Capstone Mortgages – Rip Off
UPDATE 12/01/2010
I am getting a letter a week at the moment from Capstone Mortgage Services telling me that they are charging me for my arrears. My insurance company have told me in writing that they faxed this years insurance documents directly to Capstone and yet Capstone have still forced me to have their Insurnace product.
The Ombudsman is weak and inept and companies such as Capstone are able to play on this, Capstone Mortgage Services will not be getting this money and I am now talking to a solicitor to see what my options are for sueing them direct.
I will update on how my capstone action pans out.
But ANYONE reading this must avoid using this company at all costs.If you are contemplating using Capstone Mortgages then you may want to read about my experience which is similar to many others, you may well want to think again.
UPDATE I am getting a huge amount of negative feedback on Capstone Mortgage Services, it must be time for some investigation with teeth into the practices deployed by Capstone Mortgage Services by official watchdog bodies.
Capstone have been the worst mortgage company I have ever dealt with and I am amazed they are getting away with the practice of trying to intimidate people into paying twice for home insurance and when they don’t pay twice then Capstone levy charges which I believe must be against the code of conduct.
How is this done?
Well its quite simple -
- First you must be one of the unlucky people to have taken a mortgage out with them or their other face which is ‘Preferred Mortgages’.
- Then what you do is get your own house insurance because the home insurance they offer is not competitive.
- Then on the anniversary of that insurance you renew your policy as normal because its value for money.
- About two months later Capstone start sending you letters telling you that your mortgage is in arears.
- Your name is then entered on an auto dialing system and their collections department start ringing you night and day but when you answer the phone hangs up immediately and you hear a message to urgently call them.
- You call them and stay on hold for up to 30 mins.
- When somebody answers you are accused of having mortgage arears and that your house it at risk if you do not pay up.
- After 15 mins you find out that what they have done is forced you to have their home insurance without you signing a single document and that the arrears is actually the £300 they have charged you for this privilage.
- After explaining that you have your own house insurance you are then told that you should of sent a copy to them and because you didn’t do this they can force their own expensive product choice on you.
- When you argue about this practice you are told that it is in the small print of your contract but when pushed they refuse to show you this.
- When by chance you discover that Capstone have a copy of your own house insurance on file because your insurance company sent it direct they still refuse to refund the money and continue charging admin costs.
When this happened to me I contacted the customer services manager after four months of Capstone telling me not to worry on the phone and then sending demanding letters through the post and threatening answerphone messages left on the phone.
This Capstone manager promised to sort it out and promised that the Capstone Mortgage Auto Dialing service and their collections team would leave me alone. He also promised that the charges that should never have been levied would be rescinded. Now almost a year on I am still getting the same letters, the same threatening phone calls and the same charges being levied, whats more today I had a big suprise!!!!
You guessed it, one year on from the first attempt at extortion Capstone Mortgage Services have sent me a new letter for this years insurance, even though Legal and General faxed the insurance policy DIRECT to the Capstone HQ and Legal and General wrote to me confirming this.
That is another £300 added to my ficticious outstanding account!!!!
I rang them immediately and was told by customer services once again that this was an error and that they would refund the cost of the insurance, however, they cannot refund the charges because that is the collections department who are independent. I then found out that last years insurance was refunded but only to the tune of 50% , the other 50% they requested from Legal and General who quite rightly told them to get stuffed so they levied it back on me.
Now considering that they cannot show me my original contract or where I am bound to take their insurance without signing for it, even though I have asked repeatedly to see this contract, also considering despite this lack of proof I have complied with their wishes and so has a leading insurance provider, how can this practice be legal and not outright extortion?
- When you investigate further it becomes clear that this practice is designed to bully people into giving Capstone Mortgages money under the pretence of mortgage arrears.
It does not make sense to avoid factoring this story into your decision making process when looking at mortgage providers – Capstone Mortgages would be the last company I would use and I will not roll over and just accept this immoral and unethical practice either.
Watch this space too…..
Responsible Finance is an issue in other countries too – Kenya
Hi Tessa
That is very interesting that Companies house have contacted you. SPML have just had their accounts posted on the companies house website (you can download a copy for £1) and they make for very interesting reading.
It appears they and the other Lehman parasites i.e pml &sppl and not solvent and say they are in the process of winding down.
