Mortgages: Our Key Commitments

We will:

Act fairly and reasonably in all our dealings with you treating you courteously and with patience;
Give you information on our services and products in plain language, and offer help if there is any aspect which you do not understand in order to enable you to choose a mortgage to fit your needs;
Help you to understand the financial implications of a mortgage;
Help you to understand how your mortgage account works;
Rectify errors and take any complaints seriously, dealing with them promptly and thoroughly;
Consider cases of financial difficulty and mortgage arrears sympathetically and positively.

You will be issued with a copy of the Society’s Rules and current Mortgage Conditions when your advance or further advance is arranged. It is essential that these documents are examined as they describe your responsibilities and rights. In addition they define the Society’s powers with respect to any failure by you to discharge those responsibilities.

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

LENDING

All lending will be subject to our assessment of your ability to repay.

This assessment may include:

Taking into account your income and commitments;
How you have handled your financial affairs in the past;
Information obtained from credit reference agencies, and with your consent, others (for example employers, other lenders and landlords);
Any security provided, including the condition and value of the property;
Information supplied by you, including verification of your identity;
Your age.

NB. The Society will make enquiries of certain credit reference agencies in order to verify the information provided.

Note:
The Society will not provide advice and a recommendation as to which mortgage is most suitable for you.

CALCULATION OF INTEREST

Mortgage interest is calculated on a daily basis on the balance which is outstanding on your account at the 31st December of each year. Should any advance or interest bearing charge be made during the year, interest is charged on that amount, from and including the day it is debited.

Term:	25 Years
Amount Borrowed:	£100,000.00
Date Borrowed:	1st January 2007
Interest Rate (assumed):	8%

EXAMPLE 1 – Repayment Loan
YEAR 1	Loan	100,000.00
	Interest charged for year (100,000.00 x 8%)	8,000.00
	Repayments made to Society	(9,372.00)
	Balance outstanding 31/12/2007	98,628.00
YEAR 2	Interest charged for year (98,628.00 x 8%)	7,890.24
	Repayments made to Society	(9,372.00)
	Balance outstanding 31/12/2008	97,146.24

Interest Only Loan
YEAR 1	Loan	100,000.00
	Interest charged for year (100,000.00 x 8%)	8,000.00
	Repayments made to Society	(8,000.00)
	Balance outstanding 31/12/2007	100,000.00
YEAR 2	Interest charged for year (100,000.00 x 8%)	8,000.00
	Repayments made to Society	(8,000.00)
	Balance outstanding 31/12/2008	100,000.00

Should any capital repayment be made during the year, the balance on which interest is charged is reduced by the amount of the capital repayment from the day following receipt.

You will be advised in writing of any such changes in the capital balance on which interest is charged. You will also be advised in writing of any changes in the monthly repayment which come about as a result of the change in the capital balance.

INTEREST RATES

Interest rates are variable and you will be notified by post of any changes in the interest rate and amount of monthly repayment.

CHARGES

Under the Society’s Conditions of Mortgage, all costs incurred by the Society in protecting its security will be debited to your mortgage account. You will be advised in writing of any action taken by the Society and of any charges debited. You may, if you wish, make a payment rather than have them debited to your account.

Mortgages taken out from 1990 onwards may, if you go into arrears, incur the following charges:

For each hour of time spent by any Director or the Secretary of the Society - £95.00.
For any letter sent by a Director or the Secretary of the Society – £30.00.
Any time spent by any employee or agent of the Society – £55.00 per hour.
For any letters sent by any employee or agent of the Society – £20.00.
On each occasion when an account falls to be discussed at a Director’s Meeting – £25.00.

Before levying such a charge the Society will write to you advising of the action the Society is about to take.

RETURNED/DISHONOURED CHEQUES

In addition to any charge which may be levied as a result of arrears, the Society will levy a charge of £20.00 in respect of each repayment cheque not honoured by your bank.

INTEREST ON ARREARS

The Society may, in respect of mortgages taken out from 1990 onwards, charge interest on any arrears which are outstanding at the expiry of 7 days from the end of any month during which sums fall due. The additional interest is calculated at the rate of 0.75% per week, or part thereof on the amount of arrears, from the date when payment was due to the date it is paid.

ie. If an account is £500.00 in arrears the additional interest charged per week is £3.75.

In such cases you will be advised of the action the Society is about to take before the charge is levied.

For mortgages prior to 1990, any penalty interest in respect of arrears is calculated on a daily basis on the arrears outstanding at the end of each month at the current mortgage interest rate.

