New Homes Mortgage Helpline *rant*

WeaponX

Thanks Conrad. The firm is New Homes Mortgage Helpline http://www.thenewhomesgroup.co.uk/nhg-mortgage-helpline/

Yes I was very anxious about this expiry date but the mortgage advisor continually reassured us he could get an extension.
Having called Santander they said what I stated in my previous post. My question is don't all mortgage offers last a maximum of 6 months? What would you have done?

Luckily I avoided buying insurance.

Conrad wrote: »

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?

WeaselTamer

Hello. I bought a new-build flat 3 years ago and was talked into signing up with New Homes Mortgage Helpline by the sales rep. Now the initial term of my mortgage is almost up and in a month's time my interest rates will go up, so I'm looking for a better deal.

Since I allegedly have "lifetime membership" of NHMH, is it worth using them again? Or am I better off looking for something on my own?

I had no major problems with them and they might make searching for a better deal easier, but I'm only interested in using them if "lifetime membership" means "no more fees". The letter they sent me said consultation was free to life members, but are there more fees if they find me something?

kingstreet

If the lender charges fees, you'll have to pay them if you want that deal. All you've done is avoided paying NHM another fee.

So what, I hear you all cry!

Quite.

yowieef

We bought a new build house through David Wilson Homes, we had a tight deadline to secure the property that we wanted, DWH recommended New Homes Mortgage Helpline, as our deadline was tight (I may well mention this point several times) we went with their suggestion, and promptly one of the IFA's from New Homes called and arranged a meeting.

The guy was very confident, almost arrogant, about how easy it would be to part ex our current property and get a mortgage with a company called Accord, he used them regularly and had every reason to believe that we would get a deal no problem. We then discussed life cover, house and contents insurances etc, all again with companies that he used regularly and could give us a quick turnaround. Supplied all documents required that evening, signed on the dotted line and paid out a lifetime fee, and an arrangement fee, both explained in detail, both documents given to us at the time to read and retain.

The IFA went though joint earnings, outgoings etc and again said not a problem getting a mortgage through Accord, as initially my wife was only going to be on the mortgage. So, once the meeting had finished, he summed everything up, then casually mentioned that we should have a response in a week or so as Accord were not the quickest....have I mentioned that we were on a tight deadline?

Week goes past...no offer, a couple of calls from the office to clear up some of our financials, no big problem will have an answer soon...I will spare the details of the next 6 weeks, however many calls to NHMH, finally got hold of the IFA and said can we try another mortgage company as this was dragging on, only to be assured that its in the bag, don't worry, they will be offering in the next few days.

One visit to David Wilsons sales team to explain our predicament, they were fantastic and quite shocked that we were still hanging on after over 6 weeks, our p/ex was sold and the people wanted to move in, so more calls....then the bombshell, Accord rejected the application, so the IFA calls up and basically complains about Accord being useless and slow.....did I mention we had a deadline....then the IFA says, we will try Nationwide as they can turn it round quickly....no real surprise that less than 2 weeks later we have the offer and exchange dates. No apologies from NHMH, no apology from the IFA...so I have followed the DWH complaint procedure and waiting to hear, followed NHMH complaint procedure, no surprise to hear that our lifetime fee is not refundable...no compensation etc etc.

When our fixed term expires we will not be using New Homes Mortgage Helpline again, I would not recommend them or Accord mortgages to anyone.

The most annoying part of this is I asked during the long delay to try another lender, and was told, its okay its in the bag....only then when it fell apart to get a mortgage from another lender who we could have gone to ourselves in less that 10 days.

BTW, I have bough several and sold several properties so not inexperienced at this, just duped by a very confident IFA.

ps, all of the products offered by NHMH such as Home and Contents insurance, life insurance, earnings protection are all well inflated, the House and Contents Insurance was over £300 - My existing company £130 pounds.....I wonder what the commission levels are.


I hope this helps someone make a more informed choice. My advice, stick to your guns and don't be duped.

harvey115

If you are not happy with the reply on your complaint to NHMH, you should contact FSA in writing.

This should be able to fix them correctly.

They sound to be rip off and running to get your money. I would assume they do not even have any relationship with the lenders, thus trying them by luck and only due to your case being straight forward things are working out not by their judgement call and lending criteria knowledge.

bozovoz

Hi everyone.

We are 1st time buyers, wanting to take advantage of the FirstBuy equity loan scheme and were given NHMH details by the builder(Bellway) and told this is who they deal with. Rang them to enquire about the FirstBuy scheme and approved for an AIP with NatWest(who I bank with). We were really pleased at being approved and were told that an IFA would be in touch with us shortly to arrange a meeting to go through our application(my4walls). He rang us just 3 hours later, checked our details and arranged a meeting for this coming Tuesday(21/8). We haven't been made aware of their fees or this lifetime membership. We are now debating whether we want to take part in the scheme at all now.

What would be people's opinions about what they'd do in our situation re: staying with NHMH or getting their own IFA?

Thankyou

harvey115

The lifetime offer is just a waste of money as its never the same in the future and things change so quickly. I would say attend the meeting and on the same time, speak to another good broker who you think is able to meet your requirements as well and is independent of Bellway developers.

If you do not like NHMN, simply say no and tell the developer that you would like to use your own IFA. I am pretty sure they would say its fine.

Developers usually ask their trusted/inhouse IFA's to check whether the client is mortgagable or not.

Rosey78

We purchased via Homebuy direct via CC (new build) in July 2010, we too were told we had to go via "their" IFA. I however called lenders direct and quickly found I could get a better rate than their IFA. Over a number of phone calls their IFA claimed a) the builder would not sell to me if I didn't use them, b) the rate Halifax quoted me was wrong, as I was only talking to a call center person (he had years of experience with qualifications), and lastly, c) Halifax will not lend to anymore on that development as they had reached their threshold.... It was at this point i told him he is making all this stuff up and suggested he didn't call me again. I called the builder and said I'm pulling out if I have to use an IFA who lies! Needless to say it all went through with my rate of 3.7% fixed over 2 years directly with Halifax.
So I would do what harvey115 suggests but also make your own phone calls.

betmunch

Rosey78 wrote: »

We purchased via Homebuy direct via CC (new build) in July 2010, we too were told we had to go via "their" IFA. I however called lenders direct and quickly found I could get a better rate than their IFA. Over a number of phone calls their IFA claimed a) the builder would not sell to me if I didn't use them, b) the rate Halifax quoted me was wrong, as I was only talking to a call center person (he had years of experience with qualifications), and lastly, c) Halifax will not lend to anymore on that development as they had reached their threshold.... It was at this point i told him he is making all this stuff up and suggested he didn't call me again. I called the builder and said I'm pulling out if I have to use an IFA who lies! Needless to say it all went through with my rate of 3.7% fixed over 2 years directly with Halifax.
So I would do what harvey115 suggests but also make your own phone calls.

Classic! We could without idiots like that in our industry, you did the right thing.

Shame you dont have emails or a recording or I would have told you to formally complain!