You will get some fantastic help re your court case on cag so do start a thread on there.
What a relief that I found this website. Thank you Shaun and thank you all the contributors. Having read all of the posts I dont think there is anything new I can add. I spent 4 hours on the phone today to Capstone, yes you read correctly, 4 hours!! The reason i called them is because I am over 5000 pounds in arrears, 4800 pound of this is various charges. The first man i spoke to refused to put me through to his boss, said they were all busy!!!!!! I almost lost mind. I asked what they do to justify their charges, one girl actually said “well,we have to pay our staff” I am lodging an official complaint on Monday to the Managing Director, Ken Burke. This person probably doesnt exist because as we all know they are unbelievable liars. They bullied me by threatening me with eviction before Xmas, i paid them 2000 pounds to get them off my back, it ruined my xmas because i was so angry. They are crooks without a doubt and id love to see them shut down and the liars and crooks jailed but i fear in this liberal country where criminals have more rights than the victims we have no chance.
Im sorry to read about everyones misfortune at Capstones hands but do not give up,keep fighting,hassle them, threaten them with the FSA,FOC,OFT etc. I hate to admit it but sometimes if im bored while on a long drive Ill ring Capstone just to abuse them and ask them awkward questions, I then marvel at their extraordinary tactics. I’ll post again if i have any luck with my claim for getting charges back. Has anyone else had any luck with this by the way???
Thank you,keep fighting and if youre not fighting then get started NOW!!
Hi Everyone,I cant believe i am reading your stories i am with LMC (london mortgage comapany) and they are about to sell my mortgage to this company ..i dont want to leave LMC can anybody help so I dont move from LMC??
Thanks
Hi Shaun
Just read this:
http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/articles/en/us/?assetID=1245199060457
And this is what I make of it…
Particularly revealing are the following:
In more recent times as the economic environment has deteriorated, there has been more emphasis on special servicing, with increasing arrears/possessions and losses in the portfolios. Capstone is experienced in special servicing and has developed proven processes and tools for debt management and loss mitigation.
Capstone Mortgage Services was created in 2006 from the combination of loan origination and servicing operations of Southern Pacific Mortgage Ltd. (SPML) and Preferred Mortgages Ltd. (PML), which were wholly owned subsidiaries of Lehman Brothers Holdings PLC (now in administration). Now defunct, both the SPML and PML brands were active in the origination of U.K. nonconforming mortgages for a number of years.
We understand that the Lehman administrators intend to retain Capstone and develop and grow the business, by retaining control over the loans owned by Lehman and diversifying into third-party servicing. Thirty-five long-term servicing contracts are currently in place, giving greater certainty to cash flow.
CHART 3 (Organisational flow chart) shows that the have a TCF (Treating Customers Fairly) Manager. Yes I bet they do since the FSA started sticking their noses in. Get their name and apply the pressure because they need real help doing their job properly. What a joke.
Capstone employed 481 staff as of March 31, 2009. 65% (314) are employed in either customer services (104) or default (special) servicing (210). As a comparison, there was 140 staff in special servicing when we reported in January 2008, representing a 50% increase in headcount in this area.
That’s twice as many staff dealing with repos compared to customer services…
The work environment is positive, with culture-building in place through training, a company newsletter, and other activities such as philanthropy-related events.
That’s where we’ve been going wrong…they’re philanthropists not the abusive loan sharks we had them marked up as. All caggers should consider a serious attitude adjustment. They’re nice people really.
Training is mandatory for all employees and incorporates all regulatory and legislative requirements.
Well at least their training takes note of regulatory and statutory requirements.
The primary responsibilities of the compliance team are:
Supporting the business regarding all aspects of relevant regulation and legislation;
Primary liaison with the Financial Services Authority (FSA);
Identifying regulatory, legislative, and commercial impact on the business and assisting in implementing any required changes to processes and practices;
You wouldn’t know it would you…?
Capstone has provided its mission statement, which confirms a commitment to customer service. Its processes are established accordingly and give recognition to the concept of Treating Customers Fairly (TCF). There is a TCF manager/champion reporting directly to the director of servicing, who assists the business with ensuring that fair outcomes are delivered, and there is a steering group that meets monthly to debate issues arising and to maintain consistency.
