Endowment policies
Contents
If you were advised to take an investment designed to repay your mortgage after it finished, did you find out later that you would not be paid enough? Read also : I think I’ve been mis-sold my mortgage, what can I do?.
If so, this could be a mis-sold policy. Read our guide on mis-sold endowments if you think this may apply to you.
Interest Only Mortgages
If you only paid interest on your mortgage each month, then the adviser should have made you aware of how you would repay your mortgage on completion. This may interest you : I think I’ve been mis-sold my mortgage, what can I do?.
If your broker or lender hadn’t discussed this with you or given you examples of the cost of a Capital and Repayment mortgage compared to the lower costs of a Interest Only mortgage, then this would be an example of mis-selling.
Furthermore, have you been made aware that you may have to change your mortgage to a Repayment mortgage rather than rely on rising house prices? If not, then this could also be a mis-selling.
Only use our template letter if you want to complain about being misappropriated interest mortgage.
Remortgaging to clear your debts
If you were looking to consolidate your debts, were you advised that it would be cheaper to put all your loans, credit cards and finance on your mortgage? On the same subject : I think I’ve been mis-sold my mortgage, what can I do?.
If not, you could be swapping short-term debt for long-term debt by adding it to your mortgage.
Did the adviser explain to you that, although initially you would reduce your monthly expenses, you may well extend the term of your debt and significantly increase the amount of interest you would pay?
If not, this could amount to mis-selling.
Complain to your provider with our template letter if you have been encouraged to remortgage to clear your debts.
Top tips
Household budget analysis
Have you been asked to complete a household budget analysis? Were you asked how much your monthly income was, and what your monthly expenses were?
Did they work with you how much money you had left each month after paying all your bills ie your disposable income?
If not, you may have unwittingly over-committed yourself to a mortgage that you could not afford.
Self Certification mortgages
Have you been asked to provide evidence of your income, for example, payslips or audited accounts that could prove your income?
If not, were you encouraged to take what is known as a ‘Self Cert’ or ‘Fast Track’ mortgage, where you did not need to prove your income?
These mortgage products paid much higher commissions and were very popular with some brokers for just that reason.
If this applied to you, your mortgage may have been mis-sold.
Mortgages running past retirement
Is your mortgage supposed to run beyond your retirement age? Was this pointed out to you?
Did your broker or lender discuss how you would pay off your mortgage payments after you retired?
A good example of this would be if someone takes out a mortgage for 20 years at the age of 50.
The average retirement age is 65, which means there will be 5 years left to pay on the mortgage.
If, at the time of agreement, the adviser failed to consider whether the customer could afford to make the payments after the age of 65, then the customer may have mis-sold their mortgage.
Use our template letter to complain if you think you have been mis-sold.
High broker fees
Did you pay unreasonably high fees to the broker or adviser who arranged your mortgage?
Did you know what the fees would be?
Were they added to your mortgage without your knowledge so you are now paying interest on them every month?
If any of the above applies to you then you may have a case of mis-selling and you may wish to use our template letter to complain to your provider.
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