‘Barclays’ mortgage blunders will cost us £20,000′

‘Barclays’ mortgage blunders will cost us £20,000′

Has a company treated you unfairly? Our Consumer Champion is available to help. Click for how to contact her here.

Dear Kate,

My partner and I are currently trying to transfer our £500,000 Barclay’s mortgage from a flat we recently sold to a new one we are trying to buy. However, it turns out to be an unmitigated disaster.

Barclays gives you 90 days to transfer the mortgage, from the date of redemption to the completion of the new property.

The way it works is that it charges an early repayment fee (for us it was £10,000), and then once you’ve successfully transferred the mortgage within the required time frame, this is repaid in full.

The sale of our original home was completed on November 15, giving us until Monday, February 13 to finalize the purchase of our new home. We were already quite advanced with our purchase by the time we sold, and we were confident that we would get it done within the time frame.

The problem is that we’re not ready in time because of Barclays’ own mistakes. First there were IT problems and then they couldn’t seem to send a surveyor to us when we needed one for an appraisal.

As a result, we are £20,000 worse off as a result of having to pay the £10,000 prepayment, and we subsequently lose our mortgage rate at 1.6 per cent.

Rates have gone up as we have determined that the best we can get right now is 4 pc which adds hundreds per month to our monthly payments.

We have offered £250 damages, even though Barclays has admitted it is wrong.

We have just filed a complaint with the financial ombudsman service, but it will probably be months before our case is looked at, by which time it will be too late.

—MP, London

Dear reader,

Renovated your first apartment yourself, and caught the bug for reviving “doers” you applied to Barclays for another, larger home.

Unfortunately, it was not considered suitable for a mortgage. This was because it had a serious moisture problem.

However, instead of advising you that the first home was not eligible for a mortgage upon receipt of the appraisal, she asked you for additional moisture reports, causing a delay.

Then, by chance, a house came up on a popular street in your area and you received an offer for it.

On 24 January you amended your mortgage application to indicate that you now intended to buy this new home.

A valuation was commissioned by Barclays on the same day, but unfortunately failed due to an IT issue, leading to a three week delay. It was resolved on February 13 and the appraisal was successfully instructed.

Barclays offered you your new mortgage on February 16 and extended your transfer deadline to March 26.

When it looked like you wouldn’t meet this new deadline, you wrote to the ombudsman and me, and as a stroke of luck for you, Barclays again extended the transfer condition to April 15.

You could breathe a sigh of relief when your lawyers confirmed that they should be able to get you over the line to complete by this date.

So, if all goes well, you’ll get the £10,000 early repayment back and you’ll also keep your favorable interest rate of 1.6%, meaning you’ll pay lower mortgage payments.

I’ve asked you to let me know how you’re doing. You know where I am if you need anything else.

A spokesperson for Barclays said: “We apologize that on this occasion our customer did not receive the high level of service they have come to expect from us.

“We can confirm that we have extended the time frame for our client to transfer their mortgage and have confirmed with their attorney that this extension will be sufficient for completion.”

‘Barclays’ mortgage blunders will cost us £20,000′

‘Barclays’ mortgage blunders will cost us £20,000′

Has a company treated you unfairly? Our Consumer Champion is available to help. Click for how to contact her here.

Dear Kate,

My partner and I are currently trying to transfer our £500,000 Barclay’s mortgage from a flat we recently sold to a new one we are trying to buy. However, it turns out to be an unmitigated disaster.

Barclays gives you 90 days to transfer the mortgage, from the date of redemption to the completion of the new property.

The way it works is that it charges an early repayment fee (for us it was £10,000), and then once you’ve successfully transferred the mortgage within the required time frame, this is repaid in full.

The sale of our original home was completed on November 15, giving us until Monday, February 13 to finalize the purchase of our new home. We were already quite advanced with our purchase by the time we sold, and we were confident that we would get it done within the time frame.

The problem is that we’re not ready in time because of Barclays’ own mistakes. First there were IT problems and then they couldn’t seem to send a surveyor to us when we needed one for an appraisal.

As a result, we are £20,000 worse off as a result of having to pay the £10,000 prepayment, and we subsequently lose our mortgage rate at 1.6 per cent.

Rates have gone up as we have determined that the best we can get right now is 4 pc which adds hundreds per month to our monthly payments.

We have offered £250 damages, even though Barclays has admitted it is wrong.

We have just filed a complaint with the financial ombudsman service, but it will probably be months before our case is looked at, by which time it will be too late.

—MP, London

Dear reader,

Renovated your first apartment yourself, and caught the bug for reviving “doers” you applied to Barclays for another, larger home.

Unfortunately, it was not considered suitable for a mortgage. This was because it had a serious moisture problem.

However, instead of advising you that the first home was not eligible for a mortgage upon receipt of the appraisal, she asked you for additional moisture reports, causing a delay.

Then, by chance, a house came up on a popular street in your area and you received an offer for it.

On 24 January you amended your mortgage application to indicate that you now intended to buy this new home.

A valuation was commissioned by Barclays on the same day, but unfortunately failed due to an IT issue, leading to a three week delay. It was resolved on February 13 and the appraisal was successfully instructed.

Barclays offered you your new mortgage on February 16 and extended your transfer deadline to March 26.

When it looked like you wouldn’t meet this new deadline, you wrote to the ombudsman and me, and as a stroke of luck for you, Barclays again extended the transfer condition to April 15.

You could breathe a sigh of relief when your lawyers confirmed that they should be able to get you over the line to complete by this date.

So, if all goes well, you’ll get the £10,000 early repayment back and you’ll also keep your favorable interest rate of 1.6%, meaning you’ll pay lower mortgage payments.

I’ve asked you to let me know how you’re doing. You know where I am if you need anything else.

A spokesperson for Barclays said: “We apologize that on this occasion our customer did not receive the high level of service they have come to expect from us.

“We can confirm that we have extended the time frame for our client to transfer their mortgage and have confirmed with their attorney that this extension will be sufficient for completion.”