Watchdog says a large number of mortgage borrowers with arrears may have overpaid and could be owed compensation worth hundreds of pounds.
Hundreds of thousands of mortgage borrowers that have fallen into arrears on their mortgage repayments could be eligible for compensation following a ruling by the financial regulator.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found that some lenders have been automatically including mortgage arrears balances when recalculating monthly mortgage payments as well as taking payments separately through a debt collection process – effectively making customers pay to clear arrears twice.
It's estimated that as many as 750,000 may be impacted by this improper practice overall, but not everyone will be due compensation.
The FCA has ordered lenders to work out who is affected and how much they are owed. It estimates that, on average, those eligible will be in line for compensation worth hundreds of pounds.
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Poor practice
The practice of including arrears in the calculation on monthly mortgage repayments is called ‘automatic capitalisation’ and it can occur when you switch to a new interest rate.
The problem arises when banks include the arrears amount when calculating a new monthly mortgage repayment and also pursue the arrears separately through a collection process.
This means borrowers effectively pay twice for their mortgage payment shortfall.
Over the long term this isn’t a bad thing if a customer is able to meet the repayments as it means they overpay their mortgage and so clear it sooner.
However, the FCA says the improper calculations can lead to customers taking longer to repay their arrears, inappropriate fees being charged and for those that can’t meet the payments falling further into debt.
Back in July 2010, the Financial Services Authority (the FCA’s predecessor) said firms should not automatically capitalise a payment shortfall if there was a negative impact on a borrower.
The FCA has provided an example in ‘John’s Story’ to illustrate how the practice can have a negative impact on a borrower that is in arrears.
Jonathan Davidson, director of supervision, retail and authorisations at the FCA, says: "Even if inadvertent, automatic capitalisations of arrears can lead to poor customer outcomes and firms need to put this right and make sure the practice stops."
Paul Smee, Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) director general, commented: “Those lenders who used the arrears calculation methodology now identified as problematic did so in good faith, believing that they complied with the rules and were acting in customer interests.
"They are fully committed to delivering fair outcomes for all customers, past and present.”
How to claim compensation
The FCA says it is hard for it to determine the number of customers impacted by the issue, but it estimates that around 750,000 could be affected.
However, it warns that thanks to Bank of England base rate change in August the number could be greater as it would have led to a mass recalculation of a range of variable mortgages.
If you think you’ve been impacted you do not have to take any action at this stage, as the FCA has ordered firms to contact customers hit by the practice directly.
The FCA guidance instructs how lenders should calculate the redress and also covers what lenders should do for those with closed mortgage accounts.
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