Bradford and Bingley won't let me port my mortgage

thecatinthehat

Hi. I'm new to this site and would be really grateful for any advice. Basically I approached B&B about porting my mortgage (no change in the amount) as I planned to sell my flat and buy a small house further out of town. They said in principle this was no problem subject to a credit check on me and a satisfactory survey on the house I want to buy. The survey was completed a few days ago and was fine. It mentioned the usual problems (which affect half of Kent) including the risk of subsidence and flood plain. However the surveyor said the property is structurally fine and worth the money and that the risks are manageable (i.e. buildings insurance, nearest river is over 2 miles away etc). If this was a problem presumably no mortgages would be availble for properties in the area which is not the case.

B&B have now refused to lend against this property and stated that they are not satisfied with the survey results. I have spoken to the surveyor who states there is no reason to lend against this property. B&B have told me they are not willing to discuss it further, not willing to give me reasons as to why they have essentially ignored the survey I had to pay £400 for.

I have asked to speak to their complaints department and told they won't call me back for 5 days. In the meantime I feel as though they had no intention of allowing me to port and have advised me to pay the early redemption fee (of over £4000) and apply elsewhere. I feel that they should either refund the survey fee seeing as they ignored it or not charge me the early redemtion fee as they are not fulfilling their contractual obligation (in my opinion). I know they are very keen to reduce their mortgage book and I suspect this might be one strategy. In the meantime do I keep forking out for surveys they will reject or pay the redemtion fee.

Any advice or experiences are very welcome! Thanks

happybroker

if the surveyor has stated that the property is suitable for mortgage purposes I'm surprised at this decision.

Not allowing you to speak to a manager or complaints department for 5 working days is unreasonable and isn't treating you fairly, as is their obligation as a company aithorised and regulated by the FSA.

You need to ring up and bring this specific point to their attention and DO NOT put down the phone until you are speaking to some one who can help. The front line staff are good at putting you off but if you don't flip your lid or swear they have no reason to put the phone down.

Cannon_Fodder

On the complaint, to be fair, they might have meant "we deal with complaints within 5 days", as in a 'Service Level Agreement'.

They might act more quickly, but they allow themselves that time with a 'stop' point, as other complaints already underway cannot just be dropped - the next complaint along might mean your complaint is dropped and puts you over 5 days...after all, they could do a quick and painless (for them) "no, our decision was right" instead of a careful examination of the details of your case...if they were only interested in getting complaints off their hands.

On their website they don't specify;

"We will acknowledge your communication by close of business the following day and provide you with a contact name and expected date of reply"


On the porting issue, there seem to be more of these appearing recently...sounds like some lenders are keen to divest themselves of business - and as B&B were rescued by the Govt and have £18Bn to repay to the FSCS, they may be taking a strict line when the opportunity arises.

opinions4u

thecatinthehat wrote: »

The survey was completed a few days ago and was fine. It mentioned the usual problems (which affect half of Kent) including the risk of subsidence and flood plain.

To be fair, these aren't "usual" problems, but they are not uncommon either.

the surveyor said the property is structurally fine and worth the money and that the risks are manageable (i.e. buildings insurance, nearest river is over 2 miles away etc). If this was a problem presumably no mortgages would be availble for properties in the area which is not the case.

There has been debate about the long term insurability of such properties and also whether or not they do provide adequate security for the mortgage.

B&B have now refused to lend against this property and stated that they are not satisfied with the survey results.

Which is absolutely their right.

I have spoken to the surveyor who states there is no reason to lend against this property.

If it was his money being lent, then his opinion on the matter would be worth listening to. Values and structural integrity are his area of expertise. Not money lending.

B&B have told me they are not willing to discuss it further, not willing to give me reasons as to why they have essentially ignored the survey I had to pay £400 for.

They haven't ignored the survey. They've used comments in it as an excuse not to lend.

I do think you should persist until you get clarification of their reasons for not lending. Ironic for a government owned lender in so many ways.

I have asked to speak to their complaints department and told they won't call me back for 5 days. In the meantime I feel as though they had no intention of allowing me to port and have advised me to pay the early redemption fee (of over £4000) and apply elsewhere.

Keep the pressure on them by pursuing the complaint. I don't think they want to honour the portable mortgage product.

I feel that they should either refund the survey fee seeing as they ignored it

They didn't ignore it.

or not charge me the early redemtion fee as they are not fulfilling their contractual obligation (in my opinion).

They could probably show that they are sticking rigidly to their lending criteria. I would, however, pursue this waiving of the ERC option strongly with their complaints team and, if necessary, escalate it to the Financial Services Ombudsman. It's not a clear cut case that you will win though and it would probably be 12-24 months before you got a decision.

I know they are very keen to reduce their mortgage book and I suspect this might be one strategy.

I think you're right.

In the meantime do I keep forking out for surveys they will reject or pay the redemtion fee.

You haven't actually told us what rate/type/term the portable product gives that's worth keeping.

I think you need to ask B&B the following:

1) Would they consider an application on a different property from you?
2) What specifically makes them uncomfortable about the current property?

FraudBuster

The Government is winding down B&B’s mortgage book, which may be merged with the remaining part of Northern Rock’s mortgage book after a “good bank” is split off and sold back to the private sector.

Bradford & Bingley, the nationalised mortgage lender, has laid bare the dire state of its loan book and said that a rising wave of fraud dragged it to a £160 million loss for the first half of the year

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article6797123.ece

jamesd

thecatinthehat wrote: »

I have spoken to the surveyor who states there is no reason to lend against this property.

If that's really what the surveyor said then I'm not surprised that B&B is following his advice.

Is the current property at more or less flood risk than the proposed new one? If there's an increase in flood risk that would be ample justification for them declining to port.

thecatinthehat

Thanks a million to everyone who responded...really really helpful advice. I will pursue the complaint and in the meantime am going to risk trying to use another lender and seeing if I get any further.