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 September 2013 - Comments: 333
10:06 AM, 22nd December 2013, About 12 years ago
Reply to the comment left by “Vanessa Warwick” at “22/12/2013 – 09:56“:
I was one of the people who loved your speech! 🙂
Comments: 226
10:10 AM, 22nd December 2013, About 12 years ago
Well thank you Richard. That is kind of you to clarify that. 🙂
I am sure that it is a comfort to everyone that, if they feel a bit wobbly over WBBS at any time, they can pop back here for a rant or a bit of moral support. This thread is a great resource for all affected by this debacle.
Hope you have a lovely break over Christmas.
Comments: 359
10:15 AM, 22nd December 2013, About 12 years ago
Reply to the comment left by “Vanessa Warwick” at “22/12/2013 – 09:56“:
I read your e mail in the spirit I’m sure it was intended Vanessa (and incidentally I didn’t think either that Richard was ‘having a go’) – so thanks and I’m sure everyone on the forum hopes that you have a peaceful and restful holiday too
Member Since September 2013 - Comments: 333
10:38 AM, 22nd December 2013, About 12 years ago
Reply to the comment left by “Vanessa Warwick” at “22/12/2013 – 10:10“:
Vanessa,
I dare not make impassioned speeches at this time because I can only imagine, and I mean literally only imagine how this hike has negatively affected the lives of the borrowers concerned.
The best I could do is offer some small amount of help towards the action.
I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas under the circumstances – and I emphasise that point – under the circumstances.
Member Since September 2013 - Comments: 474
12:49 PM, 22nd December 2013, About 12 years ago
While we eagerly await first salvos of the onslaught against WBBS early 2014 can I ask you all, and I mean all not just WB borrowers, to embrace a project that will unfold in January. Bit of a long post and in the words of Monty Python “Now for something completely different”.
Property118 costs an arm and a leg to run – much more than you would dream of believe me and I only know because I was told – and relies on donations entirely and you can guess where much of that source comes from. Advertising which would clutter the site has been resisted.
The fight with WBBS is only part of what Property118 is engaged with. Its raison d’etre is “To help 1000’s of landlords, tenants & letting agents every year to better understand their legal rights and responsibilities”.
Mark Alexander has recently posted about how Property118 will be continuing to champion its ideals on a broader scale in the coming months. Some of his proposals have considerable cost implications hence the urgent need to raise some money.
Without putting your hands in your pockets here is how you can help raise the necessary. A sideline of mine is publishing e books for sale on Amazon. You may know that Mark has posted some blogs about being a landlord? These are being compiled/formatted etc right now into an e book, cover designed, price finally decided etc. Title is 99% likely to be “Strategies of a Buy to Let Landlord”.
The work will be completed so the book is up for sale on Amazon in January. ALL SALES PROCEEDS WILL BE GOING TO PROPERTY118. Mark has thus donated his work which is extremely generous of him.
While the book is a very good read and would be a worthwhile purchase in its own right, that is not the point as far as we are concerned. I request your help in making it an Amazon best seller so it raises plenty of cash.
Here is how you come in. I’ll post when the book is up on Amazon INCLUDING telling you of the 5 day free download period which is normal marketing practice.
You should then buy/download the book – FOC mind during the 5 day period – and write a favourable review. This is crucial. Don’t go over the top but give a 4 or 5 star good review. Whether you like the book or not is immaterial remember as this is a fund raising exercise.
Those of you who know about e book launches on Amazon will understand this process, while those who don’t just take it from me that it is vital.
We have a unique opportunity here if we get it right to raise some serious money. Worse outcome is a flop at zero money lost, only much work down the swanee. Not often does a publisher, me, have a big list of would be supportive followers, you lot, to approach to kickstart a book launch. Tell your friends about it as well of course – please!
E books are normally downloaded on to a Kindle device but desktop PC’s, laptops, I Pads and even smartphones can also be used I believe. It is likely the book will ultimately also be available as a hard/paper back version as well.
If you don’t have a Kindle gizmo and/or are uncomfortable with downloading please ask someone you know who is savvy to do the exercise for you.
I am appealing to ALL members of this forum to get involved in this project as Property118 needs financial help and deserves our support. I also repeat, stress in fact, that by jumping in during the 5 day free period it will cost you nothing – absolutely zippo.
Could be a bit of fun as well. Look out for my call to action post in the New Year. I hope the latter is a great one for you and that Christmas meanwhile is a happy one.
Richard
Member Since September 2013 - Comments: 125 - Articles: 3
2:21 PM, 22nd December 2013, About 12 years ago
Reply to the comment left by “Richard Adams” at “22/12/2013 – 12:49“:
Excellent. I’ll look forward to this. I think I’ll get the eBook free and then donate the price direct to P118.
And here is the oldest Xmas joke re-configured – they tried to stage a nativity play at West Brom BS’s Xmas bash, but failed because they could not cast the Three Wise Men.
Boom boom. Merry Xmas to all, Ed
Member Since October 2013 - Comments: 134 - Articles: 1
4:01 PM, 22nd December 2013, About 12 years ago
Reply to the comment left by “Ed Atkinson” at “22/12/2013 – 14:21“:
That didn’t stop them trying to crucify us though, courtesy of Judas Westhoff. Perhaps I should have saved that one for Easter time, although hopefully it’ll be less relevant by then, fingers crossed.
Comments: 359
4:29 PM, 22nd December 2013, About 12 years ago
Reply to the comment left by “Richard Adams” at “22/12/2013 – 12:49“:
would e mail addresses for a direct link on launch day help?
Member Since September 2013 - Comments: 474
4:42 PM, 22nd December 2013, About 12 years ago
Reply to the comment left by “Denise D” at “22/12/2013 – 16:29“:
Not quite sure what you’re getting at Denise? E mailing everybody individually would be a bit of a chore even if I knew the addresses, and if everyone was happy to provide same for me.
I shall be able to post here that book is up/going up on whatever date applies warning that the 5 day period starts on XX Jan. So everybody should have at least a week to react. One post and job done.
Comments: 359
5:37 PM, 22nd December 2013, About 12 years ago
just concerned about how quiet the group seems to be of late (and thinking that a lack of comments maybe indicates a lack of readers – after all who could possibly read all the interesting stuff posted and resist commenting). I was thinking that at this time of year maybe some of our members are not around for more than week at a stretch