To consider ‘going to the papers’

[Hellorhighwater]

Three years ago, after my husband died, a major financial institution really cocked up my life. They have (finally) admitted responsibility, but are fighting me over compensation. The ombudsman is involved, but has now said they don’t cover all ‘consequential losses’, and I may have to sue for some of them. I can’t face it. It’s been utterly awful. Obviously it’s complex, but I’m missing £60k in equity I should have realised and about £800 a month ongoing. The damages add up to about £70k, so it’s not inconsequential amounts they’ve cost me. I’m trying keep my shopping budget under £20 a week this month for me, DD and two dogs. I’m penniless and they make millions in profits. It feels like they have all the power here, and it feels deeply unfair.

I’ve always thought that taking to the media is a low blow, but I’m so exhausted by the whole process I don’t know what else to do. I can’t carry on like this. ) I thought the ombudsman would be the end of it (they’ve been dealing with it since August last year and everything takes forever) and I thought perhaps a bit of bad publicity might push them into being a bit more amenable. Not that I actually have any idea how to do it. Email ‘The Sun’? (I don’t even read the news!). What do people think?

Have you checked if you can get legal advice under home insurance??

I know someone who works in the marketing team of a major global bank. She said they fear the Daily Mail the most because it has such a large readership not just in the UK but the USA and Australia too. So any complaint received through there gets settled asap. I’d go to their finance / money section first.

Don't go to the papers. It's then traceable. Try emailing, Twitter etc,

Sorry to hear you’ve been through so much OP. My suggestions would be BBC Ripoff Britain or BBC Radio 4 MoneyBox with Paul Lewis.

Not sure if anyone's already suggested this, but you could also try Moneybox Live on BBC Radio 4. They regularly deal with cases of consumers being ripped off by major financial institutions.

D'oh, I didn't read the whole thread and can see the poster immediately above me suggested Moneybox Live! Hope you get it sorted, OP, it sounds as though you've been through the mill.

@Oblomov22

Don't go to the papers. It's then traceable. Try emailing, Twitter etc,

What do you mean, traceable?

I had a problem with my husband’s pension after he died. I contacted a couple of national newspaper ‘financial help’ pages and it got me a quick, painless result. The financial lady from the sun was lovely to me although the guardian printed the problem in the end. They prefer you to only go to one of them for help.

Have you got your final decision from the FOS or was that advice from the investigating officer?

If you had to go to law, you'd look for a no win no fee solicitor, and there are those that specialise in financial services or pensions etc - whatever it is in this case. So it wouldn't cost you upfront, you'd pay them a % of your winnings (for want of a better term).

I had a major problem with Lloyds bank, I emailed the Guardian and they were amazing. The story appeared on their consumer page the next day and Lloyds bank finally admitted their mistake after months of fobbing me off. The whole issue was resolved in a day and I received a lot of compensation from Lloyds.

One thing major institutions/companies hate is negative publicity. I know, I used to work for one!

SM might be your friend here. I understand there’s a fine line not to be crossed with regard to, and in respect of, your own privacy but a few posts on Twitter, FB etc will get their attention. These businesses employ staff to look online to monitor any activity regarding bad reviews etc. you can certainly make them feel quite uncomfortable with a few factual tweets about your treatment at their hands. Quite often, it will be picked up and gather momentum by others too.

I had an issue - nowhere near as unfortunate as yours - but I was fed up with being ignored and passed from pillar to post by a large institution. I posted it online and received an offer of settlement within 2 days.

OP, I would second a PP's endorsement of Paul Lewis, of Radio 4's 'Moneybox'. He is a hugely experienced financial journalist and absolutely knows his stuff. 'Moneybox' often reports on particularly shocking experiences people have gone through at the hands of financial institutions, and if they think it could make a story, they help as much as they can. If you listen back to some of the editions (it’s on Radio 4 on Saturdays at midday), you'll get a feel for the sort of thing they highlight.

This is their contact page: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1M8DssCcgjtZQlwLCrLBmpM/contact-money-box

Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

Equally - there are good consumer champion columns in the Guardian and Telegraph for the media publicity line.

