Halifax mortgage-how likely to honour AIP?

sturgeon

Ok great, thanks for explaining that process to me. I would have expected them to check the valuation now it matches the asking price, however I wouldn't foresee any issues with the valuation (they simply valued it at a certain price, and gave no issues/problems with the property itself). I'm just bricking it, basically, and wouldn't be surprised at all if I was told 'sorry but they've declined the mortgage'. Mostly as I'm a bit mad and the very idea infuriates me as it's taken 4 long months to get to this stage and it's been a nightmare, so it would be typical for this to fall at the final hurdle.

However, seeing as they've done all credit checks, checked my application extremely thoroughly (at one point I even had to visit my bank to get them to sign and stamp all my online banking statements and confirm for sure what all my standing orders were for) then finally agreed to do the valuation....although there was a problem as it was below asking price, that's sorted so realistically, I just don't see why they'd now change their mind about it. Nor does my broker. However, in these times you just never know. And I seem to think they tend more to look for a reason NOT to lend right now!

CCRUDDEN

Hey Sturgeon, seems like you are in the exact situation as me, let me briefly try to explain what ahs happen'd,

Firstly i went to our mortgage advisor to apply for a mortgage with my girlfriend we have a combined wages of £31,000 per year. Our property was valued @ £127,500 and initally when we went to our broker who applied through Halifax our pre applicaiton went through with no problems and they said all they would need is our ID and valuation of the property, so sent in the id and paid £315 for a evauation which came back 7,500 cheaper and the developer agreed to drop the price to match it, during this time something has came back and our credit rating has seemed to have from an a or b to as far as im aware a c. so then the Halifax asked for wages slips which i provied they then came back looking for bank statements and a letter saying why i went over my overdraft which i provided after all of this our application has finally been sent to the underwriters this morning. We are buying the house on a deal where the devlopers own 25% of the house and we pay them off over 10years for their 25% amount and we need to get 75% of a mortgage. After our valuation and our credit dropped halifax now wants a 5% depoist that we have at the moment. I am really worried that now it is with the underwriters they will decline it after all of sending letters to and from the halifax for the past few weeks,

What are the chances of the halifax declining it so far on, would they look for all the letters and slips and eveything else if they would just decline it anyway? please let me know if anyone else has been in this situation.

BTW Sturgeon, i dont think your as paranoid as me lol i havent slept in ages!

Thanks in advance!!

sturgeon

Ah Ok, I'm also buying it on a shared scheme....but mines with the government and it's 50/50 ownership.

It's strange they suddenly found out your credit rating dropped-why are they doing random checks? As far as I know Halifax do all the legwork and paperwork beforehand, then when they are finally happy they ask for the valuation fee. Not that they should then do further credit checks. My valuation took around 6 weeks to be resolved, as far as I know they haven't done further checks etc and found anything as I haven't been told so.

I think the same as you....because they have seemed so massively cautious of my application and requested so much info before agreeing to go to valuation, I just feel they're not keen to lend anyway so will just decline it. By the way as far as I'm told, ALL applicants for shared ownership schemes are put into the 'C' grade.

And I think I really am as paranoid as you-this process has absolutely taken over my life and obsessed my thoughts for months! Hence the fact it's so so close now is eating me up because I'm so scared Halifax will come back with one of these random unexplained decisions that I read about.

CCRUDDEN

sturgeon wrote: »

Ah Ok, I'm also buying it on a shared scheme....but mines with the government and it's 50/50 ownership.

It's strange they suddenly found out your credit rating dropped-why are they doing random checks? As far as I know Halifax do all the legwork and paperwork beforehand, then when they are finally happy they ask for the valuation fee. Not that they should then do further credit checks. My valuation took around 6 weeks to be resolved, as far as I know they haven't done further checks etc and found anything as I haven't been told so.

I think the same as you....because they have seemed so massively cautious of my application and requested so much info before agreeing to go to valuation, I just feel they're not keen to lend anyway so will just decline it. By the way as far as I'm told, ALL applicants for shared ownership schemes are put into the 'C' grade.

And I think I really am as paranoid as you-this process has absolutely taken over my life and obsessed my thoughts for months! Hence the fact it's so so close now is eating me up because I'm so scared Halifax will come back with one of these random unexplained decisions that I read about.

