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 January 2011 - Comments: 12193 - Articles: 1395
7:47 PM, 18th November 2013, About 12 years ago
You may be in luck there Helen, PMS are owned by Bankhall which is a major player in the market.
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Member Since September 2013 - Comments: 80
7:50 PM, 18th November 2013, About 12 years ago
Reply to the comment left by “Incensed Landlord” at “18/11/2013 – 17:56“:
Hi, thanks. Lets talk about the Council of Mortgage Lenders, CML…..
Firstly, I was not expecting the EU to necessarily help our cause, rather which ever MEP/UK contact who is fending off the EU advances to regulate UK BTL, to take notice of our campaign because they do not want this issue to be gotten hold of by the EU and used as ammunition to argue for regulation.
On a separate matter, Mark, have we tried contacting the Council of Mortgage Lenders with regards to their view of the behaviour of their member WBBS ?
Interesting, searching the news section of the CML site, there is NO mention of any news relating to the WBBS.
Also, I think it is fair to assume there are ££BILLIONS of mortgages held on both BTL and Residential Lifetime Trackers, with lenders that are waiting to pounce on the success/failure of WBBS. As the CML were influential in getting involved in the “ticking time bomb” of Interest Only mortgages, they should be concerned about the Ticking Time Bomb of BTL Tracker Mortgages and the miss selling scandal that is happening.
Member Since September 2013 - Comments: 80
8:14 PM, 18th November 2013, About 12 years ago
Reply to the comment left by “stuart marshall” at “18/11/2013 – 19:50“:
Upon checking, I ‘assumed’ WBBS would be a member of the CML…. However upon checking, it is the only lender that I can think of, after checking their full and associate member Database, that is NOT a member and is NOT mentioned at all.
This I find quite strange as I would have thought it be a pre-requisite for any lender of residential and BTL mortgages in the UK to be a member.
Maybe by this fact, the CML would not be put in a position whereby they would have a conflict of interest with one of their members ?
Member Since January 2011 - Comments: 12193 - Articles: 1395
8:15 PM, 18th November 2013, About 12 years ago
Stuart, what makes you think the CML could help us?
The home page of their website states
The CML is not able to provide any further consumer advice. We are not a regulator for the mortgage industry and cannot take complaints regarding the conduct of our members. If you would like further advice on mortgages visit the Money Advice Service website. If you wish to make a complaint about a lender or a broker you should consult the consumer guide on mortgage complaints.
Member Since October 2013 - Comments: 5
8:55 PM, 18th November 2013, About 12 years ago
I also have received today a letter from The Treasury via my MP stating they don’t get involved with the Commercial decisions of a company.
Have also spread the word to other friends to sign the petition and make anyone they know with btl aware. I also got the letter from west brom giving us our new monthly payments! So nice just what you need before Xmas. Waiting to send my complaint form back to FOS but I guess we will hear from Justin on next steps? Thanks
Member Since October 2013 - Comments: 386
8:58 PM, 18th November 2013, About 12 years ago
Reply to the comment left by “Marie B” at “18/11/2013 – 20:55“:
Write back to treasury and ask them to answer the question you asked. Which was not about them commercially changing the interest rate. But about changing the agreement.
Member Since October 2013 - Comments: 5
9:01 PM, 18th November 2013, About 12 years ago
Hi Dean, yes it’s one of the things on our to do list this eve. Let’s see what they come back with this time!
Member Since September 2013 - Comments: 80
10:48 PM, 18th November 2013, About 12 years ago
Did anyone take out a WBBS BTL mortgage through an independent mortgage broker called The Mortgage Force in the years running up to 2009 ?
This was a mortgage broker business that the WBBS Wholly owned and they sold to the management team in 2011.
It would be interesting to see if any of the affected WBBS customers were provided advice by an ‘independent’ mortgage brokers that WBBS wholly owned ??????
Member Since October 2013 - Comments: 15
11:56 PM, 18th November 2013, About 12 years ago
Just had a look on WB website and previous definition of a tracker mortgage is no longer there ‘ Tracker mortgages give you the certainty of knowing that the rate you pay will move in line with bank base rates.’
Wonder when they removed ? Given Mark’s complaint to ASA today, also looks like they are now only offering fixed rate mortgages.
Member Since January 2011 - Comments: 12193 - Articles: 1395
9:08 AM, 19th November 2013, About 12 years ago
LEGAL UPDATE
I have just spoken to Justin, he is going to contact Trading Standards on the same basis as my complaint to the ASA.
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