Bank made error & are now pressuring me 2 remortgage instead

H

hogg

Registered User
Messages
35
Hi
Just wondering if anyone has experienced this
I currently have a tracker mortgage which is down to 20 years. I am trying to get a top up loan to build a small extension. I got married recently but rather than remortgage to put my husbands name on the deeds and loose my good interest rate we decided that I should apply for the top up in my name.

The bank refused my initial request so we decided to go for a lesser amount (28k) and get a joint loan (20k) to make up the shortfall. When I received the banks offer of advance I queried it as it was for 37 years rather than the 20years I had applied for. I was told they had double checked the offer and said it was correct.

So I agreed to the offer, I had my house valued, I took out life insurance as requested. I sent all the forms & signed offer to them last week and I was told to expect money to be drawn down in 4/5 days. When money did not arrive in my bank, I queried it and I was told me that there was a mistake!. They said the offer of the loan should of stated that I would only get the 28k if I remortgaged my house for 37years.

My current mortgage is 185k over 20years at 1.15% above ECB if I remortgaged I would be paying 213k over 37 years at1.85% above ECB! They have admitted that the person who wrote the offer made an error, even though it was sent back & double checked before I signed.

Im not convinced an error was made, I feel that they just want to get me to remortgage at the higher rate for the longer term - more money for them!
The funny thing is they have no problem giving me loan of 20k over 3 years (but its not enough!

I've asked for everything in writing and I'll make an official complaint but I doubt it will do much good...Any suggestions?
 
Letter of Complaint to the bank,
If you are not satisfied with the outcome then write to the Financial Ombudsman
 
Gather up all the correspondence you have had with them and as stated write letters and keep copies. You should probably prepare yourself to not getting the extension done as you would be mad to accept the new terms. If, when you check all the letters of offer received, you feel you have a case then by all means make a complaint through the financial ombudsman but as stated above the first avenue is to the bank manager and then the customer complaints department.
 
thats not a brave step ,but that is the only step ,yeas , make an official complaint, it is like the bank might know what they have accidently done that to you, thus you see srite letters or mail to the Banks Director, if it aint work ,dont worry , you have teh jury.
Dont be scared if you are right in your position.

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hogg said:
When I received the banks offer of advance I queried it as it was for 37 years rather than the 20years I had applied for. I was told they had double checked the offer and said it was correct.
So I agreed to the offer
Click to expand...

I don't get it......did you agree or not, even though a mistake may have been made on the form that you received and signed?
 
hi bacchus
The offer they gave me was not the one I had hoped for (I had hoped for more)thats why I asked them to double check it, but they came back to me saying they had double checked the offer & it was the best offer I would get from them! So I did agree to it, and I followed all their requirements, got valuation, life insurance sent it all into them with the signed offer then they came back 5 days later saying they had made a mistake that the offer should not of been for a top up but for a remortgage.

I have requested everything in writing and I hope to get this tomorrow, in the meantime the bank manager has emailed me and said they themselves have lodged it as a complaint and his words were.
" I do appreciate that the service you have received is unacceptable"
"Apologies for the obvious inconvenience caused and I can assure you this
should not have happened"

I think all Im going to get are a few apologies, and if im lucky a refund on the money I spent on the valuation & life insurance!

H
 
Whatever you do dont get this guy to write your letters for you .....
 
you may not avail of a mortgage top up for a term that exceeds that of your original mortgage term, therefore the maximum term you could avail of is 20 years, this being the current term outstanding on your mortgage.

" I do appreciate that the service you have received is unacceptable"
"Apologies for the obvious inconvenience caused and I can assure you this
should not have happened"

Is the bank manager trying to blame some one else for this, as in the underwriting dept maybe, surely the bank manager should have known the top up term could not have exceeded that of the original term. Words fail me when a bank manager does not understand the terms and conditions of the products they sell.
 
Molly
Thats interesting that you say that the Top up cannot be over a longer term than the mortgage. NOBODY at any time ever mentioned this to us we had reqested the term to be same as mortgage (20yrs) but when the offer came back at 37yrs we did ask the underwriters to double check the offer but even they said 37yrs was correct!!!

I assume the offer of advance they sent to me and which I signed is not legally binding?

H
 
The top up loan offer which specified a term of 37 years should have specifically stated that it was conditional on the original term being extended to 37 years also. A loan offer is never legally binding until such a time that the loan is drawn down at which time you are then legally bound to the conditions as stated in the offer. Have you read through all of the conditions to check ?

Your bank manager should have known that the top up term could not have extended that of the originally mortgage.
 
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