The powers of estate-agent brokers and a question about HSBC

lcpm

URGENT I think this is posted on the wrong board, so I've re-posted it on the Mortgages and Endowments board instead. Please ignore this one.

Hello,
I'd appreciate some advice on a mortgage issue. Similarly to a a few threads earlier, my partner and I were pressurised into seeing an estate agent's in-house mortgage adviser, who set us up with a deal that didn't seem too bad. We have done all but sign the final papers accepting the deal.
In the last few days, however, we've seen very tempting rates advertised from HSBC. The one we're really interested in is a life-time tracker at 2.45 % above base rate, with no tie-in. HSBC, over the phone, have agreed this deal for us in principle.
I phoned the broker from the estate agent and asked if he could match it and he gave me some options, none of which are quite so good. He then filled me with scare stories about HSBC, saying they will accept our application in principle, keep us waiting for 14 weeks and then reject it, causing us to lose the property. He told me that HSBC are rejecting 83% of applications and that if we apply for a mortgage through them, we basically have a 1 in 5 chance of ever living in the property.
I have gone back to HSBC with his comments, and they assured me that a final lending decision would be with us between 5 and 7 working days after we've returned our wage slips, bank statements, etc, and that there is no reason why our application would be rejected.
We'd much prefer to go with the rate with HSBC, but are terrified that if we now dump the broker, he'll do put a spanner in the works with our house purchase.
Can anyone give me any advice - about the powers of the broker, and also about HSBC and whether they are declining a lot of mortgages at the moment?
I did find a story on the This is Money (I can't post the link) which corroborates to some extent what the broker said about HSBC declining a lot of mortgages, but if they give me a final response within a week, I imagine it wouldn't be the end of the world if we were rejected…
Really sorry for the long ramble, but I'd be grateful for any thoughts on the matter!
LCPM

DVardysShadow

As so much commission hangs on it for the EA mortgage advisor, you can see he would say that wouldn't he can't you.

You go with what you want to do, if you are bold enough to risk losing the house - and if you do, a call to the vendor should get the mortgage advisor put back in his box - and if it doesn't, then the vendor has not got his head screwed on, so you are better out of it.

As vendor, I hated the idea of EA mortgage advisors - because there were conflicts of interest on the part of the EA which did not benefit me.

keith969

HSBC are fine. I recently arranged a mortgage with them - they did indeed make a decision within 5 working days and they do seem to be offering some good deals at the moment.

Tell your broker you're sorry you will not be paying his Xmas bonus but you've got your own lives to think about. And if the estate agent gives any problems, talk to the vendor and tell them that the estate agent is putting you off buying their property and how do they feel about that?

chickmug

Following from the NAEA Code of Practise which I have posted several times: -

Offers
a) By law you must tell clients as soon as is reasonably possible about all offers that you receive at any time until contracts have been exchanged (in Scotland, missives have been concluded) unless the offer is an amount or type which the client has specifically instructed you, in writing, not to pass on. You must confirm such offers in writing at the earliest opportunity and keep a written or computerised record of all offers you receive.

b) You must not discriminate, or threaten to discriminate against a prospective purchaser of your client’s property because that person refuses to agree that you will (directly or indirectly) provide services to them.
Discrimination includes the following:
• Failing to tell the client of an offer to buy the property.
• Telling the client of an offer less quickly than other offers you have received.
• Misrepresenting the nature of the offer or that of rival offers.
• Giving details of properties for sale first to those who have indicated they are prepared to let you provide services to them.
• Making it a condition that the person wanting to buy the property must use any other service provided by you or anyone else.

c) You must take reasonable steps to find out from the prospective purchaser his source and availability of the funds for buying the property and pass this information to the client.

lcpm

Many thanks to all of you for your advice. It's a tricky decision and I wish we'd said no straight away to the estate-agent broker. I understand it would be illegal for the agent to mess with the sale of the property because we don't take their mortgage, but I don't really trust him to act ethically or even legally. I'd really like to be rid of him completely. I've now made a phone application with HSBC to get things moving along, and they've agreed in principle, so we'll make the final decision about what to do before sending off the paperwork.
Many thanks again for taking the time to help.

Conel

Hi there,

I was fed the exact same bull from the EA's in house advisor (after he called my house without invitation - asked by the EA to convince me to up my offer as the extra 5k the vendor wanted would not be that much extra a month!!!). I was told the best rate I could get was 7.09% from Halifax with my deposit and that yes HSBC do have cracking rates at the moment, but you have no chance of getting one (charming).

So we went to see HSBC with P60s and relevant documents in hand, and was agreed our affordability. I think it took a week for our mortgage offer to come through :rolleyes:

Don't believe them. Even if we didn't get a mortgage with HSBC, the next best rate for us was with C&G and Natwest also had a good 10% mortgage. Lying g*ts!

Richard_Webster

HSBC have their quirks, but I have to say that I haven't found any awful delays in clients getting mortgages from them - if anything they are over quick and send out offers before they have done the valuation - which can be confusing!

In recent months my general experience is that I have seen a higher proportion of clients using HSBC/First Direct for mortgages than previously.