Well as far as im aware when we had the valuation done, it was then they asked me if i had another middle name which i did, then the sh*t hit the fan as far as im aware....but if my credit rating was the reason i was going to be declined, would they have passed it onto the underwriters, or would they not have just declined it there and then?

sturgeon

Well I'm not an expert, however if they were to decline due to a credit rating, as far as I know that's one of the most straightforward methods/reasons to decline. You either pass or fail a credit check according to their lending criteria. You can have it referred, when a human decision is made but that's a very very quick decision. I don't think in your case they'd decline due to the credit rating, as if they weren't satisfied they'd have told you already, surely.

What I was worried about is if they do ANOTHER credit check just before releasing the final offer-not that I have a dodgy record, just that I see that as the only plausible reason they could use to decline it. As they could simply say the rating didn't meet their criteria. However, apparently they do a soft search at AIP stage, another one at full application stage and that's it. I phoned Halifax today to ask if they do more credit checks when its with the underwriters after valuation and everything else, to be told they don't.

By the way, seeing as yours also went to the underwriters today, how long were you told it would be before you get a decision?

CCRUDDEN

sturgeon wrote: »

Well I'm not an expert, however if they were to decline due to a credit rating, as far as I know that's one of the most straightforward methods/reasons to decline. You either pass or fail a credit check according to their lending criteria. You can have it referred, when a human decision is made but that's a very very quick decision. I don't think in your case they'd decline due to the credit rating, as if they weren't satisfied they'd have told you already, surely.

What I was worried about is if they do ANOTHER credit check just before releasing the final offer-not that I have a dodgy record, just that I see that as the only plausible reason they could use to decline it. As they could simply say the rating didn't meet their criteria. However, apparently they do a soft search at AIP stage, another one at full application stage and that's it. I phoned Halifax today to ask if they do more credit checks when its with the underwriters after valuation and everything else, to be told they don't.

By the way, seeing as yours also went to the underwriters today, how long were you told it would be before you get a decision?

I was told that it went to the underwriters this morning and will have an answer tomorrow or so i was told.

Someone had told me that the the decision is pretty much already made before reaching the underwriters (ie passed) and they just need to rubber stamp it ? you or anyone else reading this ever heard of this ?

sturgeon

Amongst my great selection of reading...I have indeed read that underwriting is simply cross-checking the paperwork, checking the valuation is OK and that no mistakes have been made. As whilst computers can do credit checks and calculations, a human still needs to just check it all before it's signed off. I don't actually believe it's the time for them to do more checks and come up with more spanners to put in the work. I have read it's just a formality, and all mortgages need to be checked by the underwriters after the valuation has come in as it's simply procedure. So based on that, you should be correct.

On the other hand I've read horror stories of lenders changing their mind at this point, and for the most part inexplicably (Halifax actually were a lender who did this...I think the post is on this forum) and withdrawing the offer with no reason given, even when it was requested. And lenders withdrawing their offer even AFTER the mortgage was offered...pulling out before completion.

So that is exactly why I am absolutely bricking it!

CCRUDDEN

Still waiting nervously !! will keep ya informed of progress

CCRUDDEN

CCRUDDEN wrote: »

Still waiting nervously !! will keep ya informed of progress

Just an update form my broker, Halifax has not yet recieved the letters i sent to my broker that he faxed in on Monday, although my broker did say that my case was with the underwriters!?

VERY FRUSTRATING :mad::mad:

sturgeon

I phoned Halifax myself, although the broker is dealing with it. Turns out they can discuss it with me, which is good.

Anyway turns out they 'exceeded their KPI' meaning they've produced more than 20 quotes for me for some random reason, a technical/IT problem for them now so that needs to be resolved-which in itself will take 24-48 hours :mad:

She was unsure if it went to the underwriters but suggested it probably did, and they saw that the mortgage required exceeds the amount I actually need...due to the fact they didn't generate a new quote based on the new price. Then she started blabbering on about LTV amount being too high etc...which confused me as she was effectively saying on new builds I'd need a 25% deposit, but as a FTB on a government scheme I thought the whole point was that this wasn't needed. Turns out she was confused...

So yeah, no surprise that the decision's delayed. I seriously doubt I'll hear anything tomorrow. And can't expect my broker to chase it up all the time (and they won't) so now I've got my application number, I'll phone myself!