You probably don't know it but you may actually be sitting on hidden treasure. Actually let us rephrase that you may actually be sitting in hidden treasure. "How is that?" is the obvious question. As strange as this may seem the mortgage on your house may actually owe you money, no we haven't got this around the wrong way ie you owe it money. We are talking real cash money owed to you.
A recent survey of over 200 bank statements from 18 different lenders found that over 54% of loan statements contain errors. Not too surprisingly the vast majority of these errors favour the lenders. Hundreds of thousands of Australians are potentially affected by the problem and are actually owed money buy their lender.
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 a special offer 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.
