First Direct mortgage rates cut and cheaper fees

fraser

just thought I would update, text messages to say application recieved at FD on the 17th July, Mortgage approved today 21st July

their suggested timescales on the first text message was 4 to 5 weeks in total, quite a speedy process so far.

mantamark

They decided (after phone interview, then sending all the info in & paying fees) that they no longer wanted to offer us the mortgage.

The reason being, they have had so many applications, they can afford to pick the cream of the crop to lend to, and have adopted a very conservative approach to picking applicants.

Why couldnt they have decided this at the beginning, and saved us 2-3 weeks? We have had to tell the people that are buying our flat & selling the house to us that we are behind schedule, and as you can guess, that went down a storm.

Thanks very much FD.

Jackinbox99

Mark... you have me worried now. Im looking at going for a FD mortgage over the next few days and cant afford for them to turn me down. Wonder what their criteria is for "cream of the crop" borrowers....

mantamark

I have some debt, but the sale of the flat was paying that off, they said they would need proof it was paid off & a cooling off period of 6 months to show i didnt get any more debt.

Even with the debt not paid off, we can still comfortably afford the payments.

We went with YBS now, applied monday, approved monday, 5 years fixed at 3.99%, £455 upfront for fees.

Its a shame as its knocked us back & everyone is pretty miffed (including myself), but we have found another deal & luckily we have the money to pay the fee's upfront.

ClaireB7

Mark, 3.99% fixed for 5 years seems a very good rate to me (especially if you can afford the fees). I can easily see FD's BoE+1.79% getting above that in 5 years time (would only take about 1 rise per year in the BoE rate)

Having said that ... http://www.ybs.co.uk/mortgages/current_products/products/5yr_fix_01.html says the fees are £995 in total (with £195 up front). Is this the deal you got ?

fraser

mantamark wrote: »

I have some debt, but the sale of the flat was paying that off, they said they would need proof it was paid off & a cooling off period of 6 months to show i didnt get any more debt.

Even with the debt not paid off, we can still comfortably afford the payments.

We went with YBS now, applied monday, approved monday, 5 years fixed at 3.99%, £455 upfront for fees.

Its a shame as its knocked us back & everyone is pretty miffed (including myself), but we have found another deal & luckily we have the money to pay the fee's upfront.

that is a decent deal, thanks for pointing out, seems these products have recently come out? did not spot them before!

mantamark

Looks like they have been out a few days now.

Sorry, total fees are...

Up Front -
Valuation - 260
Fee - 195
total = 455

Added to mortgage -
Fee - 800

Extra -
Chaps - 30
Legal - 117

Think thats everything.

uzubairu

fraser wrote: »

just thought I would update, text messages to say application recieved at FD on the 17th July, Mortgage approved today 21st July

their suggested timescales on the first text message was 4 to 5 weeks in total, quite a speedy process so far.

We've received the first text, confirming receipt of application forms (and proof of earnings etc), so we will have fingers crossed that we get the next text soon.

Thankfully, as far as I am aware we have no outstanding loans, the few credit cards we have are maintained very well (paid in full monthly) and LTV is around 50%.

uzubairu

Got another text from First Direct this afternoon, asking me to call them.

They wanted to know the balance on my credit card.
They also queried the payments to and from my personal account to my Egg Instant Access savings acount, as they thought they were payments to a credit card.

They want 3 months of statements from the bill payment account (as we pay money into it from our separate current accounts).
OH has just gone to fax them off now.

At least they are being thorough.
Fingers are still crossed.

ClaireB7

Went through a 50 minute 'interview' with them this afternoon. We went with the BoE+1.79% lifetime tracker. £99 admin fee, £99 valuation fee and £149 "closing fee" (but only if you leave FirstDirect. If you stay with FD but swtich to a different mortgage you don't pay the £149).

She is putting all the details in the post - have to return a form with bank statement, 3 months' payslips and P60 and that's it.

Works out at £65pm less than our current payment so not too bad.