Mortgage maneouvre misfires

This summer I moved my mortgage from Northern Rock to Legal & General.

The deal was completed on 2 July, and on 4 July Northern Rock announced that it was taking over the L&G mortgage book.

Two days earlier, Nothern Rock had charged me £710 for the transfer of my mortgage. Both Northern Rock and L&G told me that they have no problem with this £710 being charged, despite the fact that both parties knew that my mortgage transfer would be negated within just 48 hours.

My complaint letters received condescending 'smokescreen' responses.

Northern Rock replies: Mr Foley moved his mortgage
to L&G Bank when it was part of the L&G Group.
Northern Rock's acquisition of L&G Bank was not
effected until August 2002. When Mr Foley completed
his mortgage with L&G on 2 July 2002, almost one
month earlier, the negotiations had not been completed
and the proposed acquisition had not been made
public. Even after its disclosure to the Stock
Exchange, the acquisition remained subject to formal
regulatory approval.

The charges he incurred as a result of leaving Northern
Rock were entirely consistent with the unambiguous
terms and conditions applying to his mortgage.

We totally refute Mr Foley's assertion that we have
issued condescending smokescreen responses to him
on this issue. I can confirm, however, that we have
issued our final response under our internal complaints
procedure and advised Mr Foley of his right to refer his
complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.