lender who was offering a better rate of interest at the time.

I feel I've been mis-sold this mortgage and wondered if anyone on this forum has any advice on how I can take it further to try and get the £1035 back?
Thanks in advance!

[GinAndPlatonic]

DownsizingDiva, on 21 January 2012 - 06:10 PM, said:

Hope someone on here can give me a little advice.

Late last year, I took out a mortgage with the Nationwide. During the initial interview with their "Mortgage Consultant" I was told that "If you choose this product, we pay your legal fees." I then asked "what exactly does that cover then?" and he replied "All you have to pay is the Stamp Duty and the extra cost of having a Homebuyers Survey as opposed to a basic mortgage valuation"

I had to use their nominated Solicitors in order to get the deal, and the Solicitors asked for a £300 up front payment, which I duly paid, thinking Nationwide would reimburse me. Unfortunately, my first purchase fell through, and a few weeks later, I found another property and went back to the Nationwide and was assured I could still have their "free legal fees" mortgage. The purchase went through, and I paid their Solicitors another £735.

To cut a very long story short, four months on, I have still not received any of this back. (The only costs Nationwide paid were £168 for conveyancing which they paid direct to the Solicitors).

I have a very long trail of emails backwards and forwards between myself and the "Mortgage Consultant", in which he replies several times to assure me that he would chase the refund for me. However, after I sent him a very strongly worded email last week, he replied, referring me to the terms and conditions of the mortgage (which we went through very briefly during the initial discussion) which state that they will only pay for the conveyancing. (He categorically stated I would only have to pay the SDLT and extra survey fee as we went through this document).

Had I known that I would have to pay the £1,035, I would have gone to another lender who was offering a better rate of interest at the time.

I feel I've been mis-sold this mortgage and wondered if anyone on this forum has any advice on how I can take it further to try and get the £1035 back?
Thanks in advance!

If you have it in writing then send the contract to your consultant...highlighting the words which say what you believe. If not then forget it.

[wherebee]

GinAndPlatonic, on 21 January 2012 - 07:48 PM, said:

If you have it in writing then send the contract to your consultant...highlighting the words which say what you believe. If not then forget it.

correct. if it is not written down, it didnt happen. did you, for example, send him an email afterwards confirming the conversation details?

[DownsizingDiva]

wherebee, on 21 January 2012 - 09:24 PM, said:

correct. if it is not written down, it didnt happen. did you, for example, send him an email afterwards confirming the conversation details?

Yes! Thanks for the advice. I shall take it further!

[fixed]

You should have been given a KFI (key facts illustration)which outlines the mortgage costs including any free legal deals. If you don't already have a copy ask the Nationwide for one.
Take it from there...

[24gray24]

What's it got to do with the mortgage?

If I say, buy this car and I'll throw in a free holiday, you can't say the car manufacturer cheated you. You sue me to make good on my promise.

Even if I'm wrong, the thought of spending all day in the small claims court, for £1000 will probably give him pause for thought.

[tim123]

Have you tried complaining to the NW about this.

They have a better record than most in handling customer complaints

tim

[DownsizingDiva]

tim123, on 22 January 2012 - 09:55 AM, said:

Have you tried complaining to the NW about this.

They have a better record than most in handling customer complaints

tim

Thanks Tim - I'm going to contact their Head Office tomorrow.

[mrtickle]

Cool, please post back with what happens :-)

[DownsizingDiva]

mrtickle, on 23 January 2012 - 09:03 PM, said:

Cool, please post back with what happens :-)

quick update:

Wrote to their Complaints Department a month ago. Haven't had a reply.

Have taken legal advice, and now going to write to the CEO, giving them 14 days to reply. If I still don't get a reply I will be taking it further via the Financial Ombudsman.

[cheeznbreed]

DownsizingDiva, on 26 February 2012 - 11:04 AM, said:

quick update:

Wrote to their Complaints Department a month ago. Haven't had a reply.

Have taken legal advice, and now going to write to the CEO, giving them 14 days to reply. If I still don't get a reply I will be taking it further via the Financial Ombudsman.

Be aware that the Financial Ombudsman Service(FOS) is free to use etc, just in case you are being fleeced by lawyers who will do little excpet fill in some forms you can do yourself. There is no legal aspect to complaining via the FOS. The service is specifically designed to help laypersons get a complaint heard at no cost to them. Whether it succeeds is another question, of course..

