ACT NOW to protect the margin on your YOUR tracker mortgage

Reply to the comment left by "Rob walsh" at "25/09/2013 - 02:56":

Hi Rob

I have seen an example of a West Brom deal which is affected and the loan offer was dated 2006. Therefore, West Brom appear to be ignoring the Oct 2004 date.

There are many similarities in what WBBS and BoI have done, however, the WBBS does seem to be pushing their luck beyond what BoI have done. For example, there is no clause in their offer letter referring back to their mortgage conditions booklet in terms of changing the margin whereas there were in the BoI offers, albeit a very unclear one and often pointing to a booklet which was never received or where the booklet was received it was often the wrong one.

Both cases are worth fighting but our initial impression is that the case against WBBS will be the easiest to win.
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Reply to the comment left by "Paul Norris" at "24/09/2013 - 23:33":

Hi Paul

Sorry I had to moderate out a word which I actually agree with but there is a good reason - please see >>> http://www.property118.com/what-property118-is-not/

Property118 wasn't around three years ago so we didn't get involved in that particular case, therefore it's difficult for me to comment. There do appear to be similarities though from what you've said. Are you aware whether a group ever formed to fight the Skipton decision and if so do you have any contact details for the organisers? I have also heard that Manchester BS did something similar, again I'm very keen to hook up with any organisers of protest groups against them too.
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Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "25/09/2013 - 07:48":

Hi Mark,

As far as I know there was/is no action group in regard to Skipton.
No problem on the moderation, readers can add in their own descriptive word of choice.

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "24/09/2013 - 17:41":

I would really like to fill in the Action Registration Form, the only thing stopping me is what am I committing to. I have no idea how many people will sign up say only 100 do that is roughly a commitment of £1000. Then the case is lost and BOI are awarded costs I could then be presented with a huge bill?? I think that more people would sign if it wasn't an open ended commitment e.g. would the BOI costs be limited by statute and therefore be a similar amount to the sum we seem to think we need to raise i.e. around £100,000. Could one put a ceiling contribution in and the money be raised this way rather than by apportioning equal shares of all costs? I have only one affected property so my exposure is not so great although I would like to contribute out of principle as much as anything.

Reply to the comment left by "Lucy McKenna" at "25/09/2013 - 09:41":

Hi Lucy

I understand you concern and I will make an amendment to the page to confirm the position. Completing the form is not contractually binding, it is merely an expression of interest from you to assist in the funding of the case subject to the costs and risk being clearly identified and being considered by you as reasonable.

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "25/09/2013 - 09:49":

PS - nearly 100 people completed the form yesterday so it's looking good. We need to maintain momentum and to achieve that we need everybody to keep sharing the page and telling people about it. If your friends are not affected by this you need to explain to them that they might be if their lender follows suit and a very good reason for them to get involved now is to discourage their mortgage lenders from copying West Brom and the Bank of Ireland.

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "25/09/2013 - 09:49":

7 Perfect Mark, will sign up straight away. Another point I was surprised by the mention of no win no fee remarks. Had assumed that if BOI lost the test case they would then be forbidden from taking this action, full stop. Does everyone then have to fight the BOI in their own right, quoting the test case result,. I guess if there was a test case against the BOI it would not involve a court case they would just give in. If it were possible to claim compensation from BOI would it mean taking them to court as an individual to get this, hence more cost or use a no win no fee firm. Is that how it works? 7

Reply to the comment left by "Lucy McKenna" at "25/09/2013 - 10:48":

Another excellent question Lucy, keep them coming.

A victory in the test case will not stop the banks doing anything, much in the same way that the law says that speeding is illegal but that doesn't stop people speeding.

There are two ways this could go if/when the banks lose the test case:-

1) The lenders could simply reverse their decision, pay back all affected borrowers their overpayment plus interest plus a bit of compensation. They may also have to deal with a few extra litigation cases where it can be proven that a person has lost out, e.g. a persons property was sold because they couldn't afford a mortgage or a person lost out on a deal because their credit rating had been affected due to not being able to afford the extra payment and so on. There are probably a million examples but you get the point.

2) Lenders could take a commercial view that only a small percentage of the affected borrowers will actually sue them and that the cost of that is far outweighed by the profits they will make on the customers who are blissfully unaware of their rights or simply roll over and accept the hike in payments without taking action. Never under-estimate the level of peoples ignorance and lethargy. You only have to look at the money which has been invested into the marketing of PPI claims to see that. You would think everybody would have made their claim immediately wouldn't you? Again, perhaps people thought that now once the law was established the PPI companies would simply refund everybody? That's not the way it works though and those who don't claim don't get. You have to be in it to win it.

Happy to support the class action as I'm affected by the WBBS action.
I think it is important though that everyone affected writes to register their complaint. I have and intend to make sure they send me the details of exactly what T's & C's they are referring to. If their mailbox is bursting with complaints every morning it will help them to realise the strength of feeling and the bigger an admin workload this causes, the more they'll realise how much this is costing them. It might be an idea to upload a few standard letters that people can copy and paste to save them time?
This is the letter I sent:

Account No. (insert here)

Dear Mr Field,

I am in receipt of your letter recently received headed “Important information about changes to your buy to let tracker mortgage interest rate”.

A bank base rate tracker mortgage is clearly just that, i.e. it tracks the bank base rate. I therefore believe that your intention to change the rates for borrowers on base rate tracker mortgages is illegal.

There is nothing in the mortgage offer you issued that refers to such a change being permitted. You state that you can change the rate you charge under the terms and conditions. Could you please send me a copy of the Terms and Conditions to which you refer and advise specifically which clause you are attempting to base this on?

You may be aware that a class action by landlords is being organised to ensure that your attempt to illegally increase the rate charged does not succeed. This will result in your organisation incurring legal costs and being sued for damages.

I believe that you should reconsider your decision. If not then I and many other landlords will fight this to ensure that you are unsuccessful in your outrageous attempt to renege on the agreements in the mortgage offer documents.

Please can you give me a formal written response within 28 days.

Yours sincerely,

Reply to the comment left by "Richard Watters" at "25/09/2013 - 12:00":

Great minds think alike Richard, please see the complaint letter template article linked below.
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