I didn't sign a thing when switching my loan to the fixed rate. I just got an email to confirm it had happened. At the time i felt it was a little strange or convenient for a bank to just say "presto" it is done, without any paper work. But, I live overseas, so it saved me a lot of time, at the time. However, this process looks like it's going to cost me.
Basically, my argument is that I haven't received full disclosure prior to fixing my rate. I specifically asked what would happen if rates went down. I received an quote of $700, which I'm now being told was only for breaking a variable loan. This is definately not the case because even when I agreed with everything, I even stated "as per previous emails, the fee is $700" In the next sentence I say that I am assuming that this is for whether i break the loan or payout early and then I brought up the "what if" scenario of interest rates going down. The rate was fixed and I never heard any differently since.
I am now getting a different story saying that it was only in relation to a variable loan. However, when i put the original question to the manager, I got a the above respons ($700 fee). Then the 2nd time i raised the issue with the additional assumption, there was nothing to the contrary.
I'm now very annoyed because I follow both the share market and property market very closely. If you didn't know rates were coming down 2 or 3 months ago, you must have been living on another planet. Every "expert" predicted a rate cutting cycle. Since then, there have been significant drops. My argument is that 1. I wasn't provided full disclosure in the orginal quotes 2. I was none the wiser to act on the rates before the cutting cycle.
Perhaps negligent on my part for not looking into everything, especially the fine print. However, I never physically signed a form nor was I sent any literature prior to agreeing. There is no one acting on my behalf in Australia. So, it comes down to a number of email exchanges with the manager.
I'm not one of those people who likes to make a big issue of things. I'm fairly relaxed, carefree (too in this case) and I don't get too phased about things. If someone makes a mistake, I know it wasn't intentionally done. I'm the sort of person to usually cop it on the chin if i think i was in some part responsible for this. But, the fact that i originally raised the additional costs associated over and above the $700 (which i am being told now was the wrong quote) makes me want to fight this.