Can we ask for a copy of the mission statement?
The general servicing team supports such key processes as indexing of scanned images into appropriate workflows, setting up direct debits and keying failed payments to accounts, and processing manual fees and refunds. The department deals with variations to customer agreements, e.g., lettings, deeds of postponement, and transfer of equity.
There we go. Clear as day. The great equity cash grab scam. Relieving people of the burden of looking after their own equity.
Capstone produced, on average, 3,847 redemption quotes per month in the first quarter of 2009.
Obviously we can’t know how many of these were people who managed to remortgage away from Capstone/SPPL/SPML/Preferred etc (probably only a small fraction) but on this figure extrapolated across all 4 quarters that in my estimate makes Capstone responsible for about one-qarter of all possessions in the UK. THIS IS AN ASTONISHING FIGURE.
With no new loans now being originated, the size of the portfolio has been steadily reducing as demonstrated in table 4. Since our last report, management focus has continued to be on arrears management and recoveries processes, particularly in light of the nonconforming nature of the pools and the current economic environment.
April 2009: 412 Repossessions
January 2009: 347 Repossessions
October 2008: 494 Repossessions
That’s 1200 families chewed up and spat out in the space of six months. Nice work Capstone. Hope you sleep at night.
TCF is embedded in arrears management to ensure that all customers, particularly those who have a genuine desire to resolve problems, are treated fairly and consistently
Anyone out there with any experience of such? I certainly can’t recall ever being treated fairly, despite raising numerous issues with them.
As an overlay to the special servicing team, there is a loan modification (LM) team whose responsibility is to assess loans that have either: (i) the potential to go into arrears?say, if a customer contacts Capstone to advise that their income has reduced and that they cannot afford full payments; or (ii) loans that are already in arrears. This team has the authority within a structured mandate matrix to agree modifications.
We should write to the loan modifications team and ask what the criteria are of the structured mandate matrix and specifically ask if they can modify 50 loans a month what can you do for me…
On Repossession:
If a loss remains on the mortgage account post-sale, there is a recoveries team that will ascertain the likelihood of obtaining payment of the shortfall from the debtor. This is done via debt collection agencies (DCAs), of which Capstone has a panel of three. The DCAs operate on a “no trace?no fee” basis.
There we have it. Absolute proof that repossession is the beginning of the horror not the end. They will pursue you for years after they have stolen your home.
In addition, a review of the file is undertaken to ascertain whether negligence action can and should be taken against professional advisers, i.e., solicitors and valuers. There were 363 new claims in the past 12 months. Going forward, all losses will be reviewed in the context of possible professional negligence claims.
Unbelievable…when they have pushed you to the wall they then going after all of the other people in the machine that helped in this criminal enterprise. Even the solicitors, estate agents and valuers who assisted capstone in robbing you of your home have strong reason to be very wary indeed of the blood sucking scum.
The interesting aspect of this report is the upbeat attitude of the writers to the company they are reporting on. They do not seem to have challenged propaganda issued by the LB Phoenix subsidiary about their friendly positive and helpful attitude towards the poor souls they care for who are forced into such terrible arrears.
There seems a lot more which could be challenged if someone had the right phorensic skill to analyse the pronouncements and figures. It may then give a true picture of what they actually mean.
This issue is known about in the House of Commons. Several constituents appear to be writing to their MP’s. I read in an article that a member of the House of Lords had attempted to raise the matter officially. The crux of the question is why the impotence and silence from government agencies or even the opposition parties? Any action seems to be with individuals who with their own solicitors are going through the courts on a case by case basis, adopting an indomitable spirit, and getting some small concessions from the occasional Judge who happens to be well informed.
I sometimes wonder if the FBI has any interest or jurisdiction?(It is a subsidiary of an American Firm). Our own systems seem to have failed us.
