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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Ian Burton

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15:07 PM, 18th October 2013, About 11 years ago

Hi Mark

In response to your comment about us all being professionals I agree however I bought my houses for a pension when I retired, not for the rental income (and I guess to be a landlord one must be there primarily for the income?), after being screwed by the Pearl with my pension (yet another cockup from the government and to make matters worse the FSA doing exactly as they FCA did with the BOI and only taking the advice from the Pearl. A long story! NO ONE SHOULD TAKE OUT A PRIVATE PENSION!! the small print allows similar scenarios to the WBBS rely on state pension or company pension.) So my prime aim was a pension not income thus not a professional landlord. As a consequence I was (still am to some extent ) not driven by income and provide what I consider (and so does my local council based on the no of people they send/refer) myself a social landlord providing affordable rental properties. I was banking on house price growth so I suggest I should be classed as a speculator not a landlord. However I guess this is only a technicality but perhaps an interesting for Justin to consider.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

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15:27 PM, 18th October 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Ian Burton" at "18/10/2013 - 15:07":

Hi Ian

Justin has already considered this point and the conclusion is that we can all call ourselves pretty much whatever we want to (other than Policeman, Solicitor etc. if we aren't one LOL) because it makes not a jot of difference to the case we will be making against West Brom 🙂
.

Addicted to fighting the WBBS

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15:59 PM, 18th October 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "18/10/2013 - 14:05":

Mark - I am not sure whether yourself or Justin have thought too much about the following point.

Each of the Non Exec Directors has a minimum level of responsibility to the FCA by holding a "Controlled Function" as per FCA. Is there a way we can try and pull The FCA further into this and also put pressure on the Non Exec Directors by reminding them of their FCA responsibilities (e.g. Treating Customers Fairly as a most basic) - albeit the product that has been sold by their associated company is not regulated per se. i.e. as a FCA regulated 'Controlled Person', how have they acting in the society's/consumers best interest in supporting this business decision/position ?

As you will know, Unfair Contracts is flagged as a Hot Top on the FCA site:

http://www.fca.org.uk/firms/being-regulated/approved/approved-persons

Lisa S

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16:30 PM, 18th October 2013, About 11 years ago

I've just had an e mail from the National Landlords Assoc with an article on WBBS asking anyone affected to contact email them. Not sure if they only want NLA members, but the more the merrier I would think!

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

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16:33 PM, 18th October 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "stuart marshall" at "18/10/2013 - 15:59":

Hi Stuart

Unfair contract terms is consumer based regulation which is something we are looking to avoid getting tangled up with in this case. Nevertheless, your suggestion of Justin about making contact with the West Brom execs whose details you have provided was well received by Justin and he will probably be sending them a very similar letter to the one he sent earlier this week to Martin Wheatley MP, Chairman of the Treasury Select Committee.
.

Addicted to fighting the WBBS

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16:41 PM, 18th October 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "18/10/2013 - 16:33":

Thanks Mark - yes I should have remember that from previous posts etc.

I have just had John David Ainley return my call (Non Exec for WBBS) whose contact details I have provided earlier today on the forum.

We have his 'blessing' to share our thoughts with him and he was confident their decision was based on fair terms and legal advice. He was not aware of the previous WBBS court case (I posted the case on the thread) that they lost on similar grounds. So it may be worth, if you/Justin decide to write to him, to make specific reference to that as well.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

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16:58 PM, 18th October 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Lisa Stux" at "18/10/2013 - 16:30":

Hi Lisa

Why wouldn't they just refer them to us I wonder?

A cynic might be forgiven for thinking they just want a whole new database of people to sell memberships to!
.

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17:10 PM, 18th October 2013, About 11 years ago

I have just had my Data Protection Act application rejected on the basis that our signatures don't match their records and that they want copies of our driving licenses and passports! Perhaps they are hoping we will give up.

Justin Selig - solicitor

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17:12 PM, 18th October 2013, About 11 years ago

LEGAL ACTION UPDATE:

We have had another fantastic response this week with a further 28 people joining the action - thank you to all who have participated.

A number of you have paid using BACS transfer to our account. We will acknowledge receipt of your payment - but please bear with us.

Our letter to WBBS was sent earlier this week. We have asked a number of questions we would like clarification on before we instruct Counsel.

I have written to Andrew Tyrie MP, Chairman of the Treasury Select Committee to notify him of the current events as he was unhappy with the actions of the Bank of Ireland and also the response by the FCA. I have also written to Panorama (following the broadcast of the programme on Monday about Interest Swaps), The Sunday Times and Radio 4 Moneybox. I will publish any responses I get here on this forum.

Our plan next week is to finalise our instructions to Counsel.

Following some of the posts earlier today, we will also write to the Non-Exec members of WBBS Board of Directors.

Lisa S

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17:13 PM, 18th October 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "18/10/2013 - 16:58":

Mmmm.....I'm assuming someone from this forum did contact them?...I seem to remember seeing them on the list...

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