Over charged on my Mortgage

M

Mrs Mac Leo

Guest
My bank confirmed today that I had been overcharged since July 2006 on my Mortgage. I should have been on a tracker but they had me on a variable rate. They were unable to tell me how much they owe me but said they will calculate and take off my mortgage. Two questions 1) as this is an overcharge should I not be offered the option of getting a cheque refund? and 2) Can anyone guide me on how much I should expect to get back? The bank said my future monthly payments should decrease by approx €250 as well. PS I have been actively arguing my case for 24mths+ that I was being overcharged so its not that I just missed this!
 
Common sense would suggest you would be eligible for a refund and under no obligation to apply that refund to the mortgage. Make sure that you're compensated for the interest charged on your overpayment too. i.e. that any excess interest payments are applied as extra capital repayments according to the dates paid. I could probably explain that better but hope you get the gist of it.
 
1) If you have paid too much, then they must refund you.

Taking it off the mortgage suits them best as it effectively means that you are reducing a cheap tracker ahead of schedule.

Write to them insisting on a refund by cheque.

2) There is no way of telling you at this stage how much you are going to get back. They should issue you with a complete set of revised statements, showing the interest charged and the payments made.

3) Are you in arrears? If you are in arrears on what you should have been charged, then they would be correct to take the money off your arrears.

4) If you are actually in arrears but would not have been if they had charged the correct amount, then it is a very complicated situation.

5) If you are not in arrears, they should issue you with a calculation showing what you should have been charged and what you should have paid, as distinct from what you actually paid. This is a bit complicated to explain, but they will probably just you what you actually paid and then they will say "This is correct, as you owe less now".

6) It is unacceptable for them to take 24 months to solve the problem. You should be looking for compensation for maladministration.

7) As a matter of interest, which lender is it?

8) If you provide a bit more information, we could do a very rough calculation
1) Date mortgage taken out
2) Interst rate agreed
3) Interest rate charged
4) Original length of mortgage.
5) If they confirmed it in writing, maybe reproduce the key wording of the letter.
 
jambo said:
Make sure that you're compensated for the interest charged on your overpayment too. i.e. that any excess interest payments are applied as extra capital repayments according to the dates paid.
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Really good advice - get them to outline in detail how they calculated the refund due. You are due interest on the overpmts as from the date they were paid etc....
 
A similar thing happen to us, overcharged interest since September 2008, they had us on wrong rate, it only came to light when we requested a moratorium and file was being reviewed. The bank contacted us themselves, as we were not aware of it, and gave a detailed breakdown of what should have been charged and paid & what was charged & paid. They refunded the overpayments to the bank account from which the mortgage is paid without even being asked to do so.
 
shinners said:
A similar thing happen to us, overcharged interest since September 2008, they had us on wrong rate, it only came to light when we requested a moratorium and file was being reviewed. The bank contacted us themselves, as we were not aware of it, and gave a detailed breakdown of what should have been charged and paid & what was charged & paid. They refunded the overpayments to the bank account from which the mortgage is paid without even being asked to do so.
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Hi shinners

That is excellent. Which bank was it as a matter of interest?
 
Just a thought. If your mortgage qualified for TRS did your bank calculate your entitlement correctly.
 
Hi all sorry for delay in responding and thank you all for the good advice.

I took out a mortgage of €160k in June 2005 (35 yrs)- fixed for 1 yr, I then opted to go on a tracker from June 2006 - they put me on a variable rate instead.

The delay occured because they said that they had not received any documentation from me requesting a tracker. Like shinners they found the documentation when I requested a moratorium and they tried to fight against giving it to me. However I had the origianl documentation which stated 1) I was entitled to a moratorium and 2) I was on a tracker.

As for the moratorium I had four months of you have got it and then the mortage would be taken form the bank account! It was a nightmare.

To Brendan - I am not in arrears, I decided to take a moratorium as I was due a bonus at work and it was cancelled this left me with credit card bills I was struggling to pay - lesson learnt - never spend money until it is in your hands!

Would appreciate any help on caluclating the amount of refund if possible.
The bank Mgr rang on Friday evening saying that I would get a letter this week stating I am now on a tracker and that as the calculation was so complicated it would be a while before they would know what the refund was but that it would most likely have to be put off the mortgage - which is where I got annoyed and said if I overpaid in the first place I should get a refund into my account -the bank manager said - "I'll see if I can fight for it for you "
 
Hi Mrs Mac

Which lender?

Does your mortgage contract actually give you an option on a payment break? If so, what is the precise wording?

Brendan
 
Hi Brendan

Would prefer not to state the lender name on this forum - at least not until I get the refund.

Re the Moratorium - the bank finally gave it to me as I could prove that the contract stated that at any time after 6 mths from the transfer of your mortgage a payment break of up to 6 mths may be taken.
 
The bank must adhere to its contract - so you were entitled to a 6 month moratorium, but no more than that.

We cannot estimate the refund without the full details.

It's very complicated - this is how I would approach it

1) The bank should issue you with a pro-forma statement showing
a) the correct interest charge
b) how much you should have paid

2) They should then pay you a cheque to reduce the balance to this amount.

3) They should then calculate the overpayments made by you and refund these with interest at the rate charged to you.

This is so complicated, that I would wait until I see what they offer.

I would also claim that the moratorium was only needed because they overcharged you and claim the right to a further moratorium to be taken at any time.

Brendan
 
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