Halifax back out

chippydog

Halifax pulled out of lending us the money to buy a house after instructing a valuer and us having contracts ready to exchange. Do i have any gounds to re-claim tha valuation fee?

luckyfool

You paid for a valuation. A valuation has been carried out (presumably). Unless they pulled out before the valuation took place I struggle to see what grounds you could reclaim the fee on.

chippydog

They shouln't have instructed a valuer if they weren't going to give us a chance surely. They pulled out because of 2 CCJs on my credit report. They had been aware of the problems on my credit file from day 1. I just feel like they have strung us along to get the £315 valuation fee out of us.

luckyfool

If I was the broker (I don't know if you went direct or through a broker) and you told me of ccj's, a) I probably would not have put it to Halifax, and b) would have asked them to put the valuation on hold until they were happy with the rest of the case.

Assuming you declared the ccj's from day one I am surprised it passed an initial agreement in principle. Has the valuation definitely already taken place?

chippydog

Yes, i have it here with me. Paid for it up front. I have had no direct contact with Halifax as we have been using a broker. We jumped through so many hoops to keep halifax happy, even scraped together another 5% deposit before they would instruct a valuer. This is why we feel so hard done to. They knew the facts, dangled the carrot then whipped it away. My broker says they have admitted a massive error but that really doesn't help us!!

dlk

I might be wrong here but sounds more like the broker has made a mess of this to me. There's no way Halifax would agree your original agreement in principle with your ccj's so ridiculous as this seems maybe your broker thought he could get the mortgage through their checking process somehow and clearly this has failed.

I'd call halifax directly if I were you as if your broker has mucked things up I don't doubt for a minute he'd try to put the blame on Halifax if he could. If they really did make an error and are admitting it, then I'm pretty sure they'd refund the valuation.

SandC

I completely agree, I think your broker might well have withheld info to the Halifax and got caught out at the last minute. I would try and find out what you can with Halifax, I've always found them very helpful. At the same time, insist that your broker let you have sight of everything he has received on your application.

Conrad

I always explain to clients an application can be turned down at the last minute and they stand to loose the valuation. In this way I never get any complaints. A happy clappy broker (most) will be overly positive and start from the assupmtion the case will suceed but this approach is at odds with reality.

Say you will complain to the Ombudsman and the FSA - the broker will probably pay you back the money as he wont want a complaint eneterd against his name as this can draw his business to the attention of the regulator. If he's part of a netwrok (see his card) then they will similarly not want a complaint registered.