Mortgage firm has to pay out £3m

A MORTGAGE lender has been fined £630,000 and told to pay £2.35 million redress after it was found to have charged excessive fees to borrowers in arrears.

The Financial Services Authority said that “Swift 1st” charged a monthly management fee, a default notice fee, an unpaid mortgage fee and litigation fees if it started legal proceedings.

It also applied excessive early repayment charges for customers in arrears and failed to explain all options open to customers. The charges affected 2,500 customers between 2007 and 2009.