Unfortunately in this country the media has a bad press, but for the most part, it is there to make the public aware of what goes on behind closed doors.
Sure, they get it wrong sometimes, but don’t forget the main role of the media is public scrutineers - the eyes and ears of the public.
This sounds like an awful situation for you and one that may be eased by a bit of public scrutiny.
I’d go to the press. I’d start with your local titles as the threshold for getting it over the line is lower but if it makes the local papers, consider taking it national.
Have a think about if you are comfortable being named and pictured - that’s the way the media works but stay with what you are comfortable with.

I still don’t know. My instinct is not to, but I I don’t know what else to do.

I am so sorry you have had all this stress on top of your bereavement Hellorhighwater.

I have never had to do anything like this myself but I think the posters who suggested the specialist consumer rights journalists are right. I would contact the Radio 4 programmes Money Box or You and Yours myself. They both seem to have success when financial institutions have been quite intransigent. They get many more requests than they use in broadcasts so it's not like 'going to the papers'.

Actually some friends of mine were telling me about some friends of theirs who featured in a financial makeover feature. Apparently the final article changed a lot of details so they weren't identifiable.

Of course your MP is duty bound to reply to a letter from you but unless your MP is familiar with this topic or - more accurately - has a researcher who is used to this, they may be swayed by the ombudsman's response that you have already.

OP this sounds horrendous - dealing with these institutions can be so draining. I hope you dont mind but Im going to follow your thread as I have a sort of similar issue. A loan company gave my ex a loan at my address after he moved out. I got wind of it prior to the loan being paid and I contacted them and asked them not to pay him as he didnt live there and couldnt afford the repayments- they ignored me, then sent collection agents round when he didnt pay and I spent a whole year in a complaint with them. The ombudsman wouldnt help as I wasnt the loan recipient.
It all died down but then they made my ex bankrupt and now my divorce consent order is null and void (the judge gave me the house) because the petition was already filed before my final hearing.
This company! It literally feels like theyre out to get me. I put a review on social media and they said they would look into it, sent another email complaint, they said the same thing - and now I have two choices, go to court and sue them under a no win no fee arrangement, or try and use the press to some kind of advantage to get them to pay attention to what they've done. :(

@StarCourt

Martin Lewis?

Id do this

I appreciate the suggestions. Some details (they are really boring!)

Husband died intestate. No life insurance, but two mortgaged buy to let properties. I have one btl in my own name, mortgaged with Financial Institution. I inherited his, but it’s a sod to get a mortgage in my name, because of inheriting them, I don’t understand why. Got one single offer, on a horrible interest rate. Offers in writing accepted with enough to discharge DH’s mortgage and a bit more to buy me and DD a house outright along with the proceeds from our house in the SE. So I borrowed from my mum to make up the difference until the btl mortgages come through.

Was almost going through, when a last minute credit check revealed Financial institution have marked my credit rating with several unpaid mortgage markers. I had paid the mortgage and am furious. I pay it in advance, quarterly and I they didn’t advise me of the right reference number when I started doing it online. They returned the money to a savings account and didn’t even write to me until they’d put two months markers on. Mortgages declined.

Took months and months to get anyone to GAF. Eventually, they did (emailed the chief exec) and I got it cleared. Took almost a year. New Mortgage offers but worse rates, and only enough to cover DH’s mortgage. Not the extra I’d planned to pay off my mum with. Then even that was withdrawn and I had to pay in money to get them remortgaged at all. No real choice.

Got a few hundred quid costs for rearranging holidays and stuff, and a few thousand legal costs and difference between the mortgage I was paying and the one I could now get. It was still crappy rate, but I was advised to take what I could get (one property was almost repossessed in this time!) and remortgage after six months.

At this point I was happy enough. Not getting the equity hurt, and I persuaded Financial Institution to give me a mortgage to make up the difference, and rolled in the motorhome finance so as to afford it. (All my money is from btl so residential mortgages are hard for me to get, which is why I was trying not have one). And it was all right over lockdown which was awful. I was just so glad to be able to keep the properties.