Incidentally, I would question the advice you've been given to date, as it is normal in financial services complaints for the business in question to be given 8 weeks to respond to your complaint. The FOS will not accept your complaint if it has been a month + 14 days without a final response from the business. However, the business ought to have acknowledged your first letter by now so they are in breach of complaint handling guidelines, not that it makes much difference overall.

You need to obtain a 'final decision' letter from the business before you can take the complaint to the FOS(assuming they reject the complaint), or in the case where they do not produce such a letter, at least be able to demonstrate that you have given the business the required eight week period to respond. So a copy of the letters you have sent to them outlining your complaint.

FOS consumer helpline numbers (free):

http://www.financial...ct/index.html#1

This post has been edited by cheeznbreed: 28 February 2012 - 10:47 AM

[DownsizingDiva]

cheeznbreed, on 28 February 2012 - 10:44 AM, said:

Be aware that the Financial Ombudsman Service(FOS) is free to use etc, just in case you are being fleeced by lawyers who will do little excpet fill in some forms you can do yourself. There is no legal aspect to complaining via the FOS. The service is specifically designed to help laypersons get a complaint heard at no cost to them. Whether it succeeds is another question, of course..

Incidentally, I would question the advice you've been given to date, as it is normal in financial services complaints for the business in question to be given 8 weeks to respond to your complaint. The FOS will not accept your complaint if it has been a month + 14 days without a final response from the business. However, the business ought to have acknowledged your first letter by now so they are in breach of complaint handling guidelines, not that it makes much difference overall.

You need to obtain a 'final decision' letter from the business before you can take the complaint to the FOS(assuming they reject the complaint), or in the case where they do not produce such a letter, at least be able to demonstrate that you have given the business the required eight week period to respond. So a copy of the letters you have sent to them outlining your complaint.

FOS consumer helpline numbers (free):

http://www.financial...ct/index.html#1

Thanks for the advice - you seem to be very clued-up on these matters - have you been through the process yourself?

[cheeznbreed]

DownsizingDiva, on 28 February 2012 - 06:32 PM, said:

Thanks for the advice - you seem to be very clued-up on these matters - have you been through the process yourself?

I've been through the FOS process on a banking complaint (charges), and I've seen plenty of others in relation to missold insurance and investments.

Occasionaly complaints are submitted by law firms on behalf of individuals, whose clients no doubt think they are engaging in a complicated legal process, but the truth of it is that they are just filling in a few forms like anyone else. I replied just incase you were not aware that you can do it all yourself, and without cost. Please do not be fleeced by lawyers!

As to the merits of your complaint, the FOS will rely heavily on paper/email evidence, the small print, and (where available) telephone recordings, which are surprisingly hard to come by considering how often we are told that 'calls may be recorded' when phoning a business thesedays. You can certainly ask for the recording to be made available, if it exists, but essentially you have no comeback if the business says they do not have one.

Based on what you've written so far, the 'plan of action' should go something like:

1: Get complaint acknowledgement from bank, or at least make them aware that you know the eight week rule regarding a final response. So maybe one more letter, if nothing is heard from your latest correspondence.

2. If you have not sent them the email correspondence you had with the broker in relation to your refund, and it would be useful for them to see, send them a copy. Do not expect that they will automatically hunt for the evidence, the complaint handlers are likely in some building far, far away from the guy you actually talked to, and will may only have access to the general documents concerning your mortgage, not the emails etc.

3. If you get an acknowledgement, wait for response. Sometimes the FOS are unhappy if you submit a complaint on the dot on eight weeks, particularly if an acknoledgement is received, preferring you to give them a week or two longer, but you need not wait. You'll need to fill in the relevant FOS form, and make sure you submit a copy of everything you have given the business in your original complaint, and anything you think is useful.

4. If no acknowledgement is received, send to FOS on the eight weeks.

5. After submission to FOS (assuming the complaint is rejected), make sure you get an acknowledgement from FOS, should take a fortnight max. If nothing, resubmit or call them.

6. Wait x months for a response. You may be contacted by the FOS if they need more info. The initial judgment can be appealed by either side, in which case it will go for review by a more senior member of staff, but that can take (literally) years.

This post has been edited by cheeznbreed: 29 February 2012 - 10:00 AM

[okaycuckoo]

cheeznbreed, on 29 February 2012 - 09:41 AM, said:

I've been through the FOS process on a banking complaint (charges), and I've seen plenty of others in relation to missold insurance and investments.

