We are sure you have
seen on TV those people who have checked their mortgage statements
and found thousands of dollars owed to them by their lender due
to bungles and computer errors. If you are anything like us you
probably just wrote them off as unique or at best rare cases of
mistakes that have been hyped up by the media. We did a little investigation
into this situation and found some pretty scary statistics.
To see an example of one of the stories shown on television in respect to bank errors see below.
To watch the video press the play button in the centre of the screen. The video should start within a few seconds .. and it only goes for a few minutes.
As you see in this video MortgageWatchdog.com.au even GUARANTEES that you have errors in your bank statements or they will refund your money and give you an additional $250 for wasting your time.
Important Note: We have organised a special discount for our visitors on this software but only through this link (if you go to the front of their site you will pay full price). Click here to find out how much money you are owed by your bank.
54% of home loan statements contain errors.
Staggering isn't it.
The Sydney Morning Herald commissioned a study into these errors.
They checked over 200 bank statements form 18 different lenders
and found that 54% of them contained errors. Hundreds of thousands
of Australians are potentially effected by overcharges on their
accounts. People who take the time to check their accounts are finding
anything from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars in overcharges
on their accounts.
A major Australian
bank was recently cited for errors of this nature. It was calculated
that at the date of judgement, they had made interest overcharges
to a number of bank customers to the tune of $2,646,326.06 - yes,
you read it correctly - in excess of 2.6 million dollars!!
It was found that these overcharges arose principally as a result
of the Bank's use of an illegal formula to calculate accrued interest,
and on systematic computer errors. With reference to the Bank's
management of its computers systems, the Commercial Tribunal of
NSW made the following observations:
"The range of errors
attributable to deficiencies in the Bank's computer systems in
these proceedings attest to a most serious failure by the Bank
to properly program the systems and/or adequately check their
functions once programmed".
What can be done about it?
Your first port of
call should be the website www.mortgagewatchdog.com.au.
These guys base their whole business around showing people how to
accurately find these errors and get your money back. They are so
confident that they even offer a guarantee that you will find errors
in your bank statements. A casual scan of your statements each month
is not enough to find some of the complicated errors involved so
a little external assistance pays dividends.
Can you get your money back?
The good news
is that yes you can. When presented with the evidence from accurate
and verifiable calculations your lender will return your money to
your account. Even if you have paid out a mortgage you can still
get your money back from your old lender. It is quite common for
errors to occur during the calculation of the final payout figure
for a loan. One small businessman from regional NSW checked his
old statements and discovered just under $100,000 in overcharges
on a $150,000 loan. There are real windfall gains to be had for
people who take the time to check.
For
more information from Mortgage Watchdog click
here. This site contains a wealth of information on statement
errors and can show you how to get your money back.
