I wish I had known about dodgy brokers in 2008. As far I know, my broker did not make up my financial details but it is just as bad. Here is goes.
In May 2008 I was approved for a tracker mortgage from the BOI. I was looking for houses in our range but somehow the broker got hold of my wife’s phone number and called saying they would have a better deal. I think one of the estate agents must have shared the contact. The broker insisted we could afford a higher mortgage and he applied on our behalf. He then contacted us and informed that we were approved by BOI-ICS, with the same tracker rate terms as he had all along from BOI. It was in June. We found the house, did valuations, the works. When we came to the broker’s office for the loan offer letter in mid July, he said that the tracker mortgage was no longer available to us and instead we should take discounted SVR. He also said SVR and tracker were basically the same type of mortgage, different from fixed. I did not realize they could mislead like that and I trusted them. We signed and bought the house.
Ever since I ate myself that I was late applying for a tracker mortgage, and too early buying the house while the prices were falling. It is a long story, but the truth is that I basically was financially illiterate in 2008. Like 1000s of people. I relied on professionals to do the job, for the appraiser to value the house correctly, for the broker to find an appropriate mortgage.
Anyhow, on this very forum 2 years ago I discovered that BOI-ICS only pulled trackers only in October 2008, not in July. I could not believe it. I made a complaint to the BOI and after 1.5 months wait I received the curt reply that they had no record of me ever applying for a tracker. I checked and I found the copy of the broker’s original application from June where there was a clear tick next to a tracker. I made another complain and the BOI replied, contrary to their previous letter, that indeed the original application was a tracker, but that their records tell that in July the broker amended for an SVR and that I should contact them for details. I contacted the broker and they said it is outside the 6 year limit and they had no record. The date of the alleged amendment was the same date when the broker told us the tracker was not available.
I went to a solicitor and he advised that it is unlikely I could do anything as the broker could argue they just made a mistake. I looked up the rates from then and the offered SVR was 0.1 higher than the BOI/ICS trackers at that time. It seems that I cannot prove that I did not instruct the broker to choose a higher SVR over a lower tracker in July 2008. It does not make any sense, even for a financially illiterate me from 2008. I do not have the rate sheet from that meeting to show that tracker was not listed as one of the options. I obviously did not record the audio with the broker saying the tracker was not available.
I queried the FSO and they replied it is outside 6 years, not interested. So in sum, it is he said she said: the broker said the tracker was no longer available, and the bank said the broker changed from a tracker to SVR. How could it be? Brokers receive commission based on the amount, not the type of mortgage surely. Or do they have incentives to lock customers to inferior products? To this day it drives me mad. The only explanation is that the bank asked the broker to mislead and that the broker obliged, it does not make sense otherwise.
In May 2008 I was approved for a tracker mortgage from the BOI. I was looking for houses in our range but somehow the broker got hold of my wife’s phone number and called saying they would have a better deal. I think one of the estate agents must have shared the contact. The broker insisted we could afford a higher mortgage and he applied on our behalf. He then contacted us and informed that we were approved by BOI-ICS, with the same tracker rate terms as he had all along from BOI. It was in June. We found the house, did valuations, the works. When we came to the broker’s office for the loan offer letter in mid July, he said that the tracker mortgage was no longer available to us and instead we should take discounted SVR. He also said SVR and tracker were basically the same type of mortgage, different from fixed. I did not realize they could mislead like that and I trusted them. We signed and bought the house.
Ever since I ate myself that I was late applying for a tracker mortgage, and too early buying the house while the prices were falling. It is a long story, but the truth is that I basically was financially illiterate in 2008. Like 1000s of people. I relied on professionals to do the job, for the appraiser to value the house correctly, for the broker to find an appropriate mortgage.
Anyhow, on this very forum 2 years ago I discovered that BOI-ICS only pulled trackers only in October 2008, not in July. I could not believe it. I made a complaint to the BOI and after 1.5 months wait I received the curt reply that they had no record of me ever applying for a tracker. I checked and I found the copy of the broker’s original application from June where there was a clear tick next to a tracker. I made another complain and the BOI replied, contrary to their previous letter, that indeed the original application was a tracker, but that their records tell that in July the broker amended for an SVR and that I should contact them for details. I contacted the broker and they said it is outside the 6 year limit and they had no record. The date of the alleged amendment was the same date when the broker told us the tracker was not available.
I went to a solicitor and he advised that it is unlikely I could do anything as the broker could argue they just made a mistake. I looked up the rates from then and the offered SVR was 0.1 higher than the BOI/ICS trackers at that time. It seems that I cannot prove that I did not instruct the broker to choose a higher SVR over a lower tracker in July 2008. It does not make any sense, even for a financially illiterate me from 2008. I do not have the rate sheet from that meeting to show that tracker was not listed as one of the options. I obviously did not record the audio with the broker saying the tracker was not available.
I queried the FSO and they replied it is outside 6 years, not interested. So in sum, it is he said she said: the broker said the tracker was no longer available, and the bank said the broker changed from a tracker to SVR. How could it be? Brokers receive commission based on the amount, not the type of mortgage surely. Or do they have incentives to lock customers to inferior products? To this day it drives me mad. The only explanation is that the bank asked the broker to mislead and that the broker obliged, it does not make sense otherwise.