I would contact the ombudsman and tell them that you are issueing a Subject Access request for Woolwich and that shortly after the expiry of the 40 days you would hope to be able to present to them your argument with supporting documentation.

I am sure that this is something that should be considered by the ombudsman if it will bring finality to your complaint one way or another.

Barclays removed the Family Members from the Offset Facility not me.

They sent my dad a letter saying they could no longer offer that facility and called me to tell me that I had to change mortgage but not to worry I could change to any of their mortgages FOC and that they had the same mortgage (but without the family offset facility) and that it happened to be a very slightly lower rate than I was already one.

There was no solicitor involved just a letter from Barclays confirming the change had been made. It also mentioned BBBR which I queried and was told it was to be read as BoE for trackers and I was referred to their website which indeed said that. They have now changed the wording and denied it ever existed. I cannot get hold of the T&Cs or KFI which even they say I should have got hence this message.

The SAR might be an option to persue but I only have a few days before the Ombudsman rules against me. Thanks.

You removed the offset facility but did not change product? Or you removed family members from the mortgage?

If you removed family members from the mortgage then this would have had legal work with a solicitors involvment.

If you only removed a facility within the mortgage then you will still have the same product from when you first started that mortgage with Woolwich. In this case it is the mortgage product that was immediately before you removed the facility that you need. Removing the facility will not change the product or the conditions. You may have this paperwork but if not then contact the solicitor used and he should still have these details and copy of the mortgage offer.

Failing that you could send a Subject Access Request (SAR) to Woolwich. An SAR is a legal obligation to provide you with any and all information held by Woolwich about you whether this be audio, written or electronic data. It has to be provided in a readily readable and understandable format. The SAR must be complied with within 40 days under Data Protection Act. Woolwich can charge a small fee for this up to £10.00

I have neither.

In my case it was a remortgage initiated by Barclays to remove the Offset facility from other family members. I got a single letter with no full T&C, no KFI etc. etc. I believed the person on the phone when I queried BBBR who referred me to the web site glossary whch said BBBR meant BOE for Tracker Mortgages. Of course I can't prove this now with the documentation I have hence the request for a copy of other peoples.

Cheers
Simon

Contact your conveyancer or your mortgage broker. They are legally obliged to keep a copy on file for 6 years

no bonus:

From my Supplementary Mortgage Conditions on my Woolwich Base Rate Tracker:

"Interest rate changes on existing tracker rate mortgages take effect form the first of the month following a change to the Bank of England base rate. All references to the Barclays Bank Base Rate in your Offer document (where the reference is to "Barclays Bank PLC' Base Rate") and Key Facts Illustration document (where the reference is to "our Base Rate") should be taken to be references to the Bank of England Base Rate."

This is very clear. I do not see how on this language that Barclays / Woolwich can avoid matching the Bank of England Base Rate. I think that there are enough legacy base rate trackers out there that a collective lawsuit can be pressed - class action a la the USA.

See also this post, http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=46187043&postcount=161

I am offering cash to anyone who can supply a copy of these Mortgage Conditions/KFI since I didn't get a set, Barclays refuse to send me a copy (from 2006 ish) and are implying that they don't exist with that wording!

This has been with the Financial Ombudman for many months but Barclays are not co-operating and I need a copy URGENTLY (next few days) or the Ombudsman is going to close my complaint.

Cheers
Simon

I just talked to a rather unco-operative customer assistant on the phone, who said BBBR passes the rate changes on after the first of each month, on a monthly basis, every time the BBBR is changed (by the way, when asked if the BBBR will follow the BOE rate, especially if BOE rates goes down to 0% later in 2009, she said "Barclays is not legally obliged to follow the BOE rates in its BBBR".

So, shop around for a guaranteed deal if you can.

Hi Woody and anyone else reading.

Just to let you know your quote has now changed and no longer says "Barclays Bank Base Rate follows the Bank of England Base Rate."

On Barclays Website http://www.personal.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?site=pfs&task=popup1group&value=15396 it now states ...."Barclays Bank Base Rate typically follows the Bank of England Base Rate but is not guaranteed to do so" see below pasted from the link.

Looks like they are keeping their options open and may not pass on further rate cuts. This is likely to be because some people have trackers that is BBBR -0.75%. If interest rates were cut to 0.5% then they would find themselves in a position whereby they would have to pay customers as they would get into a "negative interest" situation!!!!!

Barclays Bank Base Rate

Barclays Bank Base Rate typically follows the Bank of England Base Rate but it is not guaranteed to do so. The Bank of England Base Rate can go up or down and is announced by the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee every month.

Current interest rate
(effective from 09/01/09)Barclays Bank Base RateBank of England base rate1.50%1.50%

Regards to all

Toni

From my Supplementary Mortgage Conditions on my Woolwich Base Rate Tracker:

"Interest rate changes on existing tracker rate mortgages take effect form the first of the month following a change to the Bank of England base rate. All references to the Barclays Bank Base Rate in your Offer document (where the reference is to "Barclays Bank PLC' Base Rate") and Key Facts Illustration document (where the reference is to "our Base Rate") should be taken to be references to the Bank of England Base Rate."

This is very clear. I do not see how on this language that Barclays / Woolwich can avoid matching the Bank of England Base Rate. I think that there are enough legacy base rate trackers out there that a collective lawsuit can be pressed - class action a la the USA.

Don't forget when you are shopping around for savings rates, that the interest rate you are currently getting on your offset is a net equivalent rate, so always compare net rates, Obviously, if you can find a better rate, if , when the interest is credited to your account, you withdraw it and pay it off your mortgage it will have the same effect as offset. Don't be tempted to change rate if you withdraw savings as you can always transfer back when rates change in the future and the low interest rate is the same should you need to use your reserve and apart from that you won't get such a low tracker anywhere else without paying a fee and having early redemption fees attached.Rate changes for existing customers, whether up or down are always effective from the first of the month following the base rate changes.

Having looked at my agreement - the deal is they have to decide 'within a month' what they will do when the BBBR rate chenges - upwards next day and a month for any downwards movement? - I have an offset - now looking to find a better rate of return for my savings than what might be on offer soon- watch this space!

Thanks very much. It's so hard to get hold of them, and to find someone helpful enough to ask. I might just leave it as is at the moment, until I need the extra cash in my pocket (which probably won't be long).

You need to telephone them and ask them to reduce your payments with immediate effect, and will need to do so after every rise/cut in the baserate. You'll probably find that you are being charged at the correct rate for last month 4.5% BR plus whatever your margin is, b utthe rates don't fall until the first of the following mon th - ie you won't be on 2.18% until 1st January, which you won't see until you get your statement at the end of February. If you want to reduce the overpayments that you are effectively making you have to contcat them directly, otherwise, in line with what everyone else does, they'll continue taking the same DD payment each month regardless, which will effectively be reducing the term of your mortgage.

Cheers

Hel - you need to contact them to adjust your payments otherwise the rate won't change until Sept and you won't see any difference until Oct / Nov

I've currently got a tracker mortgage at 0.18% above BBBR which I've had for a couple of years. The question is, when are Barclays going to reduce my mortgage rate, I'm currently paying 5.18% and should now be paying 2.18%. The 2 previous years I've only received changes once a year (September) - am I likely going to have to wait til September 09 for my reduction? I thought the idea is to help people out now.

Thanks