Good evening, I am writing this after receiving a letter today and 2 infuriating calls advising me that an £85 charge has been levied on to my mortgage with Capstone. I had a small amount of arrears on my mortgage of £102 in February. I had received a letter advising that my arrangement re the arrears (all of a few hundred pounds) had ended. I called them on the day of receiving the letter and arranged that the full amount of £102 was taken with my existing mortgage payment on the 1st March. This was paid as had every other payment on the arrangement. I have only ever missed 1 payment to my mortgage. I then received a call on the 3rd March to be advised that my account was in £85 arrears. I advised that the arrears had been repaid and was told that they could see that was the case and this would be referred to be rectified. I have now received a letter advising that I am still in arrears of £85. I called them immediately and was advised that the charges stand. I then requested to speak to a manager and explained the situation. I was advised that he would have to listen to the calls and i would receive a call back today. This never materialised. I have called them again and was advised that it had been reviewed again and the charges stand however no one can advise me where they have come from. I have a letter from them confirming the arrangement that was made. I then requested a copy of my conversations with them whereby i was advised that it would be rectified to be told that they wouldnt do that. You are entitled to request details of any data that a company hold about you including copies of calls and transcripts. I am currently waiting to speak with someone tomorrow with regards to getting these charges removed but having read all these previous posts I will not let this lie. Watch this space…..
Hey peeps
Take a look at this. Looks like someone has been busy gathering info.
http://capstonewatch.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/who-are-capstone-mortgage-services-why-watch-them/
And still these guys walk away free from the offices of officialdom to their expensive limousines, while their victims have nothing but a cardboard overcoat, and a plastic sheet to cover them up at night. The news tonight understates the magnitude of this issue.
Got up early this morning to track recent breaking news and commentary on Lehmans, their auditors Ernst and Young, and the private phone calls between Washington and Downing Street about the proposed takever by Barclays. It makes compelling reading if you are able to keep up with it.
I cannot understand how losses of billions have acrued from people defaulting on mortgages. Looking at figures quoted earlier, they should only have had about 2,500 cases over a critical period of two years. if the cost of reposession is £1K in court fees, that only amounts to £2.5 million for the whole of the UK, and then they can claim it back from the debtor. Loss of equity is not technically an issue as courts will not allow negative equity in a reposession defence.
If we repeat that figure by multiplying by a factor of 52 for all the atates of the USA, it only amounts to £130 Miliion.(loose change for Dick Fuld) The state of California alone has lost $200 million and Lehman’s filed for $600 Billion on September 15 2008.
The more I read on this the less the truth is clear. If someone can explain how this has all led to a global crisis under the leadership of a chairman who like a serial killer threatens publicly on television to tear apart anyone who challenges the integrity of Lehmans, I think we would all like to know.
http://capstonewatch.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/who-are-capstone-mortgage-services-why-watch-them/
IF YOU NEED TO FIND ANYTHING OUT ABOUT THIS CRIMINAL COMPANY WHO ARE STILL TRADING WITH IMPUNITY THE ABOVE LINK TELLS IT ALL.THOUSANDS OF ILLEGAL REPOSSESIONS AND NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE ABOUT IT AND STILL DESPITE THE OUTCRY THE AUTHORITIES HAVE TAKEN NO ACTION,THE FSA IS FRANKLY A JOKE.
IF YOU WANT TO RECOVER THE ILLEGAL CHARGES THEY HAVE CHARGED YOU OR NEED HELP FIGHTING REPOSSESSION OR ANY LITIGATION LOG IN TO THE CONSUMER ACTION GROUP UNDER THE SPML THREAD AND YOU WILL RECEIVE ALL THE HELP YOU NEED.
I am just about to write a letter on behalf of my friend who suffers with depression, she has constantly been called and bullied and overcharged by this “Vile” company who totally “kick you when your down”. I am appalled at how she has been treated for such low arrears. With all the charges they continually slap on she has no way of reducing the arrears unless she borrows from someone.
Where are the Regulators?
STEER WELL CLEAR.
Sarah
I’ve read the posts here and would like to thank people for sharing their experiences. I have been an unwilling customer for about 5 years and have suffered in the same way as others before me. I am contributing today only because I am currently undergoing a problem with Capstone that is not previously documented here. I was in arrears for a couple of years but cleared my arrears in full over a year ago. Capstone are refusing to update my credit report to show that my account is now well managed;payments are made satisfactorily and there are no arrears. They state instead that it is their ‘policy’ to continue to record a default on a monthly basis once recorded. This policy should be distinguised from the fact that a default shows on a credit report for 6 years. This is a transparant attempt to hold customers in a relationship when they would normally be able to move lender. Given that customers are typically paying several interest rate points above the base rate, it means they can hold onto you against your will. I am not suggesting that the default should be totally removed but a credit company is responsible for providing the credit reference agencies with the most up to date and pertinant information in relation to that account. There are a number of codes that can be used to show the status of the account and the most appropriate one should be used to help other lenders make a decision based on the recent transactional history on the account. Despite having no arrears and maintaining my payments satisfacorily the status of mortgage account on my credit report is [8] which meana: account in default; and arrangements to service the debt not kept. This is inaccurate and designed to mislead and deter other lenders from offering me a new mortgage, which is what has happened.
