The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has handed out a £2.8m fine to mortgage lender GMAC-RFC for the inappropriate handling of repossessions. The extent of this mis-conduct has affected more than 46,000 of its customers and as a result, refunds to the tune of £7.7m, plus interest, will be handed out.

The reason for the ordered refunds, is the fact that GMAC-RFC (who recently received $5bn from the US Government) charged excessive fees and didn’t do all they could to help customers stop repossession by ignoring alternatives. The General Motors owned financial arm is a major player in the UK mortgage market and was recently the 11th largest lender according to figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders.