The Ambulance Chasers Will Not Stay Parked For Much Longer

Discontent amongst borrowers with BoI (Bristol & West Mortgages), Skipton Building Society (Amber Homeloans) and Manchester Building Society is growing. Whilst all those borrowers with West Brom tracker mortgages are getting a full refund of their over-charged mortgage accounts and their mortgage payments put back to where they should be, those affected by similar rate hikes via other lenders continue to be fleeced with over charges every month.

Until these matters are progressed through the judicial process the decision of the Financial Ombudsman Service in relation to complaints being denied will stand.

I am urging all those affected not to raise further complaints to the FOS over negligent advice from their solicitors and mortgage advisers for failing to alert them to the small print which the lenders have relied on and which the FOS have ruled on. Each complaint would cost a Financial Adviser or solicitor £500 and this money would all go into the coffers of the FOS. Mortgage Brokers in particular know that they get very little sympathy from the FOS (unlike the bigger institutions) so they would be facing a losing battle from day one. Their PI policies would also be at risk and if they get too many claims on those the premiums can go up to a point where it is no longer economical for them to trade. Adverse FOS decisions against them make things far worse.

It wouldn’t be fair to put mortgage brokers through this in my opinion. They couldn’t possibly have second guessed that the mortgage lenders they recommended would act as they have and they certainly wouldn’t have expected the FOS to support the actions of those mortgage lenders. Based on on the FOS perception of fairness though, all such claims against mortgage advisers would probably be upheld if they were professionally submitted. This is because to refute them would jeopardise the FOS decision favouring mortgage lenders.  Wholly unfair in my opinion and that’s why mortgage  advisers trust the FOS about as much as we do!

We must show mortgage lenders they cannot hide behind the bias of the FOS or the protracted and expensive judicial process. We certainly mustn’t allow the lender to spin the blame towards the financial advisers and legal profession either.

I am encouraging all those affected by the rate hikes applied by these unscrupulous mortgage lenders to come together and fight the REAL villians – firstly the mortgage lenders who are in breach of contract, then, when we prove the FOS wrong yet again hopefully they will be closed down too.

We managed to raise the money to defeat the West Brom and we can do it again!

I recently posted the following comment below a highly controversial article published on the Mortgage Strategy website:-

“I think it is very much in the interests of the mortgage industry that Property118 members are prepared to fight for their rights and hold mortgage lenders to account.

The despicable actions of West Brom caused a loss of faith in the mortgage industry, hopefully the win at the Court of Appeal will help to restore that.

Being a retired broker I would also like to point out that many people affected by the tracker rate hikes imposed by West Brom, and previously BoI wanted to sue brokers for not advising them correctly. They would have had a very good case if Property118 hadn’t got the Court of Appeal to overturn the FOS and the High Court rulings.

I persuaded all affected borrowers to focus on the REAL rogues and to my knowledge not a single case of a brokers PI policy being attacked has been reported. Many started initial proceedings on exactly that basis but I talked them out of it and managed to redirect their anger to West Brom.

I hope to be able to do the same with the borrowers affected by similar injustices at the hands of BoI, Skipton BS and Manchester BS. It is very much in brokers interests to support these cases too. If they don’t, and if sufficient money isn’t raised to take those lenders to Court, then the FOS rulings will stand and brokers PI policies will be at risk. The ambulance chasers will not stay parked forever!

Property118 Action Group are crowdfunding in order to raise the money necessary to fight these legal battles – please see http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/property118-action-group

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