ACT NOW to protect the margin on your YOUR tracker mortgage

ACT NOW to protect the margin on your YOUR tracker mortgage

13:57 PM, 24th September 2013, About 11 years ago 123

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Help us to protect YOUR tracker marginsIf you have a tracker mortgage you may be forgiven for thinking that your mortgage payments will only change when the base rate changes. 

Just suppose you open your post one day to find that your mortgage lender has decided to increase the tracker margin by a couple of percent!

Sounds unimaginable doesn’t it?

Well it isn’t, and you could be next!

This shocking news was recently delivered to 6,700 customers of the West Bromwich Building Society. What’s more, this is not something new, 13,500 Bristol & West and Bank of Ireland Mortgages customers received exactly the same treatment in February 2013.

Outraged? Their customers certainly were!

Could you be next???

West Brom stand to make an extra 19 million pounds a year if they get away with this. How much will your mortgage lender stand to make when they decide to do the same thing? It’s a big incentive for them isn’t it, especially if they think they are unlikely to be challenged due to the inability of landlords to raise the required funds to put up a fight.

If a group of named landlords decides to fight this in Court the claims will typically be for the value of the increase over the remaining term of the mortgage. By way of example, if your mortgage increases by £150 a month and you have 18 years to run on your mortgage your claim for damages would be £32,400.

We need to raise awareness if we are to raise the money to fight the test case

There are 6,700 affected borrowers with West Bromwich Building Society and a further 13,300 affected by bank of Ireland already. However, that doesn’t mean raising the required level of funding will be an easy task to achieve. Many of these people will never get to hear about this campaign and that’s where you come in. You may or may not be affected today but what about next week, next month or next year? To discourage your lender to follow the lead of WBBS and BoI and increasing your tracker margins we need to convince them they will have a fight on their hands if they do! Knowledge of our intentions will also act as a deterrent to other mortgage lenders due to the huge commercial risks associated with the potential for thousands of compensation claims running into hundreds of millions.

YOU can make a difference

Whether you are directly affected now or not, we urge you to help promote this campaign. The sooner we can raise enough interest, the sooner we can raise the money to commence litigation and stop this profiteering in its tracks. Please talk to your friends about this campaign and ask them to sign up. Please email a link to this discussion, share it on your Facebook, Tweet it, blog about it, post links on forums – SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS!

Your wealth is at risk if you choose to ignore this message!

Please get involved and support this campaign by completing the form below.


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Comments

user_ 1346

9:34 AM, 30th September 2013, About 11 years ago

Obfuscated Data

Alison Buckland

11:53 AM, 30th September 2013, About 11 years ago

Some great comments here. I agree we need to get this as much exposure as possible. I've tweeted @paullewismoney on the Radio 4 Moneybox programme and Messaged Radio4 's You and Yours consumer programme asking them to feature this issue. Please do the same and shout this from the rooftops! it needs to be discussed outside of landlord forums too. This move will render my property unviable as of December and I'll have to sell - the people I feel sorry for are my tenants who have no idea this is coming just before Christmas. I'm desperately trying to find alternatives so this doesn't happen, but don't hold much hope. I've found nothing in my key facts or other paperwork to suggest that this was possible. It's clearly in breach of contract.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

11:55 AM, 30th September 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Lee Gough" at "29/09/2013 - 09:58":

Hi Lee

We are not collecting any more money at this stage, we will let you know when we are ready.
.

12:16 PM, 30th September 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "30/09/2013 - 11:55":

trying to find out how to use twitter properly to do as asked I found this article:

http://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/matt-cooper/banks-must-act-on-tracker-mortgages-to-help-customers-and-themselves-230838.html

What does anyone think about the fact that it does not anywhere suggest as the solution raising the interest rate on a tracker mortgage - because it's not a real and honest option maybe??

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

12:47 PM, 30th September 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Denise Doms" at "30/09/2013 - 12:31":

Hi Denise

Your question regarding an update on the Sunday Times article you have posted a link to is in the text of the main article which started this thread. It is this paragraph >>>

"Progress to date

In February 2013 we consulted Justin Selig, a partner in Landlord Action and a solicitor specialising in property and contract law. Justin’s legal practice is registered with The Law Society under the trading style of The Law Department. Justin has since instructed a barrister to prepare a test case against the Bank of Ireland and this has been submitted to the FOS and also to the Financial Conduct Authority “FCA”. Complainants to the FOS are still awaiting an official response, the FCA has declined to take action. The initial costs of the barristers opinion and Justin’s work were underwritten by the owners of Property118.com Since the Class action against Bank of Ireland were first muted, over 300 people have pledged their support and circa £10,000 has been paid into the fighting fund. These funds are now exhausted."

Chris Amis

20:32 PM, 30th September 2013, About 11 years ago

I may have missed it in all the messages, but to clarify a couple of points.

If I signed up, am I committing a fixed sum or a share of whatever it costs?

Would this be allowable against property tax at SA time, even though I am not yet affected?

Ta

Chris

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

20:45 PM, 30th September 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Chris Amos" at "30/09/2013 - 20:32":

Hi Chris

At this stage we are not asking for any more money. Our objective is to build a huge list of supporters. When we have a clear indication of all costs and we know how many people are interested we will have a far better idea of how much we will need to ask each person to contribute. For indicative purposes, we are hoping that enough people will register an interest to keep the cost per person to less than £200 each. The more people we get signed up, the cheaper it will be. Please note that completing the Class Action Registration Form below is not contractually binding, it is merely an expression of interest and an agreement in principle on your part assist in the funding of the case subject to the costs and risk being clearly identified and, of course, being acceptable to you.

Yes, you will be able to set off this expense against your rental income.

Please see the thread linked below.
.

Chris Amis

21:43 PM, 30th September 2013, About 11 years ago

Ok, done that - although they have not come for me yet.

Would be just my luck, had an Equitable pension, when the management bet (sorry, used their skill and experience) and lost they had to pay out at the expense of the other policyholders.

Now it seems the mortgage companies are free to welch on their bets.

I am not saying they should be forced out of business like ELAS, just the load should be fairly spread across all borrowers. Saying the amateurs are protected so we have to rip off the unprotected pros seems like an admission of guilt.

Did WBBS and BOI actually loose any money last year, and did they take a lot of the cheap money from the govt?

Out of curiosity, in these letters did they say this change was a collar type arrangement or do they mean that when rates are back to 6%, they will charge LLs 10%?

Chris

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