My period of debt was relatively short and all my other credit accounts are well managed and satisfactory, yet due to the actions of this company I am to be treated as though I am a current debtor .
Like others here I am using the FSA and the Information Commissioner to see if I can challange this policy. I have complained to the FSA before so I’m not holding my breath. The company will do nothing and stand by it’s ‘policy’, so much for the Fair Treatment of Customers!. I think the suggestion that this company is trading in insolvency in very exiting and I am closely monitoring the media and Companies House website for further info. If anyone is interested, I’ll be happy to update on my issue as it develops.
This is a very important point. I think almost everyone complaining here is affected, although they may not realise they are, nor the sheer nastiness that pervades the business strategy of this organisation. It means they can hold you to a bad credit record indefinately which is against the principals of insolvency. I am looking into it myself but we need some professional guidance.
Sadly the regulatory bodies, even investigative journalists, have frequently been called into question for their inaction over most of the cases reported on this and similar blogs.
we are being repossessed on thursday by capstone and there is nothing we can do about it apart from pay off anything we owe. But when you have mortgage debt who will loan you the money.
Interesting article. Where did you got all the information from? Wiki?
Shaun – Nope this is a real blog not a spam compilation.
It is also soundly based on contributors experience of other real blogs set up after shaun started this, and have been mentioned by followers of this tale: Capstonewatch, Consumer Action Group, Modern times in Mudshires by Boz, and occasional references in online news such as the Telegraph and Mail.
I cannot put the websites in but you can google them.
Good luck with Thursday Kerry. You can still challenge the reposession if you instruct a good solicitor on the basis of some of the content of the above sites.Capstone are very experienced at rushing proceedings through a naive DJ. I guess though you may not be able to afford one to take on the might, poltical influence and hidden wealth of this group, but some people appear to have experienced success..
Hi All,
We have been fighting these people for 3 years now 20 times in court, The case with FOS and the FSA, Lender friendly is how I would put it, yet the courts at JD/DDJ/DG level are not much better, the more complaints the FSA get the more chance you have of getting the right outcome. The problem is that they have been funded now and are a going concern 6.7billion turnover, joint action by 26000 homeowners in the High Court is what is needed (the amount of
homeowners currently in arrears out of 79860 loan accounts).
For those facing a repossession date, apply to the court to set-aside and offer a payment of
£50 on top your monthly payment. Check you contract read all the small print (you will find things that will act in you favour) There is more but you need to read it.
This is one company that needs to be closed down, or at least fined by the FSA in the millions
of pounds, since the loan to value is not more than 60 percent most of the homeowners cannot
get out of this mess.
in haste, but i have been reading these various blogs/threads for a few weeks now and have found them invaluable (esp the CAG one) in providing content for addressing Capstone. Briefly, i am a dormant rep for Cartel Client Review BUT i get no financial benefit from reccomending that you get in touch with your local contact. Cartel are a claims company, one of the biggest; strong at taking on cases if pretty slow, but have the weight, finance and strength to take on this lot and they really hate them. If you are in the position of being repossessed they also have a special team to take on and prevent this, but they are heavily overloaded, but its worth knowing for a last resort. Given there are now no up front fees with Cartel i can’t see what there is to lose, except time, with putting the cases to Cartel and giving them enough joint ammunition for a group action. they already believe many of the contracts to be unenforceable.
over to you.
Although running a business sounds cool and all that. But in fact, I think you have to form a schedule so that you don’t get too involved. I liked that stuff you talked about “life is balance”. Maybe hiring someone do your work is a smart idea.
Would this be the Cartel Client Review recently suspended by the Ministry Of Jusitice and reported on by Andrew Penman in the Daily Mirror?
There are a number of negative Blogs on Google about this, so I would like to be clear about who you are recommending.
