Are you a
mortgage prisoner?
You may be entitled to compensation
Mortgage Prisoners are borrowers trapped paying a high rate of interest unable to switch to a cheaper deal
Tougher affordability rules introduced in 2014 helped to create some 250,000 Mortgage Prisoners
JOIN THE CLAIM
If you are trapped paying a high rate of interest on your mortgage and are unable to re-mortgage, you may be entitled to join the claim. Register your application to join the claim here.
Is your mortgage from TSB Whistletree?
We are acting on behalf of thousands of mortgage prisoners who have been trapped paying excessively high interest rates on their mortgages.
Following the 2008 financial crisis, Northern Rock and a large proportion of its loan book were nationalised. Over time, the government has sold these nationalised assets back to private companies. Rather than gaining access to new, competitive mortgage products, these former Northern Rock customers have been trapped unable to switch onto cheaper products.
In general, when you take out a residential mortgage the interest is set at an introductory rate for a few years before changing to the lender’s reversionary rate, which is often called the ‘standard variable rate’. The reversionary rate is normally set at a higher level than the lender’s introductory rates and is used to encourage borrowers to re-mortgage and take advantage of the lower introductory rates. Such a model benefits borrowers and lenders; lenders generate fees on the transition and borrowers benefit from interest rates below the standard variable rate.
This ceased to be the case for mortgage prisoners, who because of changes outside their control, including their lenders ceasing to offer new lending and becoming inactive lenders, and changes made to the affordability criteria by the FCA were unable to access new products even where they were managing to maintain their mortgage repayments.
Borrowers who were unable to re-mortgage had no choice but to pay the high rates set by their inactive lender or face losing their home. For this reason they are known as ‘Mortgage Prisoners’. There are hundreds of thousands of Mortgage Prisoners in the UK.
Harcus Parker is acting for individuals to reclaim the difference between the high interest they have paid on their mortgages and the interest they would have paid if the rate had been set by their lender at a lower ‘fair’ level. The amount of compensation due to homeowners who join the litigation could be significant. The litigation is free at the point of use. We are acting on a no-win, no-fee basis, and will pay any third-party costs which are necessary in order to progress the claims to trial.
If you have any questions, you can read our FAQs here. If you have questions not answered by our FAQs, please contact mp@harcusparker.co.uk
We are, separately, bringing claims against TSB Bank plc on behalf of current and former holders of Whistletree branded mortgages which originated with Northern Rock. To find out more about those claims, go to https://whistletree.mortgageprisonersclaims.com
Finally, we are also acting for customers and former customers of Mortgage Agency Services Number Five Limited or ‘MAS 5’. If you have had a mortgage with MAS 5 within the last six years, to find out more and to register, please click here.
The scandal in numbers
£13BN
Approximate value of loans sold by the government to private equity giant Cerberus Capital Management
250,000
The estimated number of Mortgage Prisoners in the UK
£40,000
The amount by which some borrowers may have overpaid on their mortgage
70,000
Number of borrowers up to date with their payments who are still unable to remortgage
CAN I CLAIM?
You may be eligible to join the claim if you have a residential mortgage (or previously had a residential mortgage) serviced by one of the following:
- Heliodor Mortgages;
- Landmark Mortgages; or
- NRAM Limited.
And
- you either have not redeemed your mortgage or did not redeem your mortgage more than six years ago.
Alternatively, you can also sign up if your mortgage was a Northern Rock ‘Together’ mortgage product, consisting of both a mortgage and a linked unsecured personal loan, and
- you redeemed the mortgage more than six years ago; but
- you did not redeem the linked unsecured personal loan more than six years ago.
Harcus Parker will act on a no-win, no-fee basis, and will pay any third-party costs necessary to progress the claims to trial.
It is important that you stay up to date with your mortgage repayments. You should not expect your financial difficulties to be solved by the claim. You must continue to manage your debt carefully, and with proper advice. Organisations like Mind, Step Change and Citizens Advice may be able to help.