I applied for a shared ownership mortgage from Halifax through my broker. Halifax took the valuation fee of £430 from my account but then refused to offer the mortgage. It said that it could no longer offer the loan because it had reduced the amount it could lend on its share of a shared ownership mortgage from 90 per cent to 80 per cent. My broker says that he spoke to Halifax twice to confirm the price and the share. Halifax will not refund me the valuation fee.

Natalie Sampson, London

Confusion reigned everywhere until Troubleshooter stepped in. Your broker says that Halifax told him that for a shared ownership loan it will lend up to 90 per cent of the share for which the borrower needs a loan. He then proceeded with the application on the basis that you could borrow £112,500, equal to 90 per cent of a 50 per cent share of a property worth £250,000. It turns out that Halifax had given your broker the lending rules for shared equity, not shared ownership. Anyway, for shared ownership loans, considered more risky by lenders, the limit is 80 per cent.

As a result, the application was rejected after the valuation fee had been taken. Halifax blames the broker, the broker blames Halifax — you are out of pocket.

Which one is to blame becomes a little clearer once you look at the application form. This states a purchase price of £250,000, a loan amount of £112,500 and a loan type of “shared ownership”. Once in receipt of this form, a quick calculation by Halifax would have set alarm bells ringing, because the £112,500 is clearly 90 per cent of half of the total purchase price, a sum not allowed under shared ownership. No one picked this up and the valuation went ahead when it should not have done.

Halifax got itself into even more of a mess when it told your broker that it had rejected the loan because he had input the value of the home into the “purchase price” slot. Apparently, this should have given the share on which Halifax was being asked to lend. This excuse doesn’t wash, because the box is clearly labelled purchase price, not “share of purchase price” and because Halifax had valued the property, and, therefore, knew it was worth £250,000, not £500,000. In the end, the lender held up its hands. It should have read the form. It should have picked up a calculator. These two simple actions would have saved you £430 and a lot of hassle. At least you now have the money back.

I opened a fixed rate Isa with Halifax in February. I was told that I could transfer an existing Isa and pay in my remaining Isa allowance for that year in a separate payment, by cheque. When I checked the accounts online, I found that Halifax had opened three accounts for me. One fixed at 3.5 per cent for two years, with a zero balance; one with an interest rate of 0.1 per cent, to which my money had been transferred; and another at 0.1 per cent, into which the cheque for the remainder of my Isa allowance was paid. I asked for this to be rectified but have heard nothing in six months. Over this time, they reduced the rate on the 3.5 per cent account to 3.1 per cent.

Customer care have been useless. All I want is for my savings to be in one account, at the correct interest rate, for the correct period of time.

Catherine Radosavljevic, London

A cavalier attitude to other people’s money by one of the biggest deposit takers in the country? No surprises there then.

“System issues and our failures” was Halifax’s explanation, and proof of the farcical state into which its customer service standards seem to have descended (see previous problem). To be fair to Halifax, it did try to correct its errors, but this led to more mistakes.

Troubleshooter hopes that you were gratified to receive an apology and compensation from the chief executive’s office. Halifax had already switched your money into the correct account and backdated some of your interest before the intervention of this column. The remaining interest owed to you was 55p. It has also credited you £20 for the inconvenience.

Troubleshooter’s advice? Take the money and run, to a bank with a better Isa rate and a track record in customer service.

I am a self-employed house surveyor and was called recently by BT Customerstreet asking if I wanted a website to promote my business. I was given a hard sell and eventually weakened. I paid by credit card over the phone. I pondered my decision and decided it was not worth the £615 cost. I e-mailed BT nine days later, saying I wanted to cancel the transaction and to get a refund. I received a phone call ten days later from BT, who said that as I was a business I could not cancel the contract. Surely I can change my mind about buying a product over the phone?

Janice Dalziel, Kent

One rule for customers, another for small businessmen and women. Under the distance-selling regulations, individuals have the right to cancel a contract agreed over the phone within seven days. This does not apply to businesses — even a one-woman band. It raises the question: is it OK for BT to cold-call small businesses to pressure them into irrevocably parting with hundreds of pounds, without warning them that is irrevocable?

It looks as if BT thinks so.

Readers to the rescue

My boyfriend and I are thinking of buying a house together, but the property that we have fallen in love with needs a £10,000 deposit. I have savings and can afford to pay this; my boyfriend, however, has nothing. Additionally, my parents have offered to give me £5,000 towards renovations. How can I safeguard this £15,000 so that, if my boyfriend and I split, I can reclaim it from any equity after sale of the house?

Emma Clarke

I would buy the property yourself and charge him rent. Retain all your own wealth (ie, 100 per cent of the property) until you are ready to commit fully to this guy. He can have an equity share once he makes a contribution.

Chris Hulse

I bought a house with my boyfriend a year and a half ago in similar circumstances. I had the full deposit and my boyfriend had only a small amount. We work it that he pays more of the mortgage each month and we keep track of everything on Excel spreadsheets so that by the end of next year we will both have contributed the same amount and have a 50/50 share.

Rachel Bennett

£25 voucher winner

You will need to ensure that you purchase your new property as tenants in common. Thereafter, your solicitor should prepare a document called a “declaration of trust” to set out your respective interests in the property — for example, that in the event of a sale you will be entitled to the first £15,000 of any equity. This is a legally binding document.

Nick Sewell

Ignore anyone who says that you should trust that you will “treat each other fairly” in some unspecified way at some unspecified time. Trust and relationships evolve in unpredictable ways. You should draw up a contract to decide who can force sale and how you will agree a price if one wants to buy out the other.

You could make him a £7,500 loan at an agreed rate and repayment schedule, which can then go into the house. You may wish to leave the repayments in a savings account.

This way you each own 50 per cent of the property and there’s no future debate about who owns what. In addition, you have an equal stake in any repairs you make in future.

Richard Rous

Can you help?

E-mail troubleshooter@thetimes.co.uk with your answer to the following problem for the chance to win a £25 bonusbond.com multi-store voucher

More than 12 years ago I was heavily in debt and took out an IVA [individual voluntary arrangement]under the auspices of a reputable insolvency practitioner. This was discharged after three years, since when my financial affairs have been conducted in an exemplary fashion. I understand that my previous debts would have been erased from my credit record after seven years, leaving me with no record at all.

Can I finally apply for a credit card?

Paula Cox

On the bright side

Tom Callow, who used to study at the University of Warwick, wrote to recommend an excellent estate agent for students.

“I received outstanding customer service from Spa Estates, in Leamington Spa. When I first viewed the property that I ended up renting with five other students, I remarked that a couple of wardrobes were tatty. Spa Estates replaced them all with new ones and gave us new desks as well. When our boiler broke, a guy fixed it within two hours. Plus we were sent chocolates and a bottle of wine at Christmas.”

Additional reporting by Lauren Thompson

- To tell us your problems, visit timesonline.co.uk/troubleshooter or write to Troubleshooter, Times Money, Times House, 1 Pennington Street, London E98 1TT.

Because of the high volume of correspondence, Troubleshooter cannot guarantee individual replies.