West Bromwich Building Society Tracker Margins Legal Action

West Bromwich Building Society Tracker Margins Legal Action

18:38 PM, 30th September 2013, About 11 years ago 3869

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West Bromwich Tracker Rate Mortgages Legal Action Group

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

Tracker Rate Class Actions Updates

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.

Landlords take legal action against West Brom Mortgage Company

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

West Bromwich Mortgage Company Tracker Margins Legal Action


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Comments

Richard Adams

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23:53 PM, 26th November 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mervyn Wharton" at "26/11/2013 - 22:30":

Mervyn, Don't worry about what anyone says. Do what's best for you in your situation. You can do the sums re your portfolio better than us lot. I hope Mark will give you the go ahead Wednesday to include as many or as few of your WB BTL mortgages as you wish. While all the posts flying around are great in terms of involvement and action sometimes the wrong end of the stick is grasped. Richard.

Richard Watters

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7:32 AM, 27th November 2013, About 11 years ago

I was one of the first to post on this forum re the West Brom rate hike and also my own blog back on 25th September, http://www.housesellingadvice.com/2013/09/25/warning-do-you-have-a-base-rate-tracker-mortgage-read-this-now/

For the record:

* I have a large portfolio.
* I have 4 mortgages with the West Brom.
* I've been familiar with Property 118 since it's inception and prior to this one of my companies had multiple dealings with the Money Centre (Mark Alexander's brokerage). I have no doubt about his credibility.
* I paid my £960 to towards the Class Action back in September.

There's been a lot of discussion on here about those who are following the progress but haven't contributed. Here's why I believe everyone affected should join the class action:

1. Morally, it's wrong that you should let others pay for your benefit. My principles wouldn't allow me to do this and thankfully many others feel the same.

2. The amount, £240 per mortgage, is nothing in the overall scheme of things. OK I know for some people it's hard but is anyone seriously saying they can't somehow (legally) get their hands on £240? Are you the type of Landlord (sadly I've met a few) who won't spend £200 to fix a leaking roof (that ends up costing £1,000 six months later)?

3. Mark has said that he/we won't settle out of court. I agree 100% with the principle. It's important not only that we win this but are seen to win it - I for one don't want to be fighting this battle again with MX, BMS, etc! Therefore we need to be in a position to know that no matter how much this costs, we can fund it.

4. HOWEVER, we live in the real world in which few things are black and white. I've been involved in litigation in the past both as a claimant and defendant and the reality is that deals are nearly always done to settle. West Brom stand to make £19m extra a year if they get away with this. That could be c. £300m over the mortgage terms. Surely everyone can see that they could make what would be a Godfather offer to the people involved in the Class Action and they'd still be well in pocket? There are endless possibilities of how a "deal" between West Brom and those involved in the Class Action could be done, most we can't even speculate about. But put the best legal brains on this (and West Brom will be paying for the best, believe me) and there will be a way, I have no doubt. Don't get me wrong I want us to win in court to avoid a precedent being set but I'm realistic enough to know that there are other possibilities than a simple win/lose.

Norfolk n'Chance

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7:59 AM, 27th November 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Richard Adams" at "26/11/2013 - 23:53":

Well actually I don't 'worry' about what others on here say but I do have an expectation that their answers are correct. If they are just expressing an opinion, it might help if they say so. I'll wait for a definitive answer from Mark later today before making any decision to join the Class Action. Thanks.

Dean

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8:11 AM, 27th November 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mervyn Wharton" at "27/11/2013 - 07:59":

Reply to the comment left by “Mervyn Wharton” at “26/11/2013 – 17:57“:

We did this initially. But once I convinced my property partners we paid for them all. My personal opinion is that it’s ok. But I do think that really you need all your mortgages registered to be covered properly just in case.

I think if you re read my post. Which I have reproduced here I expressed my opinion. Yet you still referred to it as RIDICULOUS and claimed I was an alien!

