New Homes Mortgage Helpline *rant*

cocomonkey_2

They are the only lenders who give you a decent fixed rate mortgage - so basically yes they are the only lenders worth going with on the scheme.

Muhasib

cocomonkey wrote: »

They are the only lenders who give you a decent fixed rate mortgage - so basically yes they are the only lenders worth going with on the scheme.

So why say 'you can only use THREE lenders' in your earlier post and also: 'Only Natwest, Halifax and Nationwide will take on a homebuy mortgage' as the facts clearly don't support your assertion.

i'll ask again is it because NHMH told you this?

cocomonkey_2

Because that is basically true for most people. The first link you sent is for teachers only - I can only speak from my own experience - I am not a teacher so that is not appropriate for me.
Most people are going to use the three main high street lenders on the scheme - nationwide, halifax and Natwest - and it was actually Homebuy Direct who gave us this information.
You are missing my point anyway - these three lenders are the only ones on the scheme (regardless of the other "lenders" you cite - who give a decent rate (around 4 %) for a two year fixed rate mortgage - which is what most people want. If you want to go with one of these other lenders and pay over 6 pc or go on a variable rate then good for you - I certainly don't

SaverEmma

To clarify, the IFA recommended a mortgage with Halifax and so I checked with Halifax directly (after reading something on these forums) and they offered me a better rate. This has all gone through now and HBD are happy with it.

It worked out to be £70 a month cheaper so over 2 years thats a massive difference - not just just a couple of hundred. The benefit is compounded if I then do the same and DIY my mortgage at the end of the 2 year term!

I paid around £300 for Independant Financial Advice (which on the Keyfacts sheet states is taken from the whole of the market, not just selected lenders). Am still wading through the complaints procedure to try to get a refund on that amount.

betmunch

SaverEmma wrote: »

I paid around £300 for Independant Financial Advice (which on the Keyfacts sheet states is taken from the whole of the market, not just selected lenders). Am still wading through the complaints procedure to try to get a refund on that amount.

Whole of Market means Whole of the Market available to IFA's.

Cant see you getting a refund on the money paid as you were offered the best mortgage for you available from that IFA, who searched the whole of the market available to IFA's

The problem is with the FSA's definitions arent clear, in fact, in this case they are just plain misleading

Muhasib

cocomonkey - i'm not missing your point at all: you stated there were only 3 lenders for Homebuy Direct mortgages.

Clearly that isn't borne out by the facts as in the examples I gave (and they aren't the only ones)

Whether these are appropriate for your own circumstances is a different issue.

M_and_A

If you have the time, I would strongly advise complaining to Connells (parent company of NHMH), as I have done this. I was/am unhappy with their service for a number of reasons, but am really sticking to my guns on the fact that I was misled throughout.

It is just not good enough for them to more or less 'trick' you into using their service, and putting you on sub standard products, where they can earn tasty commisions! I stated that due to their awful and misleading service, I no longer wanted to be a 'lifetime customer' (£295 fee), and they immediately refunded the difference (£200).

Despite this pleasing result, I am still defending my right for some kind of compensation for the awful 'one time service' for which I have still paid £95. Despite two letters, they have still not really responded to my claims that they misled me, and I am now referring this to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Of course, this all takes time, but if you have the time, it would surely help other consumers if this seemingly misleading service could be exposed by our complaints. Even if we can't get full compensation for their damage to our wallet, at least the chance of publicity could help others to avoid what appears to be (in my experience) a shifty company.

WeaponX

Looking at this thread I'm thinking of complaining about NHMH. The mortgage advisor came round and sold me a mortgage that expires on the 29th June 2012 where as the legal completion date of the new build was in July 2012. He assured us he could extend this deadline. Later I e-mailed him to confirm this and he said that 'we'll deal with this on a case by case basis nearer the time', not happy with this response I phoned Santander and they confirmed they they do not extend the mortgage offer but offer a new product at the time. This can raise all sorts of issues so I've read, the lender might re-value the property at a lower price therefore leaving me out of pocket, the interest rates might be higher at that time and there may be a scenerio where the banks can only lend less than they did previously. Unfortunately I too signed on the dotted line

So my question is:

a) Do I have grounds for a complaint?

b) Aside from that their membership fee is non-refundable. There is no cooling off period or cancelling the service, doesn't this go against consumer rights from looking at: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Consumerrights/Yourconsumerrightswhenbuyinggoodsandservices/DG_194653 ?

