Former customers of Amber Homeloans Ltd and North Yorkshire Mortgages Ltd (as at 1 June 2021)

Amber Homeloans Limited (AHL) and North Yorkshire Mortgages (NYM) ceased new lending in 2009 and since that time they’ve been unable to provide any new products, but they continued to administer mortgages. As AHL / NYM are wholly owned by Skipton Building Society, a decision was made for these mortgages to be transferred to us, so costs could be reduced by combined administration and to give you options which are available from an active lender.

You'll find your new mortgage account number at the top of your welcome letter. If you've misplaced the letter, we can tell you your account number if you contact us and answer some security questions.

We made these changes under your mortgage terms, however if you disagree or if the changes aren’t suitable for you, you can still pay back your mortgage or apply to move to another lender. You’ve got six months from 1 June 2021 without having to pay us any mortgage exit fees. You can still do so after 6 months, subject to paying Skipton's mortgage exit fee.

As a result of the transfer, on 1 June 2021 (the date the transfer took place), AHL and NYM mortgage accounts became Skipton Building Society accounts. The transfer does not affect your rights, obligations or liabilities under the mortgage, except to allow the migration to our systems. Please refer to your Notice of Variation for further information. We’re now responsible for setting any future interest rate changes and charges on your mortgage (unless your mortgage is linked in whole or in part to Bank Base Rate (BBR) or London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) which will change as appropriate in line with those external reference rates) for as long as they remain in force.

Your mortgage account number has changed, and your new mortgage account number can be found on your welcome letter. We’re responsible for dealing with all aspects of the administration of your mortgage, including collecting your monthly payments, issuing annual mortgage statements, arrears management, complaints handling and answering any general queries you have about your mortgage. We’re also committed to treating you fairly during the administration of your mortgage, especially if you experience a change in your financial situation which makes it difficult to maintain your monthly mortgage payments.

The amount of your monthly payment may change, although we have not asked for your monthly payment to be changed at the point of transfer.

There are two reasons; firstly, your interest rate may have reduced; for some borrowers it will remain the same, depending on the type of interest rate you were on. (For the avoidance of doubt, borrowers who are on a standard variable rate linked to an average of other lenders standard variable rates, or linked to Bank of England Base Rate, or LIBOR, will not change to a Skipton variable rate.) For the second reason, please see Calculation of Interest FAQ, below.

Direct Debit

There’s nothing to do as your bank or building society has been notified of the changes required and you don’t need to complete a new Direct Debit form.

For any payments due on or after 10 June 2021, Skipton will begin to collect your Direct Debit and our name ‘Skipton Building Society’ will appear on your bank/building society mortgage statement. Any payments made after this date will be re-directed and credited to your mortgage account to us.

You might have seen a comment on your bank statement advising you of the final payment under the old name/details and the first payment under the new name/details. Your rights under the Direct Debit Guarantee are not affected. We wrote to you to confirm when we’ll begin to collect your Direct Debit and from this date Skipton Building Society will be named as payee on your bank/building society statement. Should anything change in the future we’ll write to you, giving you at least four working days’ notice of the change.

If you don’t currently make monthly mortgage payments by Direct Debit, we would encourage you to consider this option, which will ensure that payments are made on time. Please call us on 0345 850 1766 if you’d like to set up a new Direct Debit.

Direct Debit payment dates

We offer alternative payment dates if you don’t pay on the first of the month. Your payment date has been moved to the nearest date after the date you currently pay your mortgage, but you can request a different date from us than the one allocated. These are the 10th, 12th, 15th or 20th of the month, or the next working day after these dates if they fall on a weekend or bank holiday. We also offer the last working day of the month. If the new payment date causes you any concern, please contact us as soon as possible, using the contact details below.

Debit card

You’ll need to contact us each month by calling 0345 850 1711 to make your payments. Alternatively, you can pay by debit card in any branch of Skipton. You’ll need to provide your new mortgage account number.

Cash payments

These can be made over the counter in any Skipton branch. You'll need to provide your new mortgage account number.