I wait six months (you have to) and try to remortgage. I have to get quotes for works to release equity, not just match the mortgage, which is now during 2nd lockdown and is really hard to organise. Finally I have what I need (my agent was crap here, it all took months) and they put more markers on my credit rating, for various different and invalid reasons. Again it takes months for them to admit liability and remove them. They gave all sorts of excuses. I completely flip my lid at them, several times. I’m going broke paying horrible interest rates, and a residential mortgage I didn’t budget for. By August 21 I am almost bankrupt and sell my motorhome to keep paying the bloody mortgages, because one of the houses isn’t now let. I have been offered a 5 year let by a company, but I can’t take it became the mortgage lender wouldn’t re-finance on that basis. The mortgage offers have long since expired.

I now can’t get another mortgage offer. the mortgage company decides they are Houses of Multiple Occupancy (they are usually, but not at the moment because of covid) and won’t offer on them. Products are massively reduced because of covid, and HMO mortgages aren’t widely available. Lender doesn’t do one to offer me. HMO licences are £900 each property, and I don’t have that, and an HMO mortgage will need them, even if it isn’t an HMO let.

Financial Institution offers 2k compensation and about 6K difference between the mortgage I thought I could get, and the one I thought I could have had before they stomped all over my credit rating for the second time. But they won’t pay the 6k, only the 2k. I think 2k is too low, given the shit I’ve been through and that they know I need money and are chancing it. The 6K is money I have already spent on interest costs unfairly, and I think they should pay up. They also tried to impose a deadline for remortgaging or they wouldn’t pay anything, which I can’t meet, because one property isn’t let, and anyway I can’t pay for the licenses now. I hand the whole lot over the to the ombudsman.

I’m now broke. My dog almost died over Christmas, which cost a fortune in vet fees. She is insured, but they haven’t paid out yet either, and she was so sick, I couldn’t just leave her to suffer. (She’s fine now as long as she eats really expensive food). I thought for sure the Obudsman would sort out in February, but I’m still waiting. They keep asking for more evidence and information (I know they need evidence, but they keep saying they have everything and then finding something else). I have just enough saved for the solicitors costs to remortgage, but that’s only half a months mortgage payment. The two properties that are let are enough for us pay basic bills, and I’m frugal, but not enough to pay the mortgages as well let as they are. If the ombudsman doesn’t come through and the institution actually pay up by the end of the March, I’ll get real markers on my credit rating and then I won’t be able remortgage at all.

The ombudsman can only only consider the second lot of credit markers, not the first, because it was more than six months ago and I didn’t flip out at the time (mistake. I was polite and civil and didn’t want to seem grabby. I didn’t know they’d do it again. I didn’t know about the HMO crap). They can’t take into account that it’s been going on for so long. They can’t award for the motorhome (that I had to sell in a hurry to a broker, because I needed to make the mortgage payment at the end of month). I don’t think they can award for the interest, as we can’t compare like to like and the lender won’t give me historical rates anyway. I bet they can’t award for the rental income loss, or the extra interest I’ve been paying on my residential mortgage or even the compensatory interest on the equity I couldn’t get, because it all relates to the first set of markers. I’ve only recently found this out.

It’s all so stupid. It was such a small mistake, and they would NOT listen that it was such a big issue for me and correct it. And I’m going to lose my livelihood over it. Pre covid I made about £30k over the three properties. The last two years I’ve made £13k. I’ve no reserves.

I’m going to have to sell one and go back to work. They were DHs pension provision, I’ve got no other death benefits for him. They are a perfectly viable comfortable income usually. We should have been fine, and I was thinking of re-training or starting a little business once my dd is settled in high school. (I’ve no real childcare here) I’ve never had problems letting them before (especially the one that’s empty now. It’s never been void, not in twenty years. It’s just covid a blip but I can’t weather it because of this. If I could hold on until July, it would let, I’m certain. But I can’t. I’m going to have to sell it, pay capital gains tax and buy another one and pay second home stamp duty.

