Bank added 15 years to mortgages

Britons who had mortgages with Abbey between 1987 and 1993 were not appropriately informed of changes to their repayments which added another 15 years on their mortgage, according to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

When interest rates went up, the bank kept repayments steady but did not adequately inform mortgage holders that this would mean increasing the repayment term.

By holding the repayments steady, it mean potentially hundreds of thousands of bank customers were paying off less of their capital debt, thus extending the length of their loan.

The FOS has dealt with hundreds of cases so far and has laid down an October deadline for customers to come forwards with complaints.

"Those affected could still be entitled to compensation," FOS spokesman David Cresswell, told the Daily Mail.

He said: "This is an issue specific to Abbey because it was not explained to the customers and they were surprised to discover they would have to pay over longer terms."