Keith James from Hawarden got back £10,400 from Halifax

In 1997 Mr James bought a new home and arranged a mortgage through Halifax. Part of the service Halifax offered was a discussion with a financial adviser about the different types of mortgage which were available.

Keith was advised to take an interest only mortgage – this meant he paid only the interest on his mortgage each month but with an amount of £147 invested into a Halifax Home Plan ISA. The intention was that this investment would cover the amount owing on the mortgage at the end of the term.

Keith saw our ad on the internet and contacted us asking if we could help because his ISA was connected to his mortgage advice. We reviewed the advice Keith was given and determined that the interest only mortgage recommended to him was unsuitable as there was a big risk the ISA would not provide sufficient returns to pay off the mortgage. A repayment mortgage would have been more suitable as there would have been no risk at all as long as he kept up the payments.

We sent our claim to Halifax explaining why Keith was advised wrongly. After investigating the case Halifax agreed with our findings and paid him £10,445 to compensate for the unsuitable advice he had received. This amount covered the position he would have been in if he had taken a repayment mortgage rather than the interest only mortgage and Home Plan ISA.