Conrad

SaverEmma wrote: »

So, I'm buying a property through Homebuy Direct and was told I needed to call NHMH to get an affordability assessment done. All went through fine. They then sent round a IFA to discuss the mortgage products with me. She explained this all ok and I naively signed on the dotted line to cover the valuation and feees.

Fast forward to today when I had a bit of spare time and was reading through some MSE forums and found some not so great info on NHMH. I investigated by calling up some banks directly and found several better rates. When I called the IFA up she sounded rather put out that I had done this. Anyway, the deals were that much better that I have had to cancel the previous mortgage application through the IFA and start a new one directly with the bank. I was never told that I could actually do this and the HBD scheme seems to throw in massive complications at each step!

I have asked for a refund of the fees I paid, as the services were not clearly explained to me and at no point was I given another option. Naively, I hadn't actually expected a sales pitch when the IFA popped over so fell for it all hook, line and sinker. I have been told that just under half the fees are refundable.

Not a happy bunny. Does anyone have any advice on this? Is it legal to do this? It seems like theres been random admin fees chucked in that you dont have to pay for with banks and I've ended up with a lifetime membership(?!) to rubbish financial advice.

Am I just a mug or am I entitled to any of it back? Really cant afford these stupid extra fees

Right this sort of thing irks me. You will get all your money back.
Those lifetime IFA services are a huge con, afterall many of them go under / leave the business etc and you end up with now't.

Do an official complaint and refer to the FSA rules known as 'Treating Customers Fairly'. Just say you feel the firm has breached TCF rules. Home in on the fact you were not made aware they ignored direct to lender deals.

Give them 7 days and if not satisfied refer to them to the FSA (tell them you will be doing this - they will probably kr%ap themselves and just refund anyway).

As I keep saying on this forum, brokers are only needed for difficult cases, everyone else should get a better deal going direct to lender.

Conrad

WeaponX wrote: »

Looking at this thread I'm thinking of complaining about NHMH. The mortgage advisor came round and sold me a mortgage that expires on the 29th June 2012 where as the legal completion date of the new build was in July 2012. He assured us he could extend this deadline. Later I e-mailed him to confirm this and he said that 'we'll deal with this on a case by case basis nearer the time', not happy with this response I phoned Santander and they confirmed they they do not extend the mortgage offer but offer a new product at the time. This can raise all sorts of issues so I've read, the lender might re-value the property at a lower price therefore leaving me out of pocket, the interest rates might be higher at that time and there may be a scenerio where the banks can only lend less than they did previously. Unfortunately I too signed on the dotted line

So my question is:

a) Do I have grounds for a complaint?

b) Aside from that their membership fee is non-refundable. There is no cooling off period or cancelling the service, doesn't this go against consumer rights from looking at: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Consumerrights/Yourconsumerrightswhenbuyinggoodsandservices/DG_194653 ?

Get your complaint in right now.
The offer expiry date issue was very pertinent but the adviser ignored this in an off hand manner, no doubt wanting to hit that months sales target.

You might also want to complain you were not made duly aware that direct products were cheaper.

Treating customers fairly (TCF) rules cover all this, in particular;

+ OUTCOME 1 - clients can be confident they are dealing with firms where fair treatment is CENTRAL to the firms culture

+ OUTCOME 2 - products are designed to meet the needs of customers and TARGETED ACCORDINGLY (so the expiry issue is again relevant here)

+ OUTCOME 3 - consumers are provided with CLEAR INFORMATION throughout the sales process (thier reply 'we'll cross that bridge later', I would suggest breaches this rule

Get complaining

Funny how these 'lifetime' services firms to me tend to operate in a shoddy manner.

I bet they sold you insurance too? Is it the very cheapest (from a reputable insurerer I mean) - I doubt it.

Any chance you can reveal the name of this firm?