Beware making general enquiries re mortgages

KimHes

Hi,
I'm new to the forum, and the site (shame on me), and would just like to pass on this little gem I found out yesterday. After going into my local branch of a well known singing bank to make a casual enquiry about mortgages I left knowing that I did not have enough info for them to tell me things like how much we could borrow and what sort of mortgage we should consider.
Now bear in mind I was on my own and enquiring about a joint mortgage. We then received a letter each from the bank telling us our application had been rejected and that they did not have to tell us why.
Funny I thought we haven't made an application so I rang them to ask what it was all about and was told that it was probably a mistake and to ignor it. I only rang the general enquiries number not the mortgage centre.
Now you are all probably going to say you should never ignor this sort of thing and that I should have asked to speak to a more specialise person but I didn't.
Yesterday I went to tell our exisiting lender, RBS and not the well known singing bank, that we had accepted an offer on our house and how did we go about porting our mortage to a new property while at the same time reducing it.
In only a few key strokes Zoe, our advisor at RBS, asked me when we had applied for, and been refused, a morgage.
As you can imagine this came as a bit of a shock as did the gentle explaination that as we had been refused this mortage she did not think they would be able to help us at all.
I have made an appointment to talk to the advisor at the singing bank on Friday.... I will let you know how it goes.
In the meantime be very careful about casual enquiries about anything financial.
Kim H

TEDDYRUKSPIN

Kim,

Simple question is, did you sign any documents to authorise them to carry out a full credit check? Even if they carry out a prior look into your credit, which they probably would i.e. credit enquiry, did they ask you in the meeting?

This can actually be removed from the system. Just put it in writing and file it through the bank as a complaint. It will be removed but will take roughly a month to full go out of the system.

Halifax?

Scaredy_Cat_3

That's awful. Have you put a written complaint into the bank concerned? I would start there, move on to the ombudsman if they don't sort it, and I guess contact the credit reference agencies to try to correct the info that is apparently now stored on your records.

beecher

To be fair the adviser probably meant that because Halifax have rejected you, they probably would too.

You should probably have sorted out the practicalities of porting your mortgage etc before putting your house up for sale as it is by no means automatic. Lenders will use present day criteria, which is likely to be stringent. I can understand your frustration, but probably best to find out why you were rejected in the first place rather than spend too much time worrying about the mistakes made on your mortgage enquiry. Get a hold of your credit file, and if you want more information on here post details of income, amount of mortgage required etc.

Rick62

beecher wrote: »

To be fair the adviser probably meant that because Halifax have rejected you, they probably would too.

I would imagine that they meant exactly what they said. That if they know you have been rejected on another application then they won't lend to you even if otherwise they would lend.

But yes, make an official complaint and get this search removed and get copies of both your credit reports and see why you would have been rejected and see if you can fix the problem.

opinions4u

KimHes wrote: »

Hi,
I'm new to the forum, and the site (shame on me), and would just like to pass on this little gem I found out yesterday. After going into my local branch of a well known singing bank to make a casual enquiry about mortgages I left knowing that I did not have enough info for them to tell me things like how much we could borrow and what sort of mortgage we should consider.

What makes you say this? Is this what the adviser told you?

Now bear in mind I was on my own and enquiring about a joint mortgage. We then received a letter each from the bank telling us our application had been rejected and that they did not have to tell us why.
Funny I thought we haven't made an application so I rang them to ask what it was all about and was told that it was probably a mistake and to ignor it. I only rang the general enquiries number not the mortgage centre.

Did they tell you at any stage that they would be using a credit reference agency?

It sounds like you made an enquiry and they credit scored you for a 'Mortgage Promise' (agreement in principle).

The Mortgage Adviser probably knew you had failed their credit score but didn't have the guts to tell you to your face, so let the letter do the job.

Just because one lender has declined you doesn't mean that another will. If you end up having problems with RBS see a whole of market broker.

Fingers crossed there will be a way forward.

KimHes

This has made me feel a lot better. I am going to see the same advisor tomorrow, I have been advised that this is the way to start, and hopefully she will be able to tell me why she took it this far.
She actually told me that I needed to have ID, proof of earnings and (as I was starting a new job) proof that I had actually got the new job for her to tell me how much of a mortgage they might consider as they went on Affordability and not the old system of so many times your income.
I left thinking that I would get this lot together, along with a reluctant husband, and we could go back and do this properly.

Thanks again,
Kim

Scaredy_Cat_3

Any news on how the meeting went?