Advertising: Mortgage prisoners trapped into 6.54% interest rates
Now, with interest rates surging and homeowners struggling more than ever, Harcus Parker are stepping up to try and help as many of the thousands of “Mortgage Prisoners” as possible.
Homeowners across the UK have been hit again and again by rising cost of living pressures – from surging energy bills to spiking food costs – with many already struggling to keep up with their regular mortgage payments.
But in recent weeks millions of struggling mortgage holders were dealt a fresh blow with the Bank of England raising base rates to 2.25% and markets already predicting this could rise to 6% next year.
But one group has been left more anxious than any about rising interest rates: the thousands of Whistletree Mortgage Prisoners in the UK.
Mortgage Prisoners are homeowners whose mortgages are held by lenders who often do not offer new mortgage products to their customers (inactive lenders) and who cannot remortgage elsewhere in order to access a fixed rate. Instead they are trapped paying interest at their lenders’ Standard Variable Rate which is not linked to the Bank of England Base Rate but which usually increases when the Bank of England Base Rate rises. Mortgage Prisoners have been trapped paying rates between 4 – 6% for more than a decade.
And now with rates rising for everyone Mortgage Prisoners are set to suffer even more – as Whistletree have confirmed that their standard variable rate will increase to 6.54% interest rate from November.
A group of lawyers from Harcus Parker are helping the victims of these excessively high interest rates to fight back and reclaim up to £50,000 in overpaid interest.
Previously, a TSB spokesperson said: “We are committed to treating our Whistletree customers fairly. TSB took ownership of the Whistletree mortgages in 2016 and subsequently created access to product transfers for customers who did not previously have access to them.
“Since then, over two-thirds of Whistletree customers have either transferred to a new Whistletree product or closed their mortgage with Whistletree. We write to customers twice a year to remind them about the opportunity to switch.”
Matthew Patching, Senior Associate at Harcus Parker, said: “With rates set to rise to even higher and more unsustainable levels, we want to make sure people know they have the option to fight back and can join our claim.” He added “regardless of whether people have now been able to switch to a new mortgage product, the claims aim to compensate them for overcharges that took place before they were able to do so.”
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