I didn’t choose to be a landlord. It was DH’s thing. But it would be working out OK if Financial Institution hadn’t made mistakes, and I don’t think I would be such dire straights if they hadn’t. There are better ways to get out than this. I’m not comfortable morally with second home ownership, but I’m so beaten down by it all, I haven’t the wherewithal to do something else at moment, and I have to consider my obligation to DD via his estate as well, not just what I might like to do. I feel a bit broken over it. I’m usually pretty smart and savvy, but jeez, how much can any one person deal with. My DD is a pretty high needs kiddo, and is currently undergoing an ADHD assessment, doesn’t sleep through and is having support for anxiety at school. my dishwasher and my oven broke this week. Ironically, I have spares of both in the garage, but I haven’t the headspace to figure out how to plumb them in (and I can’t lift them on my own). And the boiler is making a horrible noise and needs the reset button pressing to heat up every couple of hours. I’m terrified it’s going to break and I can’t bear the thought of living with no heating or hot water. I just can’t. It’s the last straw. I know it’s a first world problem, and many people are facing worse with the cost of living crisis and lots of widows would consider themselves lucky to have a passive income at all. I know that. But this is all because of someone else’s mistakes and I just want them to FIX IT! With money.

I may be a little overwrought. I’m not usually despondent. I’ll be back tomorrow with a new new attitude. Unless the boiler fails. Then I will stay in bed and cry. A lot.

I agree with all the posters who have used a national newspaper financial advice columnist and found them very professional and helpful .
We had a huge issue with Vodafone incorrectly giving me a bad credit score - which severely affected my business. This went on for months and months with me speaking to Vodafone and in the end appointing a solicitor but they had no interest in resolving the issue.
In the end I emailed Money Mail, they responded within two days and by the end of the week my credit score was again very healthy. They printed the story just in the money section of the paper just using initials so definitely not outing.
OP you have absolutely nothing to lose by doing this and I really recommend you give it a try. Very good luck to you .

That is both a complex and thoroughly miserable set of circumstances. Its clearly been a hard few years for you.

Given the complexity of the situation, id double down on my recommendation about getting a solicitor to obtain a view of your likelihood of success. I appreciate what you have said about the funds, but this is a truly complex situation containing multiple financial institutions, and the majority of your losses are down to lost opportunities rather than a direct and immediate impact of the mistake. Your post suggests it was hard to obtain a mortgage in the first place, and that was compounded by Covid. Sadly there just doesn't seem like there is a lot of "proof" that everything would have worked out fine - and there have been a lot of things that would make the chain of causation difficult to establish. There is also the fact (and this is not intended as an attack or horrible comment, it is just that any legal action would consider how you have mitigated your losses) that you havent been able to take paid employment in that time (appreciate there can be many many valid reasons for this, but it is something they would consider)
.
I absolutely understand feeling a distinct lack of justice, but based on your description of the circumstances (and appreciating their is likely more behind it) the Ombudsman wont make awards for those types of losses it cant tie directly and unequivocably to a failure.

Given the size of the claim and all those factors, you really do need case specific advice and support - which unfortunately will either cost money, or you will need to go to a finance help section in a newspaper to get - as it is unlikely this will get resolved without the threat of negative publicity or significant costs through legal action. If you do go " no win, no fee" as others have suggestes its worth noting you can still be liable for some or all of the other parties legal costs if you are unsuccessful.

I appreciate the above isnt what youd want to read - and I really do wish you the best with it, but you need to get a clear view as soon as possible on the likelihood of success of any claim - so that either way you can start to plan a way forward
D

Why is your instinct not to try one of the responsible newspaper financial advice services? What do you have to lose?

Start by taking it on social media.

Do you have legal expenses insurance as an extra on your household insurance policy? It might cover the cost if getting a solicitor involved

Some of the info eg difficult to get a mortgage on an HMO doesn't appear relevant. Best to limit your claim to losses which arise directly from their mistake

logic means once they have the bad publicity - whats the point of paying you anyway as the damage is done

Is there an alternative for you?

@Cwharf

Having read your detailed narrative, I have to agree with @Cwharf that this deeply unfortunate situation is not one where it is possible to determine a fixed loss as a direct result of the mortgage company's negligence.

You should receive something as compensation for their errors, but the amount won't be anything commensurable with your aggregate losses.