First Direct mortgage rates cut and cheaper fees

Nanao_2

sebtomato wrote: »

They will ask you questions for 30-40 minutes, and then wait for their computer to determine whether you qualify or whether there are show stoppers. I don't know if the computer does credit checks at that stage or not.

I think they do do a credit check on you at this stage, but I don't know if it's for the first direct account or otherwise.

trophs wrote: »

I had the phonecall on Thursday for a First Direct Mortgage and checked my experian report later in the day. It had a check for a first direct current account on it. She told me you have to open the account as part of the process of applying for the mortgage.

That's correct, if you don't have an existing account with them you will need to open one. But what you do with it later it's up to you I was told.

From the FD website eligibility criteria:

open a first direct 1st Account if you don't already have one

pardal51

sebtomato wrote: »

They will ask you questions for 30-40 minutes, and then wait for their computer to determine whether you qualify or whether there are show stoppers. I don't know if the computer does credit checks at that stage or not.

Seb, do they assess you for the amount you said you need or do they assess you and tell the maximun amount they can lend?

I hope I can open 2x FD Current account (me and my wife, rather than 1 joint), transfer all DD and bag £100 for each switching account.

uzubairu

pardal51 wrote: »

Seb, do they assess you for the amount you said you need or do they assess you and tell the maximun amount they can lend?

I hope I can open 2x FD Current account (me and my wife, rather than 1 joint), transfer all DD and bag £100 for each switching account.

I was asked how much I wanted to borrow before I was questioned in detail.

Prior to the phone interview, I went on the First Direct website and put some numbers in the calculator, so I had and idea what the maximum amount was.

shteve

pardal51 wrote: »

I hope I can open 2x FD Current account (me and my wife, rather than 1 joint), transfer all DD and bag £100 for each switching account.

That's what I did, but left the DDs on our existng bank accounts. You just need to have £1500 in each of the FD accounts for a month or so to get the £100.

pardal51

uzubairu wrote: »

I was asked how much I wanted to borrow before I was questioned in detail.

Prior to the phone interview, I went on the First Direct website and put some numbers in the calculator, so I had and idea what the maximum amount was.

Problem with calculator is that it does not ask your income, just value of property and how much you deposit is. When I rang them yesterday the lady asked how much I wanted to borrow and our incomes (interview next weekend). Even though we have a budget we don't want to go over, I would still like to find out whether they could lend us more than we need/want. Again we are quite clear how much we can afford and don't want to borrow more than our ceiling, even if they can lend more. It is just a "curiosity"

pardal51

shteve wrote: »

That's what I did, but left the DDs on our existng bank accounts. You just need to have £1500 in each of the FD accounts for a month or so to get the £100.

Did you apply for the mortgage and threfore had to setup the CAs or did you just apply for the CAs to bag the incentives??

shteve

I set up the accounts as I wanted to apply for the FD offset. Took me 6 months to get round to applying for the mortgage after setting up the accounts though! I actually didn't know about the £100 bonus until it was credited to the accounts.

pardal51

shteve wrote: »

I set up the accounts as I wanted to apply for the FD offset. Took me 6 months to get round to applying for the mortgage after setting up the accounts though! I actually didn't know about the £100 bonus until it was credited to the accounts.

What was the issue???

shteve

pardal51 wrote: »

What was the issue???

Part laziness, part concern over whether I was doing the right thing. Had it going three months now, and already saved £600 over the old mortgage. This month we should be 100% offsetting

matt1987

Nanao wrote: »

I think they do do a credit check on you at this stage, but I don't know if it's for the first direct account or otherwise.



That's correct, if you don't have an existing account with them you will need to open one. But what you do with it later it's up to you I was told.

From the FD website eligibility criteria:

They can forget it then because I dont want any credit checks just yet. All I was is what they could possibly offer me, and their eligibility criteria.