----< Nationwide *still* hunting down post six-year shortfall claims >------------
That's the story we're hearing from customers. They claim Nationwide still wants repossession shortfall money from customers against which it had begun action more than six years after the repossession. This follows Nationwide's announcement that it would not chase repossessed customers after six years, shortly after Halifax said it would no longer pursue beyond the six year limit. Nationwide has been consistently voted the lender with the worst customer treatment in our worst lender booth.

----< Is the FSA wet? >------------------------------------------------------------
The Sunday Times has continued its reporting of the Financial Service Authorities' unwillingness to act against lenders that mistreat customers. The Sunday Times claims that the FSA is run by ex-lender staff. We can't comment about the managers in the FSA but there is plenty of evidence that the FSA recruited staff from organisations close to lenders and the insurance industry.

Take this news item from UK Business Park's Financial Services pages in 1998: "The Financial Services Authority's new headquarters at Canary Wharf is taking on staff from the Building Societies Commission, the Treasury's insurance directorate, the Friendly Societies Commission, and the Registry of Friendly Societies. 31-Dec-98"

You can see the original of this report at:
http://www.ukbusinesspark.co.uk/bpfina98.htm

Sources in IMRO - subsequently part of the FSA - told us unattributably a year ago that the FSA would fight having to regulate lenders if the Government or Parliament told it to and would do it through cost-benefit analysis. That comment is increasingly looking to be true - check out this link to an interview with Howard Davies, chairman of the FSA, in which he talks about the FSA's er, determination to examine mis-selling. Remember... this is an organisation that has recruited staff from the industries it is regulating. Paragraph 48 is interesting, as is Davies' reaction to questioning on "Point 5".
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199899/cmselect/cmtreasy/881/9110204.htm

Given the jelly-like ferocity of the FSA, it's no surprise that the Council of Mortgage Lenders is desperate to be regulated by it. See: http://www.cml.org.uk/press/2000/keydec.htm (and note CML Director General Michael Coogan's adoption of the cost-benefit analysis theme and his concern about those oh-so-profitable insurance deals).

We think it is interesting that the mortgage lending industry is pushing a new kind of mortgage protection insurance on the Government in the hope that it can cut the country's DSS bills. There's just two problems:

1. Many of us were already sold mortgage insurance by mortgage lenders - that turned out to be a rip-off
2. The FSA is composed of many staff who worked for the Association of British Insurers, which is the organisation that is working with the Council of Mortgage Lenders to push these new, presumably more effective (for the customers, that is) insurances into the limelight.

Our prediction: get ready for the next mortgage rip-off and watch the regulator turning a blind eye even as it starts.

Sunday Times' reports on the FSA's non-plans to protect customers can be enjoyed at:
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/01/16/stimonnws01026.html?999

The 16 Jan edition of the Sunday Times carried several stories of interest to mortgage borrowers. You can see them indexed here:
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/01/16/stimoncon01001.html?999

----< Abbey National's Scrooge subsidiary >------------------------------------
The online Express is carrying a report about Abbey National's subsidiary First National. At issue is First National's practice of charging interest on the amounts customers should pay after a court has ruled what they should pay.

For the full story, go to:
http://www.lineone.net/express/00/01/19/city/m0400lender-d.html

Thanks to the reader who brought most of the backup material for these stories to our attention.

----< Changes to the site >-----------------------------------------------------
We let you see which MPs are on the side of customers and which are on the side of lenders with links to mortgage-related Parliamentary debates.

Go to the Repossession section to see an index.

We've done the same thing with the Treasury "investigation" into endowment misselling. It's in the Homebuying section.

[ends]

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