West Bromwich Building Society Tracker Margins Legal Action

Reply to the comment left by "Mark edwardmarks" at "27/11/2013 - 12:42":

"Just had a look on the West Brom website at what mortgages they offer. Made me laugh.

We offer a range of mortgages, including:

Base Rate Tracker: Your monthly repayments may be linked to a variable rate, such as the Bank of England Base Rate"...

………….or they may not be linked to a variable rate, or they may be linked to whatever rate we decide from time to time to fleece our hard-working borrowers LOL!

Reply to the comment left by "Andy Bell" at "27/11/2013 - 13:16":

yes looks like they have taken it down. anyway I quote

"Base Rate Tracker: Your monthly repayments may be linked to a variable rate, such as the Bank of England Base Rate."

why not link it to the Venezuelan rate. I think its only 15%.

Reply to the comment left by "Andy Bell" at "27/11/2013 - 13:16":

Even more interesting - the link doesn't work in the comment but it does if you copy and paste straight in to your address browser (and yes the statement is still their. So they could have blocked the 118 IP address. As an experiment http://bit.ly/1fIU48k forwards the link via a independent server. (Just use an online URL shortener)

So if that works and this http://www.westbrom.co.uk/ doesn't it proves they have blocked the IP address.

update on experiment - No that's not got it I shall investigate further.

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "30/10/2013 - 07:51":

If anyone has any lingering doubts about the strengths of our legal case and the EXTREMELY dim view that the courts take of companies and organisations trying to worm their way out of their contractual commitments on the basis of extreme financial hardship, tightening credit markets or an unparalleled recession, I would urge you to read up on the case of Tandrin Aviation Holdings Ltd -v- Aero Toy Store [2010] EWHC 40 (Comm) and the case of Thames Valley Power -v- Total Gas and Power [2006] 1 Lloyd's Rep 441. If worries about the strengths our case and how it will stand up in court are all that is stopping you from committing £240 per mortgage, then you need to read up on these cases and also about the 'contra proferentem' rule which is an extremely important legal rule of construction in how terms and clauses in contracts are interpreted. The 'contra proferentem' rule will be highly relevant in this case.

Even if you don't read the full cases, just Google them and read the summary or legal comment from legal commentators in respect of those cases. Although those cases dealt with force majeure clauses, they reiterate the position of the English courts that even a unanticipated, unforeseeable and cataclysmic downward spiral of the world's financial markets will not excuse an organisation from its obligations under a contract (which is essentially what a mortgage agreement is). It doesn't matter how much West Brom would whinge and whine at court about severe and unforeseen credit conditions entitling them to hike tracker rates as part of running their business "prudently, efficiently and competitively". Their legal team know that they will lose that argument at court and will therefore be scrambling to settle IF and only IF we can raise the necessary funds for litigation. Personally, I want a win at court. Nobody loves a good fight more than I do but I also know that only the appellate courts can create a binding precedent so a win at court won't necessarily mean that other lenders will simply back off from similar rate hikes. However, that's not to say that a victory by us at court as a High Court decision can't be referred to as being of persuasive effect.

There has never been an issue with the strength of our case. IT IS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY. It always has been. The one and only issue is "Can we raise enough funding to fund our own legal costs and to purchase ATE insurance to provide us with security for costs in the High Court and if necessary, in the Court of Appeal and even potentially the House of Lords?"

If we win at first instance and the matter then goes to appeal and we win at appeal, then you have your binding precedent to challenge other lenders who would seek to do the same as the West Brom. If we raise the funds to litigate, the West Brom may not even appeal the decision due to a) having to eat humble pie in public a second time, and b) the danger of creating a binding precedent that they and all other lenders will be bound to in future.

Reply to the comment left by "Appalled Landlord" at "27/11/2013 - 13:15":

Thank you

Appreciated and nicely summed up I think

Dean

Reply to the comment left by "Andy Bell" at "27/11/2013 - 13:30":

Links to WB website. ALL links to internal WB pages are returning the Website down message. Maybe they dont like anyone pointing out how flawed and deceptive their information is. It looks like it's a new website launched 5/11/13 shame they didn't update to tell the truth!

eg. On their mortgages made simple guide :
( copy and past this link in to your browser address bar - http://www.westbrom.co.uk/customer-support/guides/mortgage-guides/mortgages-made-simple.)
"
Tracker mortgages
A tracker mortgage links your interest rate to the Bank of England Base Rate so your monthly payments move as this changes. This means you could benefit from cheaper payments when the Bank Base Rate is low but you will also need to budget for higher mortgage payments in case the rate goes up.

Variable rate mortgages
There are several types of variable rate mortgages, including standard variable and discount. Like tracker mortgages they don’t offer protection from future rate increases but they could allow you to benefit from cheaper payments when interest rates are low.
Standard variable rates are often set by the individual lender which means they might change without the Bank of England moving the Base Rate. This includes the West Brom so our Standard Variable Rate (SVR) may change from time to time without the Base Rate moving. If it does change we will write to you with plenty of notice to let you know if your mortgage payments will be going up or down.

B
Bank of England base rate (BBR)
This is the rate set by the Bank of England and used by most lenders on their tracker mortgages.
Buy to let (BTL)
Currently not available through the West Brom, these are mortgages used to buy properties for renting purposes. They are very similar to residential mortgages but are normally assessed on how much you’ll earn from the rental income rather than your salary.
"

And the frog turned in to a prince and they all lived happily ever after.

But of course it has nothing to do with advertising standards.

Reply to the comment left by "Mervyn Wharton" at "26/11/2013 - 16:56":

CRIKEY!!! I have only been offline for 24 hours and it's probably gouing to take me an hour of so to catch up. I have arranged for the emails f=to be re-sent from meyself and Justin. They should be in your inbox within 10 minutes. If they don't appear please check your spam folder.

I will now add Justin's contact details to the main article.
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TO ALL

The main article at the top of every page has been updated to include Justin’s address, the details of the client account, confirmation of The Law Society membership, confirmation of fees and the basis of instructions. Please take a look and let me know whether I have covered the essential points.

I'm still catching up so please bear with me on any other questions posted in the last 24 hours which remain unanswered "I'll be back!"
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Reply to the comment left by "The Man From Nowhere" at "26/11/2013 - 17:47":

We need a copy of documentation for a mortgage account number beginning with a 9. Could you please scan and email these to Justin with a copy to me please.

Same goes for anybody else with an unaffected account number beginning with the number 9. We need a few from different borrowers to check they are all similar.

This is pure speculation but I suspect that West Brom Mortgage company was only established in 2006 to obtain business from intermediaries and that prior to that all business, whether via intermediaries or not was processed as if it was direct business. One way to prove this would be to obtain copies of mortgage documentation with account number starting with a 9 for every year from 2004 to 2008 and then comparing the basis upon which they were sold. Even this will not be conclusive though as some brokers may have recommended West Brom in 2006 to 2008 but not had an intermediary contract with west Brom. Therefore, it remains a possibility that some broker business between 2006 to 2008 may still have been processed as if it were direct business.
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Reply to the comment left by "Mervyn Wharton" at "26/11/2013 - 20:15":

I can confirm that it is OK to join the class action by choosing to register a selected few of their BTL properties instead of all of them