West Bromwich Building Society Tracker Margins Legal Action

Reply to the comment left by "Alexander Law" at "02/10/2013 - 13:59":

Please scan and email copies of the documentation you have referred to.

My email address is mark@property118.com
.

Hi Mark,
Just been reading Richard and Stuart's comments about Solicitors. My wife has gone through all correspondence on both of our 2 BTL mortgages with West Brom and found that we also had their solicitor do everything for us at West Brom's cost - as they were re-mortgages. In our case it was Homefast Property Lawyers, Sandridge Gate Business Centre, Ronsons Way, St Albans, AL4 9WW.

Bingo! That rings a massive bell. I'm as good as certain ours was Homefast as well.

Mark
I too received free legals because mine was a remortgage - Homefast property lawyers of St Albans wrote stating they had been instructed by West Bromich to process the remortgage. It did state they are instructed to act on West Brom behalf and I should contact my own solicitor if I require any independent legal advice. Do you want my letter?

I didn't require such advice because I signed a mortgage that was a plain vanilla lifetime base rate tracker at base + 0.59%. I have also never received the general terms booklet - I only received a photocopy of their tariff of charges - ie looks like at the time they had ran out of originals. I am a full time landlord and keep everything and have the general T and Cs for my other mortgages which contain quite scary weasel get out jail clauses for the lenders should they be allowed to get away with it.

Reply to the comment left by "Jon Bourne" at "02/10/2013 - 14:35":

Jon, a simple suggestion as i am someone else 'who did not receive any terms and conditions booklet' and who is waiting for WBBS to send me back any documents I have signed, is the following and please forgive me if this is obvious or has already been addressed in this growing thread:

* Is there any 'reference' whatsoever that is clearly referenced in either a) KFI, b) Acceptance of mortgage offer or c) signed mortgage deed or finally d) solicitor communication that CUSTOMERS should actually HAVE BOTH RECEIVED and ALSO have FULLY read a "separate terms and conditions handbook" and is there any suggestion/reference or Help Line to request this special terms and conditions handbook if a CUSTOMER has not received one ?

Have any solicitor communication to customer HIGHLIGHTED the fact that a SEPERATE T&C's booklet exists and any disclaimers BEING OFFERED that this BOOKLET should have been read prior to signing up ??

Maybe grasping at straws on the above and this does not take away any importance attached to the 'special condition' being expected to be clearly labelled 'on the tin'.

Further aggravation that can be provided to WBBS.......

I was convinced that at some point this year, after reading the BOI saga, that I phoned up the WBBS asking for clarity on any phone calls with them that my product was a Life time tracker and would never experience the problems that BOI customers have been through.

I called WBBS yesterday asking for telephone recordings of every call with them this year. They claim they have listened to the calls (all in 24 hours) and are posting me a CD in the post by recorded delivery.

This will cost them both time and money and I honestly believe that one person out of the affected WBBS 6,700 customers will have checked with WBBS post the BOI saga and ask them a similar question or assurances ???????????????????

WBBS asked me to disclaim before they sent me the CD that I could not supply this content to the media without their express permission from their data protection dept and I said that if I had made recordings and file notes at the time of each call, then the data is mine as well.

The point also being that WBBS are aware I believe of every piece of communication could be used against them.

Surely someone who have asked the WBBS since the BOI saga an before the WBBS announcement that the same issue could not happen to them and I will guarantee the call centre staff would not have said there is a special t&c hidden in a booklet that allows them to try and increase a life time tracker.......

Even if 6,700 customers requested telephone recordings of their conversations with WBBS this year, that surely will be additional head ache and cost to them and surely will throw up some useful conversations to quote......

Stuart
The only reference to the dreaded booklet was in the covering letter from them which my offer of loan and special conditions were attached to. It said:
'A copy of our booklet Information you need to know about your mortgage is enclosed. It contains important information about your loan, including the Standard Conditions of Offer and the Mortgage Conditions 2006 (Daily Interest) applicable to your loan. Please read all of this documentation carefully and ensure the details are consistent with the Key Facts Illustration provided'.

It wasn't attached but I assume they can argue they demonstrated its existence and I should have requested one.

Obviously it's a legal question whether a reference to a booklet as above that contained such significant clauses is sufficient or these major clauses should have been highlighted in the offer.

Needs Counsel's opinion which I believe Mark has organised?

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "02/10/2013 - 11:55":

The WBBS AGM - July 2013.

Maybe another route/channel to question & challenge (from a members perspective) is the business strategy for lending the WBBS are currently adopting, as below...

http://www.westbrom.co.uk/agmvoting/

This makes an interesting read and poses 2 obvious questions:

I) Are the affected 6,700 simply offsetting the rates WBBS are able attract NEW borrowers for mortgages ? Not sure how this is managing the business prudently etc, i.e. why overcharge existing borrowers 2% when you are still appearing on Best Buy tables for New Mortgages ? Are WBBS simply repeating the same mistakes of trying to compete on rates with larger, more "well funded" main stream lenders which they clearly should not be competing soley on price ?

2) Are the affected 6,700 simply being made to pay for the write downs of their previous 'reckless' lending that they have experienced arrears and bad profits against ? This is not in line or in the spirit of WBBS having to manage their business more effectively.

Snippet from Chairmans statement on P 13....

During 2012/13 the net interest margin –
primarily the difference between the interest
received from borrowers and the interest
payable to savers – increased to 0.49%
(2011/12: 0.47%).
A significant proportion of our residential
mortgage borrowers have benefited from the
low Bank Rate, with the average rate on loans
during the financial year being 2.54% (2011/12:
2.75%). We also maintained our focus on
de-risking the balance sheet through the
managed run-off of non-core mortgage
assets, irrespective of their contribution to
net interest margin.
This drag on interest income was more than
offset by an easing of funding costs in the
second half of the year as the introduction of the
Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) contributed to
a general softening of interest rates.

Reply to the comment left by "stuart marshall" at "02/10/2013 - 14:54":

Thank you for this comment - I spoke with the WB on the 3rd January 2013 in order to seek reassurance that the rate would not change and was assured that it would track the B of E base rate for the remaining term of the mortgage. I have subsequently called today and requested a copy of the call.

That's good work, Stuart and Matthew!