Mortgage lenders may refund

A ruling by an adjudicator to the Financial Ombudsman against the Halifax may lead to significant refunds from mortgage lenders to their variable rate borrowers. Complaints were brought against Halifax, Nationwide and HSBC by a number of customers who said they were being charged a standard rate of 6.75% while new customers for the same product were being charged 6% and that their applications to switch to the new product were refused. The first ruling, against Halifax, held that as the bank’s base rate was not defined in the terms and conditions of mortgage it should be taken to mean the new variable rate. A similar finding has been made against HSBC and a decision on Nationwide is imminent.