Whistletree Mortgages - Anyone had letter Informing of Payment Increase ?

[RobbieGong]

My fixed rate mortgage was with Northern Rock, then went automatically to NRAM with out any change to my payments whatsoever.
NRAM moved over to Whistletree.
Out of the blue I've received a letter from Whistletree basically saying, qoute:

Your monthly payment has changed
We have conducted a review of yoiur mortgage account to ensure your monthly payment amount is accurate. This review has considered your repayment type, current interest rate, your payment due date,
all payments recieved to date, your outstanding balance and the remaining term of your mortgage.

In a nutshell the new figure they have 'kindly' re-calculated shows an increased monthly payment of £180 :eek:
What the &^&%% is going on :steam:
My mortgage was fixed with Northern Rock yonks ago, nothing has changed since so why out of the blue have i received this ???
Anyone else received such a letter ?

[Macca]

How long was the fixed term for? It's 8 years since Northern Rock went under.

[struth]

They are usually fixed rate for a certain period then move to variable. Your period may have ran its course... if it hasnt and have documents to proove it then go to citizens advice

[RobbieGong]

My wife and I always believed that the fixed rate we took out with Northern Rock via a financial advisor was fixed until the mortgage ended - we've always thought that was the case.
I know that believe isnt good enough though so we'll check. The mortgage doesnt have long left to run. Either way my wife will be calling them on Monday and asking a lot of questions and expecting clear answers.

[struth]

Might be the case Robert.. If so then force the issue legally if needbe. But it should be written in your agreement...wish you good luck

[Macca]

It is a repayment and not an endowment then? If it is an endowment it might be that it is falling short, hence the need to pay more. If you get an annual statement check the most recent.

[Ronksley]

I worked for a mortgage company for two years and these letters could be for many reason and cause much distress and confusion for customers.

Hopefully the company that now has your mortgage is sound and the payments they say are what you need to pay to pay for your home.

There are two many reasons to speculate if you still have you original mortgage paperwork check that they match up with what you have just received. Always look at the total debt this often ends up more than the amount you borrowed to buy your house and this additionally amount can be at a higher interest rate.
If your mortgage is fixed it would normally mean the interest rate is fixed for a certain period and the amount you borrowed to buy the property the amount you have to pay each month to my knowledge would not be fixed
Also check for PPI

I use to have to deal with queries like this and some I could work out in a couple of minutes others would have to be handed over to the back office who would need hours.

Get in touch with the people who now have your mortgage and ask them for a explanation, prepare yourself for bad news If you cant make the new payments tell them they should offer a plan to help you if you are unsure about anything tell them and ask them to write to you
The citizen Advice Burueau can be really helpful with such things about three years ago was down there every over week for about six months
If they have got it wrong you can complain and claim compensation keep your eye on www.moneysavingexpert.com I had issues with my student loan and got to lots of compensation as the company who took over the loan got it wrong big time

Goodluck

[RobbieGong]

I worked for a mortgage company for two years and these letters could be for many reason and cause much distress and confusion for customers.

Hopefully the company that now has your mortgage is sound and the payments they say are what you need to pay to pay for your home.

There are two many reasons to speculate if you still have you original mortgage paperwork check that they match up with what you have just received. Always look at the total debt this often ends up more than the amount you borrowed to buy your house and this additionally amount can be at a higher interest rate.
If your mortgage is fixed it would normally mean the interest rate is fixed for a certain period and the amount you borrowed to buy the property the amount you have to pay each month to my knowledge would not be fixed
Also check for PPI

I use to have to deal with queries like this and some I could work out in a couple of minutes others would have to be handed over to the back office who would need hours.

Get in touch with the people who now have your mortgage and ask them for a explanation, prepare yourself for bad news If you cant make the new payments tell them they should offer a plan to help you if you are unsure about anything tell them and ask them to write to you
The citizen Advice Burueau can be really helpful with such things about three years ago was down there every over week for about six months
If they have got it wrong you can complain and claim compensation keep your eye on www.moneysavingexpert.com I had issues with my student loan and got to lots of compensation as the company who took over the loan got it wrong big time

Goodluck

Cheers David. It's a pain for people because the most detramental things in this so called modern world are the things that are never made clear or ever easy to understand and the big companies / money boys know it too !! They can tell you anything, barely a soul really understands it all and again, they know it.
As far as we know the mortgage is fixed to the end. If it isnt then that should have been made clear especially as if towards the end of the mortgage there will be a big hike in payment, not many everyday folk paying a mortgage suddenly have an additional £180 to throw at it, I most certainly dont !
Also the letter is lame in my opinion. You want another £180 per month but dont explain clearly why. You just casually write that you've canducted a reveiw, to ensure it is accurate - (WHY?) and based on what I'm paying, payments receive to date (I've never missed one full payment ever by the way), when the morgage ends, blah blah it's gone up to X - what kind of explanation is that ??
Anyway, I'm getting the hump so I'd best go and enjoy my spag' bol with salad, olives and a glass of red and enjoy the rest of my weekend - God knows I've worked hard enough all week and today.