Occasionaly complaints are submitted by law firms on behalf of individuals, whose clients no doubt think they are engaging in a complicated legal process, but the truth of it is that they are just filling in a few forms like anyone else. I replied just incase you were not aware that you can do it all yourself, and without cost. Please do not be fleeced by lawyers!

As to the merits of your complaint, the FOS will rely heavily on paper/email evidence, the small print, and (where available) telephone recordings, which are surprisingly hard to come by considering how often we are told that 'calls may be recorded' when phoning a business thesedays. You can certainly ask for the recording to be made available, if it exists, but essentially you have no comeback if the business says they do not have one.

Based on what you've written so far, the 'plan of action' should go something like:

1: Get complaint acknowledgement from bank, or at least make them aware that you know the eight week rule regarding a final response. So maybe one more letter, if nothing is heard from your latest correspondence.

2. If you have not sent them the email correspondence you had with the broker in relation to your refund, and it would be useful for them to see, send them a copy. Do not expect that they will automatically hunt for the evidence, the complaint handlers are likely in some building far, far away from the guy you actually talked to, and will may only have access to the general documents concerning your mortgage, not the emails etc.

3. If you get an acknowledgement, wait for response. Sometimes the FOS are unhappy if you submit a complaint on the dot on eight weeks, particularly if an acknoledgement is received, preferring you to give them a week or two longer, but you need not wait. You'll need to fill in the relevant FOS form, and make sure you submit a copy of everything you have given the business in your original complaint, and anything you think is useful.

4. If no acknowledgement is received, send to FOS on the eight weeks.

5. After submission to FOS (assuming the complaint is rejected), make sure you get an acknowledgement from FOS, should take a fortnight max. If nothing, resubmit or call them.

6. Wait x months for a response. You may be contacted by the FOS if they need more info. The initial judgment can be appealed by either side, in which case it will go for review by a more senior member of staff, but that can take (literally) years.

Wot 'e said.

Not all exchanges are recorded, so a contemporaneous note can be the best evidence. And if it comes down to a dispute over a telephone call try and get them to admit precisely what happened to the recording.

[DownsizingDiva]

cheeznbreed, on 29 February 2012 - 09:41 AM, said:

I've been through the FOS process on a banking complaint (charges), and I've seen plenty of others in relation to missold insurance and investments.

Occasionaly complaints are submitted by law firms on behalf of individuals, whose clients no doubt think they are engaging in a complicated legal process, but the truth of it is that they are just filling in a few forms like anyone else. I replied just incase you were not aware that you can do it all yourself, and without cost. Please do not be fleeced by lawyers!

As to the merits of your complaint, the FOS will rely heavily on paper/email evidence, the small print, and (where available) telephone recordings, which are surprisingly hard to come by considering how often we are told that 'calls may be recorded' when phoning a business thesedays. You can certainly ask for the recording to be made available, if it exists, but essentially you have no comeback if the business says they do not have one.

Based on what you've written so far, the 'plan of action' should go something like:

1: Get complaint acknowledgement from bank, or at least make them aware that you know the eight week rule regarding a final response. So maybe one more letter, if nothing is heard from your latest correspondence.

2. If you have not sent them the email correspondence you had with the broker in relation to your refund, and it would be useful for them to see, send them a copy. Do not expect that they will automatically hunt for the evidence, the complaint handlers are likely in some building far, far away from the guy you actually talked to, and will may only have access to the general documents concerning your mortgage, not the emails etc.

3. If you get an acknowledgement, wait for response. Sometimes the FOS are unhappy if you submit a complaint on the dot on eight weeks, particularly if an acknoledgement is received, preferring you to give them a week or two longer, but you need not wait. You'll need to fill in the relevant FOS form, and make sure you submit a copy of everything you have given the business in your original complaint, and anything you think is useful.

4. If no acknowledgement is received, send to FOS on the eight weeks.

5. After submission to FOS (assuming the complaint is rejected), make sure you get an acknowledgement from FOS, should take a fortnight max. If nothing, resubmit or call them.

6. Wait x months for a response. You may be contacted by the FOS if they need more info. The initial judgment can be appealed by either side, in which case it will go for review by a more senior member of staff, but that can take (literally) years.

Thanks! I shall update when I have some news.