Step 1 - Complain to your lender
If you have been charged additional legal expenses and administrative charges for court proceedings re-raised after a previous case was dismissed on competency grounds (due to RBS v. Wilson and/or NRAM v. Millar) you should consider writing a letter of complaint for 'double charging'.
If you are unsure whether you have been double charged, you can talk to your existing advisor or solicitor, or obtain free independent legal advice from a local law centre, money advice centre or CABx. An example letter is set out below. You will need to make write a letter of complaint to suit your own personal circumstances.
You lender has 8 weeks to respond, and if they fail to respond within the time frame or refuse to refund expenses and charges, you can make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service within 6 months of the date of your lender's refusal of your complaint.
EXAMPLE COMPLAINT LETTER
[Your Lenders address]
Dear Sirs
[Your name, address – Mortgage account number X] – complaint with respect to repeat mortgage expenses and charges
Please treat this letter as a formal complaint in relation to your imposition of charges and legal expenses totalling around [£ x] on my mortgage account. My complaint relates to two separate groupings of charges ‘legal fees’ and ‘arrears fees’. In relation to legal expenses and arrears charges, these were made as follows:
With respect to legal fees and arrears charges it is understood that the these pertain to court proceedings for repossession which were previously raised against me but dismissed by your company as incompetent/or at your convenience following the UK Supreme Court’s decision in RBS plc v. Wilson and/or the case of NRAM v. Millar at Glasgow Sheriff Court.
I believe the imposition of legal fees and arrears charges for work undertaken by you which was legally incompetent (or was dismissed at your convenience and instance, and then re-raised) cannot be fairly or reasonably charged to me in relation to the FSA’s Treating Customers Fairly Principle, and the MCOB rules. Your bank has now re-raised legal proceedings against me, and therefore is now subjecting me to double and repeat charging.
Your double charging is compounding my indebtedness and will make it more difficult for me to repay my mortgage. I believe requiring me to pay for repeat enforcement proceedings is unfair and unreasonable. Please advise whether you are willing to waive the said expenses and charges, and if not, why not, so that I can then consider taking this matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Yours faithfully
(signed)
If you are unsure whether you have been double charged, you can talk to your existing advisor or solicitor, or obtain free independent legal advice from a local law centre, money advice centre or CABx. An example letter is set out below. You will need to make write a letter of complaint to suit your own personal circumstances.
You lender has 8 weeks to respond, and if they fail to respond within the time frame or refuse to refund expenses and charges, you can make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service within 6 months of the date of your lender's refusal of your complaint.
EXAMPLE COMPLAINT LETTER
[Your Lenders address]
Dear Sirs
[Your name, address – Mortgage account number X] – complaint with respect to repeat mortgage expenses and charges
Please treat this letter as a formal complaint in relation to your imposition of charges and legal expenses totalling around [£ x] on my mortgage account. My complaint relates to two separate groupings of charges ‘legal fees’ and ‘arrears fees’. In relation to legal expenses and arrears charges, these were made as follows:
- Legal expenses [£ x, on y date ….]
- Arrears charges [£ x, on y date ….]
With respect to legal fees and arrears charges it is understood that the these pertain to court proceedings for repossession which were previously raised against me but dismissed by your company as incompetent/or at your convenience following the UK Supreme Court’s decision in RBS plc v. Wilson and/or the case of NRAM v. Millar at Glasgow Sheriff Court.
I believe the imposition of legal fees and arrears charges for work undertaken by you which was legally incompetent (or was dismissed at your convenience and instance, and then re-raised) cannot be fairly or reasonably charged to me in relation to the FSA’s Treating Customers Fairly Principle, and the MCOB rules. Your bank has now re-raised legal proceedings against me, and therefore is now subjecting me to double and repeat charging.
Your double charging is compounding my indebtedness and will make it more difficult for me to repay my mortgage. I believe requiring me to pay for repeat enforcement proceedings is unfair and unreasonable. Please advise whether you are willing to waive the said expenses and charges, and if not, why not, so that I can then consider taking this matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Yours faithfully
(signed)