[Marco]

"Mortgage"... Wossat, den? :scratch:

Marco.

[The Black Adder]

Ooooooeeeeoooo... get yooooooeeoooo.

They are only for the vox pop, you wouldn't understand. lol :eyebrows:

[Ronksley]

Cheers David. It's a pain for people because the most detramental things in this so called modern world are the things that are never made clear or ever easy to understand and the big companies / money boys know it too !! They can tell you anything, barely a soul really understands it all and again, they know it.
As far as we know the mortgage is fixed to the end. If it isnt then that should have been made clear especially as if towards the end of the mortgage there will be a big hike in payment, not many everyday folk paying a mortgage suddenly have an additional £180 to throw at it, I most certainly dont !
Also the letter is lame in my opinion. You want another £180 per month but dont explain clearly why. You just casually write that you've canducted a reveiw, to ensure it is accurate - (WHY?) and based on what I'm paying, payments receive to date (I've never missed one full payment ever by the way), when the mortgage ends, blah blah it's gone up to X - what kind of explanation is that ??
Anyway, I'm getting the hump so I'd best go and enjoy my spag' bol with salad, olives and a glass of red and enjoy the rest of my weekend - God knows I've worked hard enough all week and today.

yeah I wasnt happy when I worked with mortgages too many people obviously not had things explained properly
and this pissed me off especially when its a mortgage the single most important financial thing in a lot of peoples lives

I had a month training on mortgages and that just covered the basics and learnt so much more over the following two years working on them
This really helped me through serious illness and has meant I have been able to keep my house

I hope you can get to the bottom of whats happened on Monday If you cant then raise a complaint make sure its explained the upset and worry this letter has caused and that is gives no explanation of the increase in payments. If you cant afford the payments they should provide other options. I imagine whoever your Wife speaks to on Monday will probably be under trained and inexperienced so tell her to go easy on them they are just doing their job dont take it out on them.

If you can find paperwork from when you took out the mortgage it will really help

[RobbieGong]

yeah I wasnt happy when I worked with mortgages too many people obviously not had things explained properly
and this pissed me off especially when its a mortgage the single most important financial thing in a lot of peoples lives

I had a month training on mortgages and that just covered the basics and learnt so much more over the following two years working on them
This really helped me through serious illness and has meant I have been able to keep my house

I hope you can get to the bottom of whats happened on Monday If you cant then raise a complaint make sure its explained the upset and worry this letter has caused and that is gives no explanation of the increase in payments. If you cant afford the payments they should provide other options. I imagine whoever your Wife speaks to on Monday will probably be under trained and inexperienced so tell her to go easy on them they are just doing their job dont take it out on them.

If you can find paperwork from when you took out the mortgage it will really help

Helpful comments and advise David, Thanks.

[Joe]

If it had been a fixed-term repayment policy, the rate today would surely be lower than the rate was when you took out the mortgage. A quick look at historical rates of interest would seem to suggest that:

Thu, 04 Aug 2016 0.2500
Thu, 05 Mar 2009 0.5000
Thu, 05 Feb 2009 1.0000
Thu, 08 Jan 2009 1.5000
Thu, 04 Dec 2008 2.0000
Thu, 06 Nov 2008 3.0000
Wed, 08 Oct 2008 4.5000
Thu, 10 Apr 2008 5.0000
Thu, 07 Feb 2008 5.2500
Thu, 06 Dec 2007 5.5000
Thu, 05 Jul 2007 5.7500
Thu, 10 May 2007 5.5000
Thu, 11 Jan 2007 5.2500


It sounds very much to me like you have, or the mortgage company thinks you have, an endowment mortgage. I don't have a mortgage any more, but I do have a life insurance policy which we took out when we bought our first house, and get letters like yours now and then saying 'we have calculated blah blah bah and we reckon you need to increase your monthly payments by X for the same amount of cover'. (I ignore the letters as we don't need the life insurance any more).

Presumably you still have the paperwork from when you took out the mortgage?