Yorkshire Bank miscalculated customer mortgage payments

It has been revealed that Yorkshire Bank, which also owns the Clydesdale Bank, has been forced to issue a grovelling apology to 18,000 mortgage holders who have been under charged with regards to their mortgage payments. Due to a "software error" around 50% of those affected will be forced to increase their mortgage payments by £25 to make up the shortfall due to under payments in the past. However, it is also believed that upwards of 700 customers, with larger mortgages, could see their mortgage bills increase by around £200 a month.

It is unclear exactly what happened with regards to these underpayments in the past and indeed there is some debate as to whether customers have some form of legal rights to refuse to pay the shortfall. There is no doubt we will see this particular ruling questioned in a court of law because many people are struggling to pay their current mortgage payments let alone in a position to fund additional payments because of an error with their mortgage provider.

It will be interesting to see how this particular matter progresses because in the very competitive field of mortgages the Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank can ill afford to give away customers which will ultimately impact upon their own reputation.