Reclaim £225 if you have recently switched or repaid your mortgage

You need to be careful posting things like this.

It's true that SOME customers who have swicthed or repaid mortgages may have been charged more to redeem the mortgage than they were first lead to beleive when they took out the mortgage.

HOWEVER, this does not apply to everyone by any stretch of the imagination and the figures you're quoting are simply not accurate.

The FSA made a statement in February 2007 regarding this (called a Mortgage Exit Administration Fee or MEAF). You are only entitled to a refund of the DIFFERENCE between what you your original contract stated and what you actually paid and then only if the lender can justify (to the FSA, not to you) that the additional cost is valid.

I appeared on one of Martin Lewis' TC shows about this in June/July last year and then got into a protracted battle with Mortgage Express to recover money. I ended up getting the associated interest from them too but not withourt a fight.

This is not like bank charges - the FSA has made a ruling and the lenders should be sticking to it. It don't mean, however, that they'll all stick to it ane be gracious about it.

We have just been successful with a claim with Abbey. Oddfellow is correct that "You are only entitled to a refund of the DIFFERENCE between what your original contract stated and what you actually paid"

We were charged £225 to switch lender. Our original contract stated a £99 charge. Hence we received back £126.

Not entirely true as "under UK contract law, you can't fine someone for breaking a contract, you can only charge them an amount proportionate to the cost of the breach. The actual administration cost to a mortgage lender of closing down a mortgage isn't thought to be much more than £50 so it's arguable that you needn't pay more than £50, regardless of what your contract says. Therefore writing to your lender, asking it to justify the charges with a full breakdown, and if it refuses asking for a full refund, can work." [MSE quote]

Even if you only get back the difference as tengis19 £100+ for the cost of a call is still good

I called my old one (A&L) and they refunded £55. Worth a try as it only took 2 minutes on the phone

My contract stated £95 but I was charged £150. This was 6 years ago but they still paid up.

This is really only any good if you have had a mortgage with a provider for about five/ten years and recently changed.

I just called Abbey and inquired. I had a mortgage with them for 2 years and just changed in December. I was charged £225 for my MEAF but that is what my contract said 2 years ago. So no extra money for me.

Looks like this might be worth a quick phone call. We changed from Abbey about 5 years ago having been with them for 10 year previously. I won't get anything unless I call. Thanks for the heads up!

sneaky one - my mortgage I had for a long time and switched it last August to a new lender and was charged £225, thought I would have been due the refund, but just rang and becasue I changed the mortgage rate slightly in 2006 to a better more competitive rate they say my T&Cs were changed then to state the £225 fee applied !!

Very sneaky, they didn't happen to point that out to me, no doubt it was in the small print.
But surely everyone changes deals / rates within the same lender through time if they stay with that lender, would everyones or most customers T&Cs not have changed by now???

I did this early last year and got a £25 refund from the year or so before!

The jackal - We only had our mortgage with Abbey for 2 years. I think it just on what you original documents state.

I could have posted this.

Abbey was my lender and got charged the full whack for paying it off but thanks to (another site) claimed back exactly £225.00
Thanks for nothing Abbey.

Definitely worth highlighting this again to folk.

I claimed back £177.90 from C & G in March 2007. Cant remember where it was highlighted but, a simple letter meant the bank had to repay.

Quote from C & G letter

This amount was calculated based on the difference between the closing administration fee quoted on your mortgage documents when you signed your most recent contract, £50, and the total closing administration fee you paid of £225. We have included interest of £2.90 based on the Bank of England base rate plus 1% from the day your mortgage account closed.

I still cannot figure out why folk have got to ring up to get these refunds. You would have thought the regulator would force them to repay automatically.

You are technically correct. However, ending a mortgage by repaying it (however you do so) is NOT breaking a contract. The terms of most (if not all) mortgages allow for early settlement - if they didn't nobody would be able to sell their house......

The issue here is that the FSA told lenders (in Jan 2007, not Feb as I prevoulsy stated) that they must refund the difference if there had been an increase in the MEAF during the term of the mortgage, but crucially, ONLY IF THE BORROWER COMPLAINED.

You can read more about it here http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/...2007/012.shtml

If you haven't worked it out yet, no bank is out there to help you. They're all out there to earn money from you and they will get it however they can, including unlawful methods such as profitering from overdraft charges (see my own story on this at: http://www.bankchargescandal.co.uk/

Does any of this apply if you have changed the mortgage product but stuck with the original lender? Scarborough in this case.