We look at Geri’s complaint about the additional charges the lender added to her mortgage when it sold her property.
What happened
Geri struggled to pay her mortgage, and ended up moving back in with her parents and handing her keys to her mortgage lender. She expected to be able to make a fresh start after a few months, as she had a small amount of equity in the property. But after the lender sold the property, it told Geri she still owed it money, partly due to additional charges the lender had made relating to the sale arrangements.
What we said
We explained to Geri that costs would have been incurred whether she or the lender had sold the property, and that interest continued to be added to the mortgage until the house was sold. We didn’t think it was unfair for the lender to pass those costs on to Geri. The mortgage agreement allowed them to do this and the costs weren't covered by the money from the sale of the house.
But we suggested the lender work with Geri to put in place a fair repayment plan, including helping her to get support from a debt charity, if needed.