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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14:41 PM, 8th January 2014, About 11 years ago

PS - the really good news is that both Mark Smith and our QC are very confident that West Brom CANNOT get away with simply call in our loans with 28 days notice as per their veiled threats.
.

All BankersAreBarstewards Smith

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14:43 PM, 8th January 2014, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "08/01/2014 - 14:35":

Thank you Mark for a full and interesting update.

In view of the 7figure WB possible expenditure - just a thought - is there any way we could access WB share holders and write to let them know what is happening... as they will see the effects of all this in their massively reduced share dividends ?

Badger

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14:50 PM, 8th January 2014, About 11 years ago

Opening a savings account to become a member / shareholder oneself and attending the AGM would be the nearest one could get to it I imagine.

All BankersAreBarstewards Smith

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14:57 PM, 8th January 2014, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Badger " at "08/01/2014 - 14:50":

IS IT NOT POSSIBLE TO access share holders names (and addresses ?) from the Companies house website - does anyone know ?

if we all opened a savings account and attended the annual general meeting that would be one way to inform the current savers/mortgage holders who know nothing of this......

Mike L

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15:03 PM, 8th January 2014, About 11 years ago

Mark, thank you for the update. I fully support the idea of using all the time and effort that we need to evaluate our different possible strategies properly. There is no point rushing to Court only to later say: 'We wish we had approached it slightly differently.' There are never any absolute guarantees in life but the more careful preparation we can do ahead the easier it should be when we finally do get to 'punch their (WB's) noses'! I also like the 'Lambo and Golf' approach!

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

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16:30 PM, 8th January 2014, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "All BankersAreBarstewards Smith" at "08/01/2014 - 14:43":

WBBS don't have shareholders and there are no dividends. They are a mutual Building Society.
.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

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16:33 PM, 8th January 2014, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Badger " at "08/01/2014 - 14:50":

The AGM is in the summer. I don't want to give them any more business at this stage unless I know it will be to my advantage to do so. Disrupting their AGM is, however, appealing. Opening accounts in order to be entitled to attend the AGM and make a lot of noise is an option for us to consider in the Spring when we are further forward.
.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

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17:12 PM, 8th January 2014, About 11 years ago

FURTHER UPDATE

Given that these mortgages were taken 2006 to 2008 most borrowers are mortgage prisoners due to negative equity, hence selling or re-mortgaging is not an option. Also, given that the tracker rates were as low as 0.49% over BBR it would be hard to find a better deal even after taking the 1.9% illegal rate hike into account.

The case is far more important than for the 6,700 affected though. There are 2.5 million tracker borrowers so it is important to win this case to discourage other lenders from deciding to increase their tracker margins, even though their T&C's don't allow for it. For this reason I've pretty much dedicated my life to this since Sept 2013 to make sure enough money is raised to fight the case.

I have received a number of emails with regards to the points I raised about costs. That is why I made the points I did in respect of the importance of following the strategies recommended to me by Mark Smith with regard to ensuring that our first move being the pursuade the Courts to issue a costs limiting order in order to crystallise our exposure to risk up-front. Depending on the level at which the Courts cap the costs, Mark Smith has suggested £40,000 to £60,000, then we have already raised enough money to pay for this, or indeed ATE insurance, as well as our own legal team.

I should also point out that our QC's opinion has identified plenty of case law which would go against WBBS if they were to decide to take punitive action against those litigating against them, e.g. calling their loans in. If WBBS were seen to do this then they would be in very serious trouble. This is not my opinion, it is our QC's, paraphrased into easy to understand words by me LOL. I suspect that's why my loan has not been called in despite all of the provocation on my part, e.g. my comment on page 22 of this thread when I said to WBBS (who I know are reading this thread) "let's dance"
.

Andy Bell

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18:14 PM, 8th January 2014, About 11 years ago

Thanks for the updates Mark. I read it as good news and progress (even if it is all slower than we hoped).

As you mentioned any delays gives other borrowers chance to join up. To that end let me know if you need me specifically for anything.

Ref WB shareholders, there are PIBS holders (non-voting so the society stays mutual) they have their own grievances with the WB board. However we would make the most unlikely bed fellows even though they have been shafted as well.
Although it would be interesting to know who if anyone is building up holdings at current prices.

M Jones

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18:22 PM, 8th January 2014, About 11 years ago

Thank you Mark - very interesting, it is difficult not to get inpatient but fully appreciate the need for an informed approach and the use of both QC's seems wise.
A couple of questions have been raised lately if I may reiterate;
- Is it appropriate for those who have not to now take there cases to the FOS.
- Secondly, is it possible to apply for some kind of order which enables the disputed amount of our payments to be paid into an escrow account until a ruling is obtained?

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