Mortgage over-over payment mistake - help?

[QED87]

I've got a 5 year fixed mortgage with Nationwide and over the last 3 years have been overpaying between £100 and £500 per month. The limit I can do in any one month is £500. Unfortunately this month I've mistakenly overpaid by £600 - I did £100 on the 10th and then another £500 on the 24th.

I've just noticed this and I'm petrified they are going to land me with a £7k ERC. Does anyone have any advice, other than speak to them nicely and hope to God that they let this one slide.

Help/advice would be most gratefully received!

[davepoth]

The best thing to do is ask them.

[530dTPhil]

From memory, there is a small penalty on the amount that you have overpaid by, certainly not the full ERC.
Just checked their website and it appears to what I said above:

If you overpay by £500.01 or more in one month, you will incur an Early Repayment Charge (ERC), which is payable on the entire overpayment amount. Our ERCs have changed over time so please refer to your mortgage terms and conditions for details of the ERC that applies to your mortgage.

[dave-therave]

The £7k will be on redemption of your mortgage within your fixed term, not on an overpayment

You might be charged but it won't be anywhere near that, don't panic!

[rog007]

Ringing your bank first then posting on here might be a better option. Good luck!

[QED87]

rog007 said:

Ringing your bank first then posting on here might be a better option. Good luck!

Thanks Rog but I'm in Chicago at the moment and when I found out I did call them...but they were closed - unsuprisingly as it was 9pm UK time! Next stop for me was PH's!

I have now spoken to them and as most of you said I'm only going to be charged 5% fee of the total overpayment - i.e. £5! Thanks to all who put my mind at ease!

Cheers

[Stevenj214]

From memory, I think the terms of my mortgage say an overpayment of 10% of the outstanding balance can be paid in 1 year. This can be spread over monthly payments, or paid as a lump sum.

You might find that the 500 'limit' is only if you pay that amount every month. The months you have paid less than this should mean that your total overpayments for this year are within the limits?

[splodge s4]

530dTPhil said:

From memory, there is a small penalty on the amount that you have overpaid by, certainly not the full ERC.
Just checked their website and it appears to what I said above:

If you overpay by £500.01 or more in one month, you will incur an Early Repayment Charge (ERC), which is payable on the entire overpayment amount. Our ERCs have changed over time so please refer to your mortgage terms and conditions for details of the ERC that applies to your mortgage.

Thats correct, most lenders allow 10% of the balance as an overpayment each year, Nationwide are slightly different as the limit it to £500 per month. I've just checked a recent Nationwide mortgage offer & it says exactly what Phil has quoted above.

On this offer i'm looking at right now that was issued this week for a Nationwide fix rate the penalty is 3%. It reads the penalty is charged on the TOTAL overpayment amount, not the over-over payment amount as you'd expect. Worse case if your over-over payment is £100 so total £600 overpayment then they will charge 3% of this so a measley £18.

Now take a deep breath & relax....