Northern Rock customers sue TSB for £800m after being trapped in high-interest mortgages

It’s understood that TSB Financial institution is dealing with a authorized motion price as much as £800m, introduced by prospects who declare they had been locked into mortgages with ‘excessively excessive’ rates of interest.

As we speak, six years to the day since TSB purchased £3.3bn mortgages from Northern Rock, roughly 200 owners whose mortgages have been administered by TSB’s ‘Whistletree’ model have issued claims for round £50,000 every in overpaid curiosity.

Harcus Parker, a regulation agency of specialist group motion solicitors which is bringing the case within the Excessive Court docket, confirmed this morning that as much as 27,000 folks might in the end be part of the Whistletree claims litigation.

Since TSB purchased the loans, the legal professionals mentioned it has charged its Whistletree prospects nearly double the charges charged to its different prospects.

“Till lately, it had additionally refused to permit these ‘mortgage prisoners’ to entry to ‘peculiar’ TSB fixed-rate offers on the identical foundation as its different prospects,” a press release shared with this paper learn.

“Many of those debtors have unblemished reimbursement histories, however have been unable to maneuver to a different lender as a result of they’d not qualify underneath new, stricter affordability necessities imposed by regulators.”

Anyone whose mortgage has been administered by ‘Whistletree’ is eligible to assert, the agency burdened.

Prospects who took out a ‘Collectively Mortgage’, which allowed debtors to entry lending of as much as 125 per cent of the worth of their houses, could possibly search further compensation.

“At a listening to on the Chancery Division of the Excessive Court docket shall be requested to make a Group Litigation Order, consolidating the claims and making it attainable for anyone who has ever had a mortgage administered by ‘Whistletree’ to hunt compensation,” in keeping with the assertion.

in response to the motion TSB mentioned “it’s conscious of potential motion proposed by Harcus Parker and can robustly defend its place.”

A spokesperson shared: “We’re dedicated to treating our Whistletree prospects pretty. TSB took possession of the Whistletree mortgages in 2016 and subsequently created entry to product transfers for purchasers who didn’t beforehand have entry to them. Since then, over two-thirds of Whistletree prospects have both transferred to a brand new Whistletree product or closed their mortgage with Whistletree. We write to prospects twice a yr to remind them concerning the alternative to change.”