MONTHLY REPAYMENTS

The first repayment due on any loan is to cover the interest charged for the month, or part of the month in which the loan is advanced and should be paid by the last day of that month. Subsequent repayments should be paid on the anniversary date of the advance.

EARLY REDEMPTION OR A REDUCTION IN CAPITAL BY PART CAPITAL REPAYMENT OF DISCOUNTED MORTGAGES

The Society may levy an early repayment charge on the early redemption, or the reduction of the loan by part capital repayment on discounted rate mortgages.

Any early repayment charge will be levied according to the specific terms of each mortgage product, but borrowers on these products will be advised by the Society of any early repayment charge which may be levied prior to completion of their loans.

INSURANCE

If you wish to arrange your own property insurance, rather than arrange it through the Society’s agency with Heath Lambert Insurance Services, the Society will make a “one-off” administration charge of £25.00.

CONFIDENTIALITY

Confidentiality is very important and therefore we do not release information about your account unless we are provided with your written consent authorising us to do so. Exceptions to this general rule include where we might be legally compelled to do so or where there is a duty to the public to disclose. The Society also subscribes to the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Mortgage Possessions Register which means that if your property is subject to repossession either through the Courts or voluntarily, the Society will submit details of that repossession to a Credit Reference Agency holding details of the register.

DATA PROTECTION ACCESS

Under the Data Protection Act 1984 you have a right of access to your personal records held by the Society.

MARKETING

The Society will give you the opportunity when you apply for the mortgage to say whether or not you wish to receive marketing material about additional services and products which may be of benefit to you. If initially you state you are prepared to receive such material, then at least once in every three years we will remind you that you can ask not to receive this information.

ARREARS

The Society will use best endeavours to give practical information to assist borrowers in difficulty, and subject to normal commercial judgement will try to help.

If you find yourself in financial difficulty, help and advice can be obtained from debt counselling organisations. At your request and with your consent, the Society will liaise wherever possible with any debt counselling organisation that the Society recognises, ie. Citizens Advice Bureau, etc.

GUARANTEES

The Society will advise private individuals proposing to give a guarantee, or other security for another person’s loan:

That by giving the guarantee or other security he or she might become liable instead of or as well as that other person.
The nature of the guarantee, including the limit of their liability. An unlimited guarantee will not be taken.
That he or she should seek independent legal advice before entering into the guarantee or third party security.

COMPLAINTS

The Society is a member of the Financial Ombudsman Service Scheme.

Although the Society is committed to providing you with a first class service, we recognise that there may be an occasion when you feel that we may not have done this and you wish to make a complaint.

We will always try to resolve any complaint speedily and at the earliest possible stage.

The purpose of this leaflet is to set out our procedures if you make a complaint.

Your complaint will initially be dealt with by either the Branch Manager, Mrs S J Askew, or the Secretary, Mr P Richardson.
If the complaint involves financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience, and cannot be resolved by the close of business on the business day following the receipt of the complaint, then the Chief Executive, Mr C Hayward, will then handle the complaint from that point. You will be sent an acknowledgement of your complaint within 5 days of us receiving it. Included with that letter will be a copy of this leaflet which sets out our internal complaints procedures.
If the Chief Executive is unable to resolve the complaint to your satisfaction or in the opinion of the Chief Executive the complaint is of such a serious nature, you will be advised that your complaint is being referred to the Society’s Board of Directors and the date of the Board Meeting at which it will be discussed.

Within 4 weeks of receiving your complaint the Chief Executive will:

Advise you in writing of the Board’s final response. We will supply you with a copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service’s explanatory leaflet at this time. If you are dis-satisfied within the response you are entitled to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service within 6 months.
Or if it has not been possible for the Board to consider the complaint within that time, then you will be informed that this is the case and also when you will be contacted again by the Society.
If a final response is made within 8 weeks, the Chief Executive will write advising you that if you are dis-satisfied with the response you may refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You will be provided with a copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service’s explanatory leaflet and informed that if you wish to refer the matter to the FOS this must be done within 6 months from the date of the Final Response.
If for whatever reason it has not been possible to make a final response within 8 weeks after the complaint has been received, the Chief Executive will write advising you that if you are dis-satisfied with the delay you may refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service at this point. We will supply you with a copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service’s explanatory leaflet at this time.
If you are satisfied to allow the Society further time to arrive at its final response, without referring the complaint to the Ombudsman at that time, but are dis-satisfied with the final response, you are entitled to refer your complaint to the Ombudsman Service within 6 months. We will supply you with a copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service’s explanatory leaflet when the final response is sent to you.

It is our aim to ensure that all complaints are dealt with as speedily as possible and whenever practicable within 4 weeks of receiving the complaint.