This is a bit longwinded, but I couldn't cut it down any more...
We drew down our First Active 100% tracker mortgage in August last year, and have had pretty much nothing but hassle from them since then.
Before our first repayment was due, we had to fill out and return two DD madate forms [apparantly the one they sent out with our mortgage pack was an old form so we had to re-submit all our details on a new form], but the DD was at last set up and we were assured by FA that everything was in order for our first repayment to be taken on the 03rd September.
When the 03rd September came and went without any sign of the DD being taken, we immediately contacted our Mortgage Advisor in FA. She told us "it might be taken on the 08th because your mortgage drew down on 08th August". No sign of it going out on the 08th. Went back to FA and they pretty much said ah it'll be taken in the next day or two - still hadn't been taken on the 13th. When we queried it again, Mortgage Adviser then told us she had checked with Head Office who had presented the DD but it was returned unpaid - however, the account name, NSC, number etc were all correct and there were ample funds in the account to cover the cost of the repayment. When we checked with PTSB, they told us that although the DD was set up correctly, FA never presented for it.
When we went back to FA with this, we were told that it was "not possible that a mistake could have been made" by them and that they could not explain what had happened. They told us the easiest thing to do would be to fill out another DD mandate form [our third!] and send a cheque for the missed repayment, which we duly did.
Subsequent repayments for November, December and January were all taken by DD with no problems, so, like eejits, we thought everything was sorted. Returning from holidays on 11th February last, we took a look at our joint account and noticed that the February DD hadn't been taken.
Several new DD mandate forms and surely a hundred phone calls and e-mails later, the DD has yet to be taken successfully. PTSB have told us that FA cancelled the DD in January. FA have told us less than nothing. Not only has their been no explaination of what the hell is happening with our account, the Mortgage Adviser in the branch is refusing to take/return our calls & Head Office seem to have a permanent problem with their computer system - every call to them begins well until it dawns on them that our account is a mess, then suddenly they "can't get into our account" right now or "the system is after crashing" at the moment, but not to worry, they'll call us back.
We sent a very strongly worded e-mail to a manager in Head Office last Friday, but to date have - shockingly - had no response.
I am fed up with the absolute lack of customer care and common courtesy from these people - and I can't believe how bloody difficult it is to get a mortgage provider to take their repayments.
Can anyone advise of the impact this carry on could potentially have/may already have had on our credit ratings? The line we were getting from FA when they were bothering to speak to us was that new mortgages are afforded a grace period from the ICB in expectation of problems with setting up DDs... but is this even true? And it would hardly apply now that we are 8 months in.
Can we force FA to agree to accepting another method of repayments, given the problems we have had with the DD?
Any advice apreciated, and thank you for taking the time to read this.
We drew down our First Active 100% tracker mortgage in August last year, and have had pretty much nothing but hassle from them since then.
Before our first repayment was due, we had to fill out and return two DD madate forms [apparantly the one they sent out with our mortgage pack was an old form so we had to re-submit all our details on a new form], but the DD was at last set up and we were assured by FA that everything was in order for our first repayment to be taken on the 03rd September.
When the 03rd September came and went without any sign of the DD being taken, we immediately contacted our Mortgage Advisor in FA. She told us "it might be taken on the 08th because your mortgage drew down on 08th August". No sign of it going out on the 08th. Went back to FA and they pretty much said ah it'll be taken in the next day or two - still hadn't been taken on the 13th. When we queried it again, Mortgage Adviser then told us she had checked with Head Office who had presented the DD but it was returned unpaid - however, the account name, NSC, number etc were all correct and there were ample funds in the account to cover the cost of the repayment. When we checked with PTSB, they told us that although the DD was set up correctly, FA never presented for it.
When we went back to FA with this, we were told that it was "not possible that a mistake could have been made" by them and that they could not explain what had happened. They told us the easiest thing to do would be to fill out another DD mandate form [our third!] and send a cheque for the missed repayment, which we duly did.
Subsequent repayments for November, December and January were all taken by DD with no problems, so, like eejits, we thought everything was sorted. Returning from holidays on 11th February last, we took a look at our joint account and noticed that the February DD hadn't been taken.
Several new DD mandate forms and surely a hundred phone calls and e-mails later, the DD has yet to be taken successfully. PTSB have told us that FA cancelled the DD in January. FA have told us less than nothing. Not only has their been no explaination of what the hell is happening with our account, the Mortgage Adviser in the branch is refusing to take/return our calls & Head Office seem to have a permanent problem with their computer system - every call to them begins well until it dawns on them that our account is a mess, then suddenly they "can't get into our account" right now or "the system is after crashing" at the moment, but not to worry, they'll call us back.
We sent a very strongly worded e-mail to a manager in Head Office last Friday, but to date have - shockingly - had no response.
I am fed up with the absolute lack of customer care and common courtesy from these people - and I can't believe how bloody difficult it is to get a mortgage provider to take their repayments.
Can anyone advise of the impact this carry on could potentially have/may already have had on our credit ratings? The line we were getting from FA when they were bothering to speak to us was that new mortgages are afforded a grace period from the ICB in expectation of problems with setting up DDs... but is this even true? And it would hardly apply now that we are 8 months in.
Can we force FA to agree to accepting another method of repayments, given the problems we have had with the DD?
Any advice apreciated, and thank you for taking the time to read this.