Mortgage Lenders Unfair Charges and How You Can Claim Them Back

The press has recently been full of stuff about closing (or sealing) fees which are the charges they impose when you close the mortgage.
In a nutshell the FSA has ruled that the mortgage lenders cannot get away with saying your closing fee would be £50 say when you took out a mortgage but then charge you £300 when you come to close it a few years later.
If you have been overcharged, the money is there for you to claim - you just need to contact your mortgage provider. I've done it and just got a cheque back for £65 the other day - see previous blog.
Now, another big way the lenders make money is on surveyors’ fees. Suppose you are charged £300 for a mortgage valuation and survey report. It may be the surveyor might get only £220 of that with the lender keeping £80.
According to a chap I met at the Home Buyers Show, the margin that the lenders get is a lot higher than that.
And it seems that you are not free to arrange your own surveyor and make the saving.
How do I know all this – I used to work for a bank, so I know the hidden ways they make money.
I’m hoping one of my personal finance journalist friends will look into this soon and do a bit of digging around - as overcharging is a real topical one at the moment.
So, I’m sending this email to some of them in the hope that they will have time to follow up the story. So, let’s look out for that shall we?
Oh, and if you are a surveyor or work for a mortgage lender and happen to be reading this, and if you know exactly how much lenders load onto the basic survey / valuation fee, please do feel free to contact me and I'll pass it on to whoever at the Nationals runs the story.

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Mortgage Closing Fees - Lenders have Been Told Off On Mortgage Closing Fees

Some good news from the regulators.
At last the mortgage lenders have finally been told that they cannot impose fees on customers when they close a mortgage that are out of all proportion to the cost of administering that action nor raise closing fees far above what was originally agreed in their contract with their customer.

Make a Claim for Past Overpaid Fees

The way has also been left open to people who have had to pay unusually high costs in the past to make a claim too - though it is better to have the documentation to prove that they were unreasonably overcharged.
Just a footnote though. This change has nothing to do with Early Redemption Penalties (ERCs) - these are another matter where you are on your own.
On ERCs lenders can and will still be able to charge what they like. After all, they have to make up for those headline grabbing low rates somehow.

MORE ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS AND WHAT WE DO

LettingFocus.com is the home of landlord information.

I’m David Lawrenson, a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and author of “Successful Property Letting” – the UK’s top selling commercially published property book for the last 3 years.

Services to Businesses and the Public Sector

Primarily I am a consultant to banks, local authorities, social housing providers and other organisations – helping them with their landlord facing or buy to let product strategies and services.

For example, I help banks improve their buy to let mortgage lending practices and I help housing association / local authorities find private landlords (private rented access schemes, local letting agency models etc.)
I also write for property websites and am regularly quoted by the broadcast media.

Services for Private Landlords

We also find some spare time to help landlords and property investors by coaching them in how to make money in the private rented sector using ways that work, which are ethical, fair to tenants and which involve minimal risk to the investor.
We pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice on either a one-to-one mentoring / coaching basis or through our occasional group seminars. With no links to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment and when to buy it. We also show you how to manage tenants properly.

AT OUR WEBSITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog

THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page

For general info on our CONSULTING click here: Consultancy and Seminars

ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY click here: Property Mentoring

NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investment Seminar and Networking Event

We have OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords

TO READ CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials

BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon plus anything else you fancy at Amazon.co.uk

To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!

IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR TO OUR WEBSITE?

IF YOU SELL SERVICES TO LANDLORDS, YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME.

PLEASE GET IN TOUCH!

See our TWITTER PAGE: http://twitter.com/LettingFocus

Copyright of Blog: David Lawrenson 2007. This blog is updated roughly once a week usually on a Monday or Tuesday.

TO VIEW RELATED POSTS select a “Category” at the bottom of this page.