Hi,
Just a quick note to everyone that all calls should be recorded for legal purposes so if there are any queries or things you do not agree with then request a recording of the conversation. Good idea to make a note of the date and time of each call. If they cannot retrieve the calls then you can report them to the FSA.
great stuff thx
The matter has been referred to the Lib Dems. i am waiting for our Parliamentary Candidate to get back to me. Vince Cable has received a pile of papers from me.
I suggest people look at this group of solicitors,Weil Gotshal in relation to SML/Eurosail, Barclays etc. Talk about conflict of interest.
The reasion that Capstone/SPML impose their Insurance on people, is because they don’t want you to know that your mortgage has been used as security and your property deeds could be anywhere in the world
if you take your own out, then your documents will be returned, insisting that Eurosail etc, be added as mortgagee. They are not a mortgage company.
This is also linked with Goldman Sachs, and the rest of the pirates
Vince Cable is not the only MP aware of this. Our own MP has told me that there is all party concern. The problem as far as I can perceive is this: it would appear that the current government made the rules to allow all this to happen back in about 2004, and like the MP expenses scandal, it would be very embarrasing to let the cat out of the bag just before the election. The government seems to be trying to keep the lid on factual information about a still existing recession from interfering with the deluded sense of well being it is generating in the minds of the electorate.
http://capstonemortgageservices.wordpress.com/about-2/
THIS IS AN EXCELLENT SITE WITH ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS COMPANY,THE WAY THEY OPERATE AND HOW TO FIGHT THEM AND WIN.
IT ALSO GIVES DETAILS OF HOW TO GET BACK ALL THE ARREARS FEES THEY HAVE CHARGED YOU UNFAIRLY.
FOR ANYONE SUFFERING OR WHO HAS SUFFERED ITS A MUST LOOK.
My friend mentioned to me your blog, so I thought I’d check it out. Very interesting material, will be back for more!
http://capstonemortgageservices.wordpress.com/about-2/
“The dedicated help site for capstone mortgage services victims that says it all and does it all!”
Thank you peter for a link to this excellent site which is new to me.It contains so much information on these dreadful scoundrels and hopefully if people respond and take the recommended action rather than sitting still these rogue traders will at last get their comeuppance which is long overdue.
Action is required not words.
A superb take on this you have, while I don’t go along with every thing that has been explained I can see your case.
I have tried today to come to an agreement with them, they more or less said, unless I can come up with a token payment, even though they are getting money from the dwp on the 24th they will enforce the eviction notice. just started a new job and dont get payed for a month. i have offered to pay £70 – 100 a month on top of my mortgage amount and they have said because it will take 3 years to clear my arrears, then no arrangement can be set in place.
I’m busy all the time it seems and do not have time for all this nonsense, as I’m sure we all are but fair play to you all for putting this on the radar, I have scanned through and its clear that these are underhanded tactics that we are experiencing….Class action and exposure required, be back on this soon.
Thanks that was a fantastic article.
For Aileen,
Do not feel pressured by these people. It isn’t clear whether you have their internal eviction notice, or an offical notification from the courts of your impending eviction. If it is the latter you should have a bit of breathing space.
If you can make reasonable arrangements for payments, it is up to the courts to decide.A Judge would be foolish to sanction your eviction. If they get an order,(they are sometimes able to fast track things through) you can have it revoked by the Judge and they can be compelled to follow the NORGAN precedent. This means that you can agree to pay your arrears over the whole length of the mortgage, not just in a couple of years. You need to go to the court though to represent this yourself. Either get a good solicitor or CAB to help if you can. The latter are free of charge,
Much as they abuse the process, and like to present ithemselves in a position of authority, administrative staff at Capstome are not the law, and I doubt they have any real awareness of its provisions, You may find they use innovative ways or solictors to get you out of your home, but in the end you have posession and what seems like a good case.
I hope this helps
hi im just letting you no ive just lost my wife and been going through the paper work and just found out that we have been paying capstone for 4years this insurance it turns out they sent us no paper work on this i thourt that eurosail was the life insurance its not so i could louse my home
Just been reading these comments regarding Capstone and found the site very interesting.