Cheque

These can be posted to us at the address below or dropped off at any Skipton branch. Please write your new mortgage account number on the reverse.

Standing order or bank transfer

If you want to continue making monthly mortgage payments by standing order or bank transfer, you’ll need to let your bank or building society know about the changes required and arrange for all future payments to be made to us. The details you need are:

Bank account details:

Account Name: Skipton Building Society

Sort Code: 20-78-91

Bank Account Number: 70798924

Please use your new mortgage account number in any bank payments to ensure we can allocate your payment to your new account.

Redirection of payments received by us after 1 June 2021

Any payments received by AHL or NYM in the first three months after this date will be redirected to us. However, it’s important that you make any changes that are required to ensure your monthly mortgage payments continue to be made on time.

Where the interest on your mortgage is not already calculated in the same or similar manner as our mortgages (mortgages originally taken out with AHL are already calculated in the same manner), your mortgage has changed to how Skipton calculate, charge and debit interest. (We apply interest on a daily basis and allow immediate benefit in its interest calculation when any capital is received, including capital from a monthly payment of capital and interest, but it capitalises monthly not daily.)

It was necessary to make these changes to bring you on to Skipton’s systems so that in future you may be able to take advantage of mortgage products offered by Skipton which may benefit you (subject to our lending criteria). We will ensure that no borrower sees a material increase in the calculation of their monthly payment at the time of Transfer, or later, as long as no changes are made to your mortgage, and the interest rate remains at the Skipton SVR at the time the Transfer takes effect.

Whilst the calculation has changed, we will not ask you to change the amount of your monthly payment paid or collected when the transfer takes place; you may be asked to do so later. Please refer to Section 3 (Payments) of your Notice of Variation should you require further information regarding under what circumstances your payment may change.

Year-end changes

Your mortgage year end will change to 31 December and you’ll receive your Annual Mortgage Statement in the following January. So, for the period June to December 2021, you’ll receive your first statement from Skipton in January 2022.

We’ll also debit any arrears charges for that period to your mortgage account on 31 January 2022, and on 31 January in each following year, at which point they'll start to incur interest at your current mortgage rate. Neither of these changes should mean that you will pay more interest than previously because of the Transfer. You'll also receive a closing statement from your current lender shortly after the transfer takes place.

If you currently receive Department for Work and Pensions contributions to your mortgage, you’ll need to make changes to your payment arrangements by giving them our account details and your new mortgage account number.

Following the transfer we are now the controller of the data previously held about you and your accounts by either AHL or NYM. This means we are responsible for the protection of this data and any future data you share with us or that we collect from other sources to the extent it is held or used by us or on our behalf. If you want to find out how it will be used, you can read our Privacy Notice in full at skipton.co.uk/privacy-policy or click the Privacy Policy link at the bottom of any page on skipton.co.uk. We will only send direct marketing communications where you have given your prior consent.

Our Privacy Notice also contains our contact details, so you can get in touch with us about the use of your personal data. We also have a Privacy Pledge which outlines our promises to take good care of your personal details and not to use them in a way you wouldn’t expect us to. You can find it at the end of the Privacy Policy. If you would like to have a paper copy of our Privacy Policy and Pledge, please contact us or go into your local branch.

When your mortgage transferred to us, you became a member of Skipton Building Society. To be a member your loan must be wholly or substantially secured on land. You’re now subject to our Rules in respect of membership and rights. Our Rules can be found at skipton.co.uk or are available on request.

A building society is a mutual institution offering savings and mortgage accounts and, often, a wide range of other financial services. Being mutual means that most customers who have a savings account or mortgage are members and have certain rights, including to receive information and to voice their opinions on the way the building society is run. Building societies are unlike banks, which are public limited companies (PLCs) owned by, and run for, their shareholders.

As a mutual, a building society does not have any other set of owners separate from its members to influence or direct its business. To find out more about members’ rights, and how to exercise them, please see the Building Society Association website www.bsa.org.uk/information/consumer-factsheets.