Yorkshire Building Society to refund 34,000 mortgage borrowers

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26224898

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The Yorkshire Building Society group is to spend £8.4m refunding nearly 34,000 of its customers, after some were wrongly charged for failing to keep up with mortgage payments.

Companies can only charge customers who are in arrears by two months or more.

But thousands of customers of the Yorkshire, Chelsea and Barnsley Building Societies were charged immediately they missed a payment.

As a result 33,900 customers will receive an average refund of £247.

After an 18 month investigation, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ruled that the building society's procedures had not been robust enough.

To ensure people do not face a delay in getting redress, the Yorkshire has agreed to refund all borrowers who were charged a fee since January 2009, not just those who were charged incorrectly.

Customers of Accord Mortgages are also affected.

Those eligible for a refund will be contacted automatically by their building society.

"This is... a very important reminder that firms must take responsibility for any wrongdoing and make sure their customers get a fair deal," said Clive Adamson, director of supervision at the FCA.