I split up with my partner 2 years ago. She was an alcoholic. Capstone would not forward any letters to my new address. My partner failed to pay her share of the mortgage and so we went into arrears. While this was going on, my solicitor tried to get my partner to agree to sell the house and even tried to get an order to sell the house, but as she had two children from a previous relationship. This was a lost cause. I continually kept in contact with Capstone and even my solicitor wrote to them. The only replies we got were “if my ex signed and agreed to them sending me or my solicitor copies of any letters from Capstone”. They would. My ex never even bothered replying.
To cut a long story short. My solicitor received a mortgage redemption statement from them in March and when they contacted Capstone, they were told the house was repossessed on the 7th January and sold at the beginning of March. I had no idea any of this was going on. What amazes me is the fact I still have not received anything from Capstone regarding the repossession apart from a mortgage statement dated May 2010, which mentions nothing about the house being repossessed.
They could not write to me, or my solicitor before the house was repossessed, but now they can. I had no chance to make some kind of offer or even go to court and defend myself. I contacted Optima Legal and they are just as bad as Capstone. No help.
I’m really not sure what I can do. I’m not a finance guru. Just your everyday bod. Any advice would be helpful.
Not sure what to advise on a personal front. It is yet another piece of evidence of how their cosy reltionship with some county courts, is used by solictors who are prepared to ruthlesly exploit innovative methods to obtain posession. I have written to my MP. There is an all party group of MP’s including Vince Cable who were working on the problem. The election seems to have put things on hold, but I am hoping this will be looked at in the pressures for reform.
You could try to find a good solicitor even at this stage. I have done so with a different and crooked organisation who acted in a similar fashion, I was succesful but the bill came to over 15K,(a High Court case begins at 50K) and I also had these clowns to contend with.
Had you been able to defend your own case before reposession – a good judge would have listened to your case sympathetically, and you may have had a different outcome.
I hope this is of some help. Do not feel guilty that they have succeeded so far.They do not fight fair, and have greater resources.It isnt because they hold the moral high ground. I believe you can still go to court yourself, though the odds are stacked in their favour as they have been granted posession.
But all the best, good people have every sympathy for you.
Thanks for taking the time go over this, I’m strongly about it and love learning read more about this topic. If at all possible, when you gain expertise, does one mind updating your blog with more information? It is very helpful to do.
capstone must be stopped
Long time reader first comment. Hey I love what I’m reading overlooking your site and must say nice. I have a little blog myself with this topic. I came across your blog through google I hope I recieve traffic as if your site soon. I suppose . Well basically good posts on health We have enjoyed. The comments really are a bit short I discovered your internet site through AOL.
You can definitely see your enthusiasm in the work you write. The world hopes for more passionate writers like you who aren¡¯t afraid to say how they believe. Always go after your heart.
s p m l are in liquidation
you are professional.
But Capstone comtinue as an SPV created to’administer’ the assets – an innovative legal device which appears to allow them to Phoenix , then metamarphose into something. else.
Hi, good day. Wonderful post. You have gained a new subscriber. Pleasee continue this great work and I look forward to more of your great blog posts.
I took the mortage out with Capstone / SPML and yet when the survey was done on my property they requested that work needed to be done on my property and so they would hold a retainer of apporx ~£2,500, until the work was completed. 18 months down the line the work was completed and I sent into them via e-mail / fax and post copies of the invoices.
This was 2 and 1/2 years ago and still no sign of my money back, they are now requesting to see proofs of working being completed and the paper work of the original quote. This has now long been gone and i am now in the process of contacting a lawyer to get my money reimbursed to me. All I can say is that I wish I had not gone to them now and as soon as banks start lending again I will be off and will not give Capstone or SPML a glowimng report. They are the biggest bunch of cowboys going
I have just read that Capstone’s? assets are being bought out. I do not know what this will mean, but I guess it completes a part of the metamorphosis.
I have often wondered where the practices and missison ideoolgy for many of our issues was developed. I have just been watching the John Jakes North and South (series III) on television about the American Civil War. They describe the practices of land grabbing in the southern states which were destroyed economically by the war, as well as unfair credit contracts which load an individual with hidden charges, or simply added charges that are difficult to dispute. There is something called “scrip” which further loads the contract unfairly. The plot demonstrates that this is big business and can often involve government officials with insider knowledge or influence.
It maybe explains a lot.
