Anyone who received an offer of a standard variable rate mortgage from the Halifax between the 20th September 2004 and the 16th September 2007, and still had the mortgage on the first of January 2009, can expect to receive a rebate.
600,000 borrowers are set to receive a share of £500 million compensation after the lender failed to tell its customers that the cap on its SVR was being increased. Despite the fact that Halifax reserved the right to amend its contractor mortgage terms and conditions, no mention of this was included in the documentation the borrowers received. If they had been aware of this clause, they might have opted for a different product.
A spokesman from the bank said that Lloyds banking group, which now owns the Halifax, is committed to treating customers fairly and running its business with the highest level of integrity. Therefore it believes the appropriate course of action is to make the goodwill payments.
Halifax has not confirmed the size of individual goodwill payments but letters are being sent out to all affected customers telling them how they will receive the rebate and how much it will be.
Existing customers whose mortgage account is in the red will receive the payment but it will be offset against the arrears first. Furthermore, the bank has also confirmed that customers who left the Halifax since the first of January 2009 will receive the rebate.
Lloyds Banking Group repossessed a total of 3,043 homes last year, an increase of 323 on the previous year. The Group has also confirmed that 2.3% of mortgages are currently in arrears. A total of £6.2billion worth of traditional repayment mortgages are in arrears of more than three months and 1.8% of buy to let mortgages are in the red.
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