4 years ago I got a RAMS home loan. It was a good deal and I was quite happy at the time. About a year into it, Westpac bought RAMS but not their portfolio of mortgages, so Westpac effectively acquired the branding only and an agreement that the old RAMS company could not sell new mortgages for a fixed period (several years). No one in that portfolio (including me) agreed to that. We were all effectively transitioned out of RAMS and into a company that could only generate revenue by farming existing clients. So anyone getting a RAMS mortgage under Westpac are actually with the real RAMS and have no idea what previous RAMS customers have gone through. So in this instance, it is absolutely 100% the banks fault that mortgagees are in this situation. RHG passed on about 60% of the series of mortgage drops that occurred during the GFC, and are passing on 100% of all mortgage rises. Based on all this I now want out. I literally just got off the phone to RHG which I learned that it will cost me $990 to discharge the variable portion of my mortgage. They are sending me a letter to let me know how much the fixed portion will cost to exit. Apparently they cant e-mail and I was also told that I can't rely on that information as it may be more when it goes to the panel of solicitors. Based on this thread, I am confident that I am completely screwed and will have to see out the remainder of the fixed period.

There is a question here of legality. How can RAMS/Westpac transition existing mortgagees into a different company and effectively line them up to be exploited? Are there any legal boffins out there that can comment?