West Bromwich Building Society Tracker Margins Legal Action

What worries me as a non affected active contributor is this;

WBBS would be mad not to quietly settle a class action out of court to allow them to go ahead and shaft the remainder who did not join.

However this will only encourage other BTL lenders to do the same.

If a precedent is not set those of us with multiple lenders would have to fight them one by one.

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "26/11/2013 - 09:14":

PS - the reason I'm taking this stance is that I only have one tracker mortgage with West Brom but several with other lenders. I would be shooting myself in the foot if I agreed to a confidential settlement with WBBS, not to mention the other 2.5 million borrowers with tracker rate mortgages. How would any of us be able to sleep at night think "I'm all-right Jack" even if all our our borrowing are with West Brom. Could any one of us have it on our conscience that another 2.5 million people with racker rate mortgages could be put through the same ordeal as we have? This is fast becoming a real possibility because the FCA have admitted they have had numerous approaches from other lenders wanting to increase their tracker margins too. We MUST win this case in Court or persuade the regulators to stop this in its tracks - no retreat, no surrender.
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Reply to the comment left by "Ken Rose" at "26/11/2013 - 09:18":

Great minds clearly think alike Ken 🙂
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Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "26/11/2013 - 09:29":

"What's in it for me" for spending my time, money and effort contributing to this forum.

Well, in isolation, the West Brom unlawful rate hike will 'Only' cost me about another £250 per month with my two affected mortgages. Obviously this hurts, but is manageable.

Furthermore, I am sick and tired of large organisations in the UK trying to Rip Off customers. So enough is enough in my book.

However, my own financial personal agenda is that if I do not stop West Brom in their tracks, all of the other lenders will get the Green Light to screw me over again which will cost at least another £2,500 per month, which I simply cannot afford.

In this low Base Rate period, I am earning my Reward for taking the Risk of taking a Lifetime Tracker - so why should it stop when I should still earn my rewards.

So if there are any unaffected West Brom borrowers, or ones with relatively small West Brom mortgages who do not think it worthwhile taking the jump to action or even the cynics who think all the active contributors to this forum and moreover Mark Alexander himself have spent over 2.5 months of their lives to Scam people for £240, then quite frankly at this stage of the game, it is quite insulting to everyone participating.

So I am black and white with my agenda. I can just about afford another £250 per month with the West Bom, but I cannot afford another £2500 per month if West Brom get away with this !!!

Yes, I'm sure even WBBS must surely realise that given that most on the class action will probably also have trackers with other lenders which are likely to be affected, the borrowers would therefore be most unlikely to settle. If those with tracker loans were to settle, the other lenders would proceed to also up their trackers, and the borrowers would be back to having to do another class action weeks later.

We predict that one would see them up their own trackers within weeks if not days.

Our own LettingFocus research has shown that our Lloyds Banking Group BTL trackers (including BM and C&G) and Barclays Woolwich both have same or similar hidden get out clauses. There may be other lenders too.

Lloyds and Barclays would see a private settlement with WBBS as a green light to up their trackers too and cheat (because cheating is what this is) their own customers.

I'm sure all affected realise this, hence that is why this must go all the way to court to settle the matter in borrowers favour once and for all.

David Lawrenson
http://www.LettingFocus.com/blogs

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "26/11/2013 - 09:29":

Yes ! ! Agree 100%

Has anybody else noticed the rate at which the number of readers of this thread is now growing? We are now over 62,000 readers. I sure it's doubled in the last two weeks which proves we are gaining momentum. It feel like a slow process in some ways as it's been nearly 3 months for some of already. However, on the other hand time flies. We will all be paying the 1.9% increase after next week. That should rattle a few more cages and start people searching again. Nice timing West Brom, just before Christmas when people need the money. This may well work to our advantage, same in January when people have over-spent at Christmas and are feeling the pinch.
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If you have not signed up because you are waiting on answers to questions for WBBS, that you think might be help in your quest to quash this increase please be advised that once they have sent their initial letter of take it to the Ombudsman they no longer have to reply within a given time span. I am still waiting on answers to questions posed on the 9th October 2013. So sign up now don't take the risk of being left out.

I think everyone is fully aware now that united we stand divided we fall.

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "26/11/2013 - 10:19":

Yes Mark,
I think a lot of people simply throw out letters from financial cos, without even reading them.
However, most folk do look at their bank statements and balance, and I think when they do this later this month, they will start investigating what happened - with the result that more people will join the class action.

I think they would struggle to get confidentiality from a large group who are know well know for getting their views in to the public domain. (some anonymously).

I'm also in this to protect my other mortgages.

BUT!!! I do think West Brom will still fleece anyone who doesn't take part in any action. It'll be easy for them to out-gun any individuals who try and kick up a fuss on their own.

Now they have started down this route I can imagine them trying to save face by any devious means possible. The chances of them coming clean, being honest and doing the right thing are very slim.

Lets face it these corporate execs are still motivated by ladder climbing through "innovative ideas outside the box in different ball parks" because that's what makes them so special and worth the massive salaries. Being wrong isn't an option for them. (insert recent examples here).

So the only way to deal with this is by joining a collective action that can actually stand up to them.

The chance that they will only capitulate to those they absolutely have to is very real when you think of the culture surrounding these people.

If you have any doubts about us as group do your due diligence (I did as I'm sure many of us have). Let us know if you have remaining concerns. I'm willing to talk to anyone, even in person. I'm in Chesterfield if you fancy a chat.

Cheers
Andy