Further to my article yesterday about Britain's much maligned "rip off" financial services industry gouging its own self inflicted wounds wrt reputational damage, the Times reports today that Halifax has been accused of undervaluing customers' properties when they come to remortgage, forcing them on to more expensive deals.
"Brokers say borrowers may see as much as 40% wiped off the value of their homes, although prices have fallen by an average 21% from their August 2007 peak, according to Halifax’s own house-price index.
The down-valuations mean borrowers no longer qualify for the lender’s best deals. Halifax charges 5.29% for its five-year fix if you have equity of 5% or less, compared with only 3.99% at 25%, a difference of £2,600 a year on a £200,000 interest-only loan."
Quite how much damage to their own reputations that those working in Britain's much maligned "rip off" financial services industry are prepared to self inflict is not yet clear. However, what is clear is that Britain's financial services industry will self implode in the coming years if they don't sort themselves out wrt customer care, honesty and ethics.
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