Figures recently released by the Financial Ombudsman Service show that 3,087 complaints were made against mortgage lending companies in the second half of last year. That is slightly up on the 2,989 complaints made in the first half.
Santander topped the list with 475 complaints in the mortgage field and an across the board figure of 6,759 complaints.
Ray Boulger from John Charcoal said that it’s important to consider these figures in proportion to the size of the lender. Companies like Santander that have expanded are going to be more susceptible to complaints.
However, he says it is disappointing that the figures have not improved. Lenders must be doing something wrong if they aren’t addressing this problem.
Mortgage related complaints against the Clydesdale Bank increased six-fold to 410 probably due to a miscalculation on the amount owing on mortgages. As a result, 18,000 people were to told that they had made underpayments.
HSBC had only 86 complaints lodged against it, down from 97 in the first half of last year and Barclays saw a reduction from 473 to 368.
Meanwhile, a two year tracker mortgage now costs an average of 3.40%, its lowest level since 1998. A two year fixed rate mortgage on the other hand has risen to 4.59%.
One financial analyst pointed out that some borrowers have adopted a wait and see approach in the past two years, preferring to stay on a standard variable rate mortgage as opposed to switching to a more expensive contractor mortgage.
Tracker deals are more competitive than fixed rates but borrowers need to remember that a Bank of England base rate rise will cause the interest rate on their tracker to increase.
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