Bank of Scotland "threats"?

Kashkai

I've a tracker mortgage with Bank of Scotland. I've always paid my mortgage in full and on time each month. I returned from a week's holiday yesterday to find a letter in my postbox to inform me of the latest rise in monthly repayments due to the ECB pushing up their rates. Fair enough.

However, on page two of this letter, they went way beyond the normal "your house is at risk if you don't keep up your monthly repayments" line by stating that they won't have to wait the normal 12 months to "reposess my property if I fail to cooperate with them"?????. They go on to state that they will deem me to have failed to cooperate with them if "I fail to divulge a change in my personal financial circumstances". Now like most people, I've had my income cut by my employer, wife has lost job but we have never missed a payment or been late with one.

Is this some sneaky attempt to cull customers on trackers, i.e.:
- will I be expecting a call from the bank or their handling agents Certus, seeking an up to date assessment of my income?, and,
- that failure to comply will then deem me to not be co-operating?
- or if I return my now deminished income report, they can state that I have failed to divulge a change in financial circumstances?

Perhaps I've read too much into this letter but my tracker mortgage is costing the bank money and this might be an attempt to get a lot of people off trackers

homer911

It sounds like a sneaky way to get around the "protracted" MARP scheme for the bank - I wonder what the regulator makes of this?

Jim2007

Read your agreement with them. Does it state that you must inform them of a change in your financial?

Jim

phormium

While reading that I was picking it up a different way, I felt it related more to cases that were on some sort of agreement with bank already, reduced payments, interest only etc and it was a warning to divulge any change in circumstances such as increase in income or more likely it meant if you rented out the house without telling them. If you are up to date with your reps I doubt they will be bothering you, they are kept busy enough with difficult cases.

hwfs.ie

I wouldn't read too much into the letter, as long as you keep paying your re-payments they will have little interest in your circumstances. i read that approx 60% of loans they gave out are now in arrears so im sure the servicing agent (Certus) has there hands full chasing others who are not co-operating.

Kashkai

I was going to contact the financial regulator about this but have decided to leave it to see if they do contact me.

This change in tone from that bank is a long way from when I took out the mortgage with them in 2007. They were offering me €500,000 which was double what I applied for and they said I could use the rest to buy a holiday home/investment property/new car etc. Thank God I wasn't stupid enough to take them up on their "kind offer".