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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All BankersAreBarstewards Smith

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12:23 PM, 14th January 2014, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Denise D" at "14/01/2014 - 12:18":

Denise i can't bear to look at your link - even just reading the precis of the tale makes me feel ill ! here is what i posted on the investors forum "West Brom have chosen to research some of their customers assets and have targeted only those customers who they allege have more than 3 properties. When anyone gives a financial body permission to do a credit check at the initial setting up of that financial relationship, do we expect our financial transactions to be snooped on for the rest of our lives ?

Also West Broom are claiming that consumer legislation does not protect such landlords as they are too sophisticated/intelligent to be "normal" consumers..... The clause West Brom is relying on to increase mortgage interest rates for these "sophisticated" customers is buried deep in the T&Cs booklet which only some customers received.... so how can such a clause be valid if customers were not party to it in the first place.

If West Brom get away with this, the flood gates will be opened for every mortgage lender in the UK to tear up a mortgage contract and force the customer to comply with whatever crackpot scheme they want to finance. All mortgage holders, whether landlord or residential mortgage holder will be at risk. Any building society/lender will be able, with impunity, to change T&Cs on a whim.

We are fighting a case to uphold basic contract law - its legal consequences may well affect many other types of financial contract.

Please don't dismiss this as "greedy landlords getting their come-uppance" - this case will set precedent case law for the future - yours and mine.

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12:25 PM, 14th January 2014, About 11 years ago

wow - brilliantly put!

Norfolk n'Chance

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12:41 PM, 14th January 2014, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "All BankersAreBarstewards Smith" at "14/01/2014 - 12:23":

"We are fighting a case to uphold basic contract law – its legal consequences may well affect many other types of financial contract."

That may be so but, I'm in it primarily because I don't want to pay the 1.9% increase. If that makes me a greedy landlord.....I don't really care!

Dean

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12:43 PM, 14th January 2014, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Denise D" at "14/01/2014 - 12:18":

To be fair, if the landlord cheated he got what was coming. Cheats should not prosper !!!

Rules are rules , contracts are contracts !!

Annette Stone

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12:58 PM, 14th January 2014, About 11 years ago

I don't think the floodgates will open with lenders seeking to overturn mortgage agreements but I think the market may divide into those lenders who make honourable agreements clearly set out and where a rate is linked to the bank rate it is made clear in writing in the mortgage document. What I think will happen is that these mortgagors will become very picky as to who they lend to and there will be another "secondary" mortgage market where you will be able to get a loan but the rates will not be guaranteed over and beyond a fix, reverting afterwards to the lender's svr.

Anyone taking a buy to let mortgage now needs belt and braces and I am not only ensuring that I have confirmation in writing from the lender that the rates are linked to the base rate for the life of the mortgage I will also require a letter from the broker confirming these terms.

Seeing Denise's post reminds me of many years ago when I was very new to being a managing agent. I went to a residents' meeting in a block of flats where there was one person who never paid their service charges. Everyone in the building hated her and when the meeting was over I left and as I got to the ground floor near the front door there was a commotion on the stairs and this woman had pulled a knife on a co-lessee. I never was much of a hero and I ran for my life!!!!

Dean

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13:02 PM, 14th January 2014, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "All BankersAreBarstewards Smith" at "14/01/2014 - 12:23":

To be fair this clause was not hidden in the terms and conditions it was there for anyone to see.

I never received a copy of the T & C for any of the 8 West brom mortgages I or the people I am involved with have. But that is not an excuse.

However , even if I had seen that clause and read it I would not have given it any thought what so ever. That clause is nothing to do with Tracker mortgages. That clause is there because it has to be to enable the lender to amend the rate on a SVR mortgage. Otherwise the lender could argue it could amend a SVR when it wants and a borrower could argue there is nothing in the T & Cs to amend the SVR.

West brom are not relying on hidden clauses in the T & C . They are relying on a clause in the T & C that does not relate to the mortgage we all have.

There was no clause in the T & Cs that was hidden away to enable them to change the rate on a tracker. Why would there be ? It was perfectly clear how the rate would change in the Offer of Loan letter . If there was any reason to amend that the Offer of Loan would have made specific reference to a section of the T & cs. It does not because they never expected to want to change the rates they would just follow BoE base plus the premium.

West brom have admitted to me in writing that they have obtained external legal advice that they paid for to be able to amend these rates with this additional premium. Why would they have any reason to obtain external legal advice to amend a rate if it was in their T &cs that they wrote and fully intended that they could use when required ?

When has any Bank or Building Society had to get legal advice to amend the rate if it was in its offers or T & Cs ? They do I believe have to contact the FCA to inform them when they are going to change the SVR and why . They cant just do it on a whim, there has to be a good reason for it. Hence clause 5. But they do not need external legal advice , because its in the contract, everybody who takes a SVR is aware, or should be, that it can change.

We should stop referring to hidden clauses .They are not hidden, they are irrelevant to the product we signed up for .

Annette Stone

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13:12 PM, 14th January 2014, About 11 years ago

Sorry Dean should I have also said that the SVR should be clearly stated as a percentage above base rate so that there is absolute clarity.

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13:20 PM, 14th January 2014, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Dean " at "14/01/2014 - 13:02":

Absolutely right Dean - if we buy into 'hidden T&Cs I think we are lost.
Nothing was hidden, it doesn't even tbh really matter whether your received the booklet or not because the clause they are now quotonmg at us (after paying some dodgy lawyer to find one for them) does not, and never id, nor was it ever meant to apply to Tracker Mortgages ... end of!!!

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13:22 PM, 14th January 2014, About 11 years ago

sorry - I really must learn to proof read and correct typos before hitting send (it's passion makes me impulsive)

Richard Adams

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13:42 PM, 14th January 2014, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Dean " at "14/01/2014 - 13:02":

Since we have a top legal team working for us what we think about the relevance of the hidden clauses aspect is not exercising my mind any more. You are probably right Dean but the hidden clause issue may well rear its head in court to our advantage because of the Latin law - never can remember its name. This says that mobs like WB CANNOT rely on small prints in T&C's for things as important as random rate hikes.

So whether we have received the T&C's or even read them becomes irrelevant. The fact that WB wished to reserve the right to up interests rates on a whim should have been spelt out in the loan offer, period. Had that happened mortgage advisors, solicitors etc would also have been aware which many are claiming they were not, same as us.

Members may be aware of the precedent surrounding this with mobile phone companies upping monthly payments recently for contract customers based on obscure small print T&C's. . Only peanuts in money terms but the principle is the same. The mobile phone companies have been forced back into line over this by Ofcom who clearly have more character, drive & determination on behalf of customers than regulators who supposedly exist to protect us.

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