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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Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

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15:16 PM, 5th December 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Marshall " at "05/12/2013 - 15:02":

We are beyond the requirement for publicity stunts now but I do think a meet up would be useful, if only to put faces to names give ourselves a pat on the back. Perhaps this is something we could look at in the New Year when we are ready to commence litigation?
.

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15:24 PM, 5th December 2013, About 11 years ago

entirely possible I'm sure and very welcome - could I vote tho for London at the weekend please

Richard Adams

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15:38 PM, 5th December 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "05/12/2013 - 15:16":

Good idea. Prefer to err on the side of beer rather than coffee though!

David Lawrenson

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17:32 PM, 5th December 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "05/12/2013 - 12:14":

The letter from the WBBS Exec chap to the lady's MP really will not help them and seems, to me, to be a bit of a PR gaffe.

As someone who has done some consulting work, advising mortgage lenders and who two years ago, spoke at the Council of Mortgage Lenders buy to let conference, I am wondering who is advising WBBS and also about the quality of that advice.

My assessment is that WBBS have little chance of success in court with this case.

As I see it, the only possible reason for them to proceed to court is that they are hoping against hope for a win (I think this is unlikely) or that the class action participants will settle privately (also very unlikely given that borrowers know that they would be back fighting each and every lender if they took that route).

As I see it, the only thing encouraging them to go forward must be the lack of adverse PR from this, thus far.

They may have assessed that, even if they lose, the mainstream press may not punish them as the press seems to have not taken up the story or, even where they have reported it, they have failed to understand and report the real issue properly.

What could deter WBBS (and lead them to admit defeat and do a U-turn) would be concern about adverse business consequences from brokers / advisers / the media in the longer term - in other words, if the bad PR from losing was feared to be long lasting and more damaging.

Given their low chances of success and the extreme unlikelihood of class action claimants settling out of court, they would be wise to seriously consider a U turn or at least seek a second opinion.

As a borrower with tracker mortgages with other lenders I hope they opt for the U-turn.

David Lawrenson
http://www.LettingFocus.com
PRS Consultancy

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

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17:42 PM, 5th December 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "David Lawrenson" at "05/12/2013 - 17:32":

I'm on the fence on this one David.

The u-turn is appealing in that it will be settled quickly and money will be returned to the people who are signed up to the representative action. Professional advisers will also breath a sigh of relief.

The appeal of a Court win for us is the Case Law to discourage other lenders from doing something similar. The PR will intensify as we get the case to Court, of that I am quite certain.

Either way, please do not under-estimate the PR damage to West Brom already. They plan to go back into the intermediary market but have severely damaged their credibility with intermediaries. Also, the story has been well covered in the mainstream press including the BBC already. Have you done a Google search for "West Brom Mortgages" recently?
.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

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17:43 PM, 5th December 2013, About 11 years ago

David Lawrenson

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17:47 PM, 5th December 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "05/12/2013 - 17:42":

Fair point Mark... and I see why you make the point too!

I think the part of your ongoing efforts and campaign with the brokers / intermediaries will be of concern to the lender, if they perceive a risk they will not be recommended again for business due to a perceived lack of trust.

ian

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17:49 PM, 5th December 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "05/12/2013 - 12:14":

So if rates where ultra high we would be looking at a 1.9% discount instead then ?
Are savers going to see there rates go up?
If that's there argument roll on January

David Lawrenson

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18:11 PM, 5th December 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "05/12/2013 - 17:42":

Yes, I see....the google searches for "West Brom mortgages" or similar search strings does not look too good for the society and has certainly worsened (for them) since I last looked.

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

Shining Wit

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18:21 PM, 5th December 2013, About 11 years ago

Hello Everyone,

Apologies for my previous 'radio-silence'. I have been an avid reader of the forum for about six weeks - ever since I first found you by a google search (West Brom Mortgage Scandal, I think)

At the moment, I don't have a lot of spare time - which is one of the reasons why I have been 'lurking in the shadows' rather than adding my comments to the ever-growing forum.

I have one affected mortgage. At the time (2007) it was my only BTL – which may make me a ‘Consumer’ rather than a ‘Professional Investor’…
I have complained to WestBrom, written to my MP, sent my Subject Access Request in and paid my £240 🙂
The responses I received are no different to those reported by others (another reason for not posting earlier).
I have yet to receive my SAR package.
I'm looking forwards to getting my hands on the FOS template...

I personalised the letter to my MP - to try and focus attention on the rights and wrongs of the matter (ie the fact that my Tracker is about to behave exactly like an SVR), and steer away from any issues about the actual rate change. Hopefully this will, eventually, elicit a more relevant response.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who is actively involved with this campaign – the template letters (et al) have been a real bonus. The activity on the forum has been a source of comfort – albeit at the cost of having to trawl through 10 pages of comments each evening….

Like many other ‘fence-sitters’ I was a little sceptical about the campaign. However, like everyone else who has joined-in, I would say that signing up was one of my best moves: I feel so much better for being part of the group.

Thanks & Regards
WS

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