I have a ten-year fixed-rate mortgage with Scarborough BS, now part of the Skipton.
I was told from April my mortgage payments would be brought forward to the 1st of the month from the 28th. I was unable to make the March 28 and April 1 payments in quick succession as I’m on maternity leave. I had to defer the March payment and have it added to my mortgage on which I would be paying interest. As a result, my payments are to be increased by £9.28 a month (£300 extra over the remainder of the term). I have subsequently decided that I want to redeem my mortgage, and pay the administrative costs, but Skipton insists that I pay the 5 per cent exit fee I agreed with the Scarborough. It was unacceptable for Skipton to expect any customer to make two substantial monthly mortgage payments within three days of each other. And it was equally unacceptable to tell you that you could add one payment to the outstanding debt, in effect increasing your loan and interest payments. As a result your payments have been calculated at £1,203.48, just under £2 a month lower than the £1,205.88 you were paying before. Unlike the Scarborough, Skipton calculates interest daily, not monthly, which works out cheaper. Given that this incident has been resolved, I am not sure why you still want to remortgage. However, you are insistent, but don’t want to pay the 5 per cent exit fee. The Financial Ombudsman has looked at similar cases, but so far there has been no clear ruling.
I cannot understand why my application form wasn’t processed. I posted it on August 4. I complained to the Financial Ombudsman, but it’s unable to help.