Alison Buckland

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8:38 AM, 27th November 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "David Harrison" at "26/11/2013 - 22:49":

I referenced the payment with my name as it's quicker to spot than a bunch of numbers on a statement. It doesn't really matter what you use as a reference so long as you say what you've used in your covering letter to Justin. That worked fine for me.

Norfolk n'Chance

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8:43 AM, 27th November 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Dean " at "27/11/2013 - 08:11":

Dean,
This bit of your post....'But I do think that really you need all your mortgages registered to be covered properly just in case.' ......is the subject piece.

Yours wasn't the only comment that now appears to have been just a personal opinion.

Lets draw a line under this and wait for Mark's answer.

Dean

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8:47 AM, 27th November 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mervyn Wharton" at "27/11/2013 - 08:43":

Surely the word think would have suggested to you it was my opinion.

However it was my direct post you referred to as RIDICULOUS

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9:08 AM, 27th November 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mervyn Wharton" at "27/11/2013 - 07:59":

I was basing my OPINION on having read EVERY SINGLE COMMENT on this forum - and I was clear that it was my opinion - and having paid attention to what i read I still believe it to be the case. I was also only trying to be helpful, to answer a question YOU asked to the best of my ability Why are you so confrontational? Have to ask ....are you maybe a WB employee on here deliberately trying to stir people up and/or to divide and conquer???

All BankersAreBarstewards Smith

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10:01 AM, 27th November 2013, About 11 years ago

I have been following the thread for a while but only recently registered on 118. I only have one mortgage with West Bromwich Mortgage Company Limited which I originally bought from another entity'. Long before the latest ho-ha I had been overpaying my IO mortgage by a substantial amount.

Could this be the reason that I have not had any letters from WBMCL. I am confused in so far as, i am not clear if the ripping up of contract law by WBBS only applies to WBBS customers - or does it apply to WBMCL also ?

I utterly agree that if these guys get away with it we will all suffer (whoever our lenders are) and I am more than happy to contribute financially for the greater good.

But, will I be part of the Class Action or not ?

Like other similar recent posters..... its not clear how to make that contribution... maybe when Mark gets back he could put the link at the top of the thread........ or if its there already, re--word it/highlight it for idiots like me who can't "see" it .

Thanks

Dean

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10:16 AM, 27th November 2013, About 11 years ago

A member of this site and an NLA member emailed me last night and asked I put this on here for him . He is having problems logging in .

It would suggest that anyone in the NLA should email them .

Hello Dean

I joined the action against West Brom early on. I'm also a member of NLA and thought you may be interested to see my recent email to them (below). In their recent magazine they have invited people affected by the West Brom rate rise to email them at policy@landlords.org.uk

I would put this on the comments section but am having problems logging on to the property118 site at the moment, hence my email to you.

Feel free to post my email if you think it might be of any help.
Thanks
Kevin Thomson

To:
Subject: WBBS - tracker rate rise / break of contract

Hello

I'm a member of the NLA (XXXXX), and also of property118, the forum which is organising a class action against the decision by WBBS to raise their tracker rate. This is on very dubious grounds and is almost certainly a break of contract.
Details are provided here:
http://www.property118.com/west-bromwich-building-society-mortgage-company-increase-tracker-margins-legal-action/43657/comment-page-183/#comments

I have a mortgage with the WB which is affected. My monthly payments are rising by around £300 per month from December.

I wonder why the NLA has not taken more interest in a decision which discriminates against landlords, and is likely to have far-reaching effects with other lenders following suit? The impact upon a very large number of landlords is likely to be huge. This is the thing that will probably most affect their business in the future. If mortgage contracts are not worth the paper they're written on then where does this leave landlords? So many other articles in the NLA magazine are just fluff in comparison. The decision taken by WBBS is the 'elephant in the room' that cannot be ignored any longer.

Will the NLA help to publicise the work being done by property118?

Thank you
Kevin Thomson

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