West Bromwich Building Society Tracker Margins Legal Action
Are you affected by the West Brom Tracker Rate Hike?
If your mortgage account number begins with the number 8 you are highly likely to be one of the unlucky 41% of the mortgage customers of the West Bromwich building Society with a West Bromwich Mortgage Company account affected by the 1.9% increase in your tracker margin rate. However, if you arranged your mortgage directly with West Bromwich Building Society (i.e. not via a broker) or before 2006 the chances are that your account number will begin with the number 9 and you are not affected – YET!!! West Brom will give no assurances that mortgages with account numbers beginning with the number 9 will not be affected at some point in the future.
OUR INTENDED CLASS ACTION LITIGATION OVERVIEW
The reasons we started this campaign are very simple:-
1) We believe the actions of West Brom are immoral
2) We believe the actions of West Brom are unlawful, i.e. they have no legal grounds to increase their tracker rate margins
3) We have no wish to subsidise other areas of the West Bromwich Building Society business model
4) We are fearful of other lenders following suit if West Brom are allowed to get away with this
Mark Smith (Barrister-At-Law) said …
“Representative actions, where one person starts a case representing many others, who all want the answer to a legal question from a court such as ‘is this contract enforceable against me?’ but are not seeking damages. All those who sign up to the action will get the benefit of the win, but they do not have to start their own cases, as they are ‘represented’ by the lead claimant.
The only people who will definitely benefit from success in the case are those who have signed up. There will be no free rides. Any others will have to fight their own corners individually, either alone or with legal help (which will inevitably cost significantly more than the group case).”
We will NOT settle on any basis.
We have a moral duty to do what is right for those who support the values upon which this campaign was started. Our promise to all who support these values is that we will not sell out on you at any price. We will continue to fight this injustice and we will fight any other lender who tries to follow suit.
Are you with us?
This discussion thread is now closed – we’re off to Court!
To link to the new discussion please CLICK HERE
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Member Since November 2013 - Comments: 20
12:58 PM, 13th November 2013, About 12 years ago
Just a note on site speed. I too had terrible problems BEFORE I created an account.
This was on both my home and office PC.
Once you are logged in it is fine.
My worry is that all newbys to the site will have the same issue and they may not persist to read whats going on and also not to join up. I almost gave up myself until I realised how valuable this site is. I was then delighted to find that once I created an account and logged in the site worked properly.
Hopefully Justin will update us all today?
KR
Alexander
Member Since September 2013 - Comments: 30
3:01 PM, 13th November 2013, About 12 years ago
3pm – Radio 4 Moneybox live- fingers crossed everyone!
Member Since January 2011 - Comments: 12195 - Articles: 1396
3:26 PM, 13th November 2013, About 12 years ago
Superb article on the FT Adviser website today 🙂
See >>> http://www.ftadviser.com/2013/11/13/ifa-industry/companies-and-people/p-advisers-come-forward-over-westbrom-WTY6irBjd2zIfzFd4Cp7SN/article.html
.
Member Since January 2011 - Comments: 12195 - Articles: 1396
3:27 PM, 13th November 2013, About 12 years ago
Reply to the comment left by “Paul Sotheran” at “13/11/2013 – 11:38“:
Thanks for the feedback, we are investigating.
.
Member Since September 2013 - Comments: 374
3:38 PM, 13th November 2013, About 12 years ago
Reply to the comment left by “Alexander Simpkin” at “13/11/2013 – 12:58“:
Mark – I too experienced this phenomenon during that brief period a few weeks back when a few accounts (including mine) temporarily “disappeared” for a while.
(Although I actually found the ‘one giant page’ effect rather a benefit as it drives me nuts having to wait for a new page load every few messages in a thread. 🙂 )
So it would seem, from our combined reports, that the situation is for real.
Member Since October 2013 - Comments: 386
3:40 PM, 13th November 2013, About 12 years ago
Reply to the comment left by “Alison Buckland” at “13/11/2013 – 15:01“:
Let us know Alison if we get a mention.
Im sure you will
Thanks
Dean
Member Since January 2011 - Comments: 12195 - Articles: 1396
3:41 PM, 13th November 2013, About 12 years ago
Reply to the comment left by “Dean Turner” at “13/11/2013 – 12:43“:
I am aware that Justin had a conversation with the barrister yesterday and is having a subsequent conversation with a QC today. I’m unclear whether Justin will provide an in depth report on the forum or whether he will write to all paid up members of the Class Action, I suspect the latter as he will probably not want to reveal our hand in open forum. I can’t comment on time scales, that will obviously depend on the outcomes of the discussions and whatever strategies are agreed.
.
Member Since September 2013 - Comments: 30
4:15 PM, 13th November 2013, About 12 years ago
Reply to the comment left by “Dean Turner” at “13/11/2013 – 15:40“:
Sadly no mention on Moneybox live, but it was still worth the try. It’s a subject for a whole programme really, so you can see why it might not be covered.
As an aside, thought I’d share the following and sorry if this has been discussed already but here goes:
I’ve signed up to Experian’s one month free trial mainly because I wanted to see what kind of a “footprint” The West Brom have left on my credit file. It made for interesting reading. I could see everything that had gone on recently: I’d been to a price comparison website for my car insurance renewal and I could see every Insurer who’d submitted a quote had checked my credit file but there was no mention, not a thing, to show West Brom’s check. How can that be? How can they be privvy to my information without it showing on my file? I’ve asked Experian’s Customer Services where I’d find this information on my file, just to see what they come up with.( I’m quite sure it’s not there).
If this is useful information feel free to use it, Justin!
A
Member Since October 2013 - Comments: 139
4:21 PM, 13th November 2013, About 12 years ago
I’ve just sent a contact form to the CAB asking who to contact regarding getting a mention on the advice system “AdvisorNet” that they use in all offices. I’ll report back if I get anywhere.
Interesting to note the CAB sent a response to a government consultation paper (2008) in support of BTL being covered by the FCA. The consultation points out that lenders actions can have an negative impact on tenants.
Member Since October 2013 - Comments: 386
4:29 PM, 13th November 2013, About 12 years ago
Reply to the comment left by “Alison Buckland” at “13/11/2013 – 16:15“:
I don’t think the likes of Moneybox and Watchdog want anything to do with us. I think they assume its a lost cause and don’t want to be associate with it . They prefer to jump on the band wagon of rising energy prices as that affects everyone. Wait until it looks like we will win and they will all want to get involved to look like heros .
As for the credit file , I think West brom used the old information they had on us when we took out the mortgages. Whether they were allowed to keep that information I don’t know but I suspect they never had to go back in. If they have and the footprint has been removed then I think Experian would have something to answer to .