Hi,
Just had a letter from capestone saying the bank of England have put the base rate up i checked and its still the same, they have now put my morgage up by 50 pound a month and want to take this months payment out on the 30th and not the 1st of the month can they take the money a day early and can they lie about the interest rate?
I find the practice of Capstone pretty common place nowdays. I work in a corporation and have done in various ones for three years. Everyone should no by now a corporation has no conscience. The live to extort money out of you. Loyalty means nothing to them. Even if it dirtys their own name. I have noticed in various products in life, eg mobile phones, credit cards or loans.. they will try and bolt on hidden insurances or helplines which can be easy to miss and hard to stop. Especially when they hold your bank details. It’s all very crooked and very corrupt and our regulators have no teeth to stop it. It’s not just corporations as we have seen but banks and their own charges have joined the bandwagon.
Fortunately I always paid Capstone in time and am about to leave them. Interestingly though they tried to push their insurance on me recently. I have a leasehold house with service charges that cover insurance. I sent them the proof as I have every year myself but they are trying to dispute or get it rewritten saying it is no longer valid.
I am fortunate enough to be able to make payments on time and smart enough to fight them back at the first hurdle as watch my finances like a hawk and check all corespondence carefully. It was not always like this and it took me 6 years to rebuild my credit and finances (hence why I was with capstone in first place). Good luck to everyone and I hope Vince Cable can sort this out.
Just to add my voice to the debate – AVOID AT ALL COSTS!
Until February of this year when we moved our mortgage to a ‘reputable’ lender we endured 2 and a half years of hell with Capstone/Preferred – without boring you with the details, in summary:
- Of the 30+ payments we made 3 (yes THREE) were correctly processed by Capstone!
- On a regular basis they would take random amounts from our Direct Debit each month, alwyas less than our monthly payment amount. When we called we were told this was correct however I would insist on making a debit card payment to ‘top-up’ to our correct amount to ensure we didn’t get into arrears
- On one occasion (when we were on holiday in New York) thye decided to take the direct debit twice thereby runining our break
- Each year when we received an annual statement it would be nonsense and I would have to write to tell them what it should say!
- Twice we (successfully) took them to the Ombudsman who decisively found in our favour and awarded us refunds/compensation
The staggering incompetance of these people is incredible – I’m sure I know a whole lot more about mortgages than they do (and I was a first time buyer who works in a restuarant!)
So glad they’re out of our lives and I’m still getting over the shock of having made our first 4 payments to our new lender without any issues whatsoever…
Just thought people would be interested in the following from another google info sheet:
It makes all of the foregoing rather interesting:
Capstone Mortgage Services to rebrand as Acenden
With new ownership, Capstone Mortgage Services, a third party specialist mortgage servicer is to rebrand as Acenden, probably in the fourth quarter of 2010.
As it is no longer ‘captive’ to Lehman Brothers, it is launching thenext phase of growth with the Acenden name. The company says it will complete its emergence as a standalone, financially strong company with the highest S&P special servicer ranking of any mortgage servicing company in the UK.
Amany Attia, CEO said: “Acenden will be the most experienced new entrant the market will ever see. We have taken the best of Capstone’s demonstrated capability in residential mortgage servicing and brought it to a new level.
“We have been very busy in the last year focusing resources and energy to offer a market-leading proposition and we have a new and strengthened management team.
“Clients and customers will benefit from our significant investment in the company – we have a completely new servicing system, have upgraded our data management and reporting capability and improved our analytic tools. Furthermore, we have rebuilt and strengthened our balance sheet and improved our liquidity to ensure the financial strength of the company.
“As the markets deteriorated and arrears and repossessions increased, we have added resources, teams and solutions to help our customers and clients deal with these problems, including creating what we believe to be the first loss mitigation team in the UK. We have also made a significant financial investment in upgrading our servicing system and telephony infrastructure.
Martin Frazer, commercial director said: “This is a new and exciting period for us and we are looking forward to a real growth period. We opened an office in Dublin in March 2010, are already servicing clients there and are, for the first time, open for business for new clients in the UK.
“We have a lot to offer as a full service, integrated provider of primary, special servicing and related administrative services for all residential mortgages, but for specialist and higher risk mortgage loans in particular. We look forward to making an impact in the market.”