Martins View On Using Mortgage Brokers...

aloiseb

Yes Suzy, we've had trouble with L &C too....we were nearly 8 weeks before our mortgage offer finally arrived, and then it had had the wrong sort of survey, which caused a massive amount of aggro. (althoguh this was Nationwide's fault apparently, not L and C's)

We put the delays down to it being the summer holidays, so it's interesting to hear your story too.

Perhpas they are "victims of their own success" and just can't keep up with demand. Oh well, that's a problem which should soon sort itself out!

Hope you hear from them soon.....we went into direct contact with the mortgage company themselves in the end, just to find out what was going on.

chekhov

Is it illegal to "cold call" (ie knock on someone's door) and ask if they are interested in an alternative mortgage arrangement? If so should I report anyone doing it?

dunstonh

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/small_firms/mortgage/faqs/mcob.shtml#finproms

See the bit on cold calling.

Any firm that is blatently breaking the rules like that reflects badly on the whole industry and you should complain.

chekhov

thanks for that. I didn't read all the text but from what I can gather if I agreed to give my phone number to someone on the doorstep this absolves any broker from breaking any of the rules. However it doesn't answer my original question which was; is door step soliciting legal?

chekhov

Btw I should add that having taken other advice it would have been foolish in the extreme to transfer my mortgage to the company that approached me in this way in spite of the fact that I was told it would be a better deal.

dunstonh

No, my understanding is that they can only contact you if there is an existing relationship in place. You cant cold call on the doorstep otherwise.

If you agreed to be contacted, such as giving your details on a mailshot then they can call on you. If its just a total cold call, then its a breach.

chekhov

Thanks again but could you just clarify what you mean by a breach. Is that a breach of the law ie a crime, or merely a breach of a code of practice?

dunstonh

In things like this, it is not a law but a rule. You would report it to the FSA and they "should" ask the compliance officer dealing with that company to look into it.

If this is a one off, then a slapped wrist and warning on file would occur. If it's a trend it can result in dismissal from the company of individual breaking the rules, the company being fined or even struck off.

julie8314dave

Hello to everyone, i am a complete newbie to all this so please be gentle with me.(not even sure if i am in the right place) phew!!!!! here we go.
On the 10th August i arranged for a company called Five counties finance to visit me at my home address to obtain a commercial loan to buy a business. we were having a few problems due to the nature of the business (bakery being a so called specialised business) he was very confident that he would be able to help us he also gave us a couple of quotes which were fine. He then dropped the bombshell that it would not be cheap to obtain it and asked for a fee of £575.00 up front (£25.00 for his petrol costs drove a new jag) we were at the time quite confident (and very silly) and handed over a chq. we waited the week to find out if we had the loan of £42,000, he came back saying that it was not successful, but could do us a loan with another bank, i said to him can you tell me who it is with he declined saying that i might go forward myself to them, i said no it is just that we had tried with a couple of these banks with no luck, eventually telling me it was royal bank of scotland, i told him not to bother as we had already tried, he said they will do it because he gives them £350,000 worth of business a month. but yet again turned down. he said he can get us a loan with a broker (loan shark) but would cost about £1,300 a month 3% intrest i said no to much money. i rang him next day, to ask him to send money back, he said that he had put it forward to another bank and ring him back in a couple of days, i did that and he came back saying good news you can get your money it is a little bit expensive 3% per month, i said but i already told you that i do not want to go down that rd. I said that i am not going to go through with it so could i have my money back please minus his £25.00 petrol costs, he said what money, it has cost this amount of money to put it to these banks and you were accepted with finance at 3 % month for 12 years on a loan of £42,000 i would have paid back the sum of £187,200 plus a £1,000 valuation fee, plus a £2,000 admin costs (it was very nice of them to say they could add it to the end of the loan how considerate of them????) i do not know if five counties finance ever submitted any of these to the bank as it is only his word i have never had any correspondance from them at all.
I signed an agreement with them this it what it says:

In consideration of five counties finance using its best endeavours to introduce the borrower to a lender and obtain for the borrower a mortgage offer up to the amount of the commercial finance, drawing or other facility (hereinafter known as "the commercial finance") in respect of the premises. The borrower agrees:-

1 hereby to instruct five counties finance to endeavour to secure an introduction to the source of finance in connection with the proposed purchase/re-mortgage of the premises up to the amount of the commercial finance.

2 that five counties finance have full and sole authority to negotiate on behalf of the borrower to try to obtain an advance required from the date of this agreement. thereafter, to terminate our instructions to act for you, three months notice in writing is required.

3 to pay an administration fee (to cover costs and disbursements) of £575
a) to obtain competetive intrest rates to include where applicable (subject to accounts 7 investigation).
(!) moratorium on capital repayment
(!!) fixed rates
(!!!) interest only payments
b) collating the financial information and documentation:
c) preliminary discussions and formal presentations to one or more lenders

Please can you tell me if they are allowed to get away with this, as they can not get us a commercial loan so at present we are £575.00 down is there any thing i can do to get my money back. please advise, sorry it had taken so long, but i feel a lot better now putting it down on paper helps a lot.
thankyou
julie. X
P.S. PRAYING THAT IT IS IN THE RIGHT PLACE

payless

Julie,
sorry I can'r really answer your question ... as I don't deal with commercial myself.

It does seem strange/ harsh , but wether its allowed or not is another thing.

I saw your post a while back & had hoped someone would have replied -so others see your question more clearly, I am going to copy this to a new thread. linked here ...
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=3429401
( with request that posts are made to that thread)