Danny Lovey, sole broker at The Mortgage Practitioner, admitted he had helped his clients to lobby their lender to accrue a larger refund than just the amount added by the lender between taking out and exiting the deal.
If other brokers helped their clients achieve similar results, the industry could find itself in a situation akin to the one faced by banks over excessive overdraft fees.
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Lovey said: “On one case, the client was originally offered £90 but they refused this amount and I helped them draft a letter to ask how the fee was broken down and get it to justify the amount it took. The client got a letter back saying the lender could only offer them £70, so we sent them another letter saying if it didn’t justify the fee, we’d take it to the Ombudsman.
“It then sent us a letter saying that while it didn’t accept liability, it didn’t want to be in dispute with the customer and gave them £250.”
Mike Fitzgerald, sales director of Brentchase Financial Services, added: “It’s almost treating your customers fairly to ensure you’ve contacted them and made them aware they could be entitled to some money back.”
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Sue Anderson, head of external affairs at the Council of Mortgage Lenders, believed it was up to each lender to decide what its stance would be over exit fees.
However, Mark Sismey-Durrant, chief executive of Heritable Bank, said:
“Everyone responded to the Financial Services Authority when asked about exit fees, but I don’t understand having to justify every cost. If the charge is not open, then fair enough but all the tariffs are published so you can see what you’re being charged. It’s the overall principle that I’m concerned with.”
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