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Can Bank of Scotland renege on a mortgage offer
ewanturney
Posts: 1 Newbie
Hi, urgently require some help as I am banging my head against a brick wall with the BoS and am on verge of losing a sale and purchase of house.
After previous discussions, and product confirmation, on 27 August we received a formal mortgage offer from the BoS to port our existing mortgage from our existing to proposed purcahse house.
We paid £430 for the valuation prior to the mortgage offer. The mortgage offer had a retainer of £15,000 until exterior works on the driveway and parking spaces had been completed prior to purchase by the vendor.
The expiry date on this offer is stated clearly as 27 August 2011.
These works were subsequently completed and another £70 was paid for a further inspection and was passed by the business analysts.
The mortgage illustration assumes it will start on 16 September 2010, which we had been on track to do.
On the day of proposed contract exchange, we had still not received the final offer from BoS. Upon ringing, my wife was told that the computer had flagged the mortgage as one that could not now be ported, and we would need to apply for a new mortgage product.
My wife was clearly upset by this news and at this point was simply told that she had to speak to the sales team and offered no further help or guidance.
At no time prior to this, had an issue been raised about porting, other than verbal agreement that completion must take place before 1 October 2010, which we were and still are on schedule to do.
When we have queried why an offer without the retainer has not been forthcoming, the only answer we can get from sales teams and others is “the computer says no.”
I had several further conversations with a product team member at BoS on Friday 8 September.
He told me it was a “bit of a joke”, “horrendous” and that he had never seen this happen before and that “we should be able to do this”.
I can not get an answer from anyone on why this is now not portable. It is incredibly frustrating to be constantly on hold — sometimes for 30 minutes at my own cost — to be told it won’t go through our system but we don’t know why.
We are now on the verge of losing both our sale and purchase thanks to the massive ineptitude of Bank of Scotland and its “computer says no” dim-witted attitude.
We are not asking for a single penny more and are proposing to move to a higher value property, giving BoS even more security if we were ever to default.
Further to this, I lodged a call with customer relations on Monday 13 September. He informed me that the BoS would write to me to acknowledge the complaint. That does not help us – we need immediate resolution. He said they have eight weeks to deal with it.
He said his manager was not in and the person above him was “not customer facing”.
Subsequently, I again phoned customer comlaints on 13 September, who after putting me on hold for 20 minutes, transferred me back to the sales team, who advised I speak to someone I had already spoken to, who had already said he did not know why it could not go through and referred me to customer complaints.
I then spoke the sales manager who said she could only refer me back to the customer complaints team, who had already referred me to the sales team. Unbelievable and still no answer when time is of the essence and we are on the cusp of losing both our sale and purchase.
Further to this and four more calls in - each one over 30 minutes - and I have still got no further with staff still willing to blame each other's department and no-one taking ownership or offering practical advice or help.
Still no-one is prepared to tell me why this mortgage is now suddenly not portable. Instead they prefer to pass the buck.
It is beyond belief the stress this is causing us.
It is absolutely unbelievable that our lives are being held hostage by a computer.
We have never missed a mortgage payment but are being held to ransom by a failed bank because “the computer says no”.
It really is bringing that famous sketch from Little Britain to life. Except that it is not funny when it has very serious implications for the lives of a young family.
I don't know where to turn. BoS are useless, I have lodged official complaint but that will take too long. My solictor is getting the same reply - should be able to do it but computer not letting it.
I have also informed Watchdog and my MP. The Financial Ombudsman says I have to wait 8 weeks to give a chance for resolution.
That is far too long.
Any help?
After previous discussions, and product confirmation, on 27 August we received a formal mortgage offer from the BoS to port our existing mortgage from our existing to proposed purcahse house.
We paid £430 for the valuation prior to the mortgage offer. The mortgage offer had a retainer of £15,000 until exterior works on the driveway and parking spaces had been completed prior to purchase by the vendor.
The expiry date on this offer is stated clearly as 27 August 2011.
These works were subsequently completed and another £70 was paid for a further inspection and was passed by the business analysts.
The mortgage illustration assumes it will start on 16 September 2010, which we had been on track to do.
On the day of proposed contract exchange, we had still not received the final offer from BoS. Upon ringing, my wife was told that the computer had flagged the mortgage as one that could not now be ported, and we would need to apply for a new mortgage product.
My wife was clearly upset by this news and at this point was simply told that she had to speak to the sales team and offered no further help or guidance.
At no time prior to this, had an issue been raised about porting, other than verbal agreement that completion must take place before 1 October 2010, which we were and still are on schedule to do.
When we have queried why an offer without the retainer has not been forthcoming, the only answer we can get from sales teams and others is “the computer says no.”
I had several further conversations with a product team member at BoS on Friday 8 September.
He told me it was a “bit of a joke”, “horrendous” and that he had never seen this happen before and that “we should be able to do this”.
I can not get an answer from anyone on why this is now not portable. It is incredibly frustrating to be constantly on hold — sometimes for 30 minutes at my own cost — to be told it won’t go through our system but we don’t know why.
We are now on the verge of losing both our sale and purchase thanks to the massive ineptitude of Bank of Scotland and its “computer says no” dim-witted attitude.
We are not asking for a single penny more and are proposing to move to a higher value property, giving BoS even more security if we were ever to default.
Further to this, I lodged a call with customer relations on Monday 13 September. He informed me that the BoS would write to me to acknowledge the complaint. That does not help us – we need immediate resolution. He said they have eight weeks to deal with it.
He said his manager was not in and the person above him was “not customer facing”.
Subsequently, I again phoned customer comlaints on 13 September, who after putting me on hold for 20 minutes, transferred me back to the sales team, who advised I speak to someone I had already spoken to, who had already said he did not know why it could not go through and referred me to customer complaints.
I then spoke the sales manager who said she could only refer me back to the customer complaints team, who had already referred me to the sales team. Unbelievable and still no answer when time is of the essence and we are on the cusp of losing both our sale and purchase.
Further to this and four more calls in - each one over 30 minutes - and I have still got no further with staff still willing to blame each other's department and no-one taking ownership or offering practical advice or help.
Still no-one is prepared to tell me why this mortgage is now suddenly not portable. Instead they prefer to pass the buck.
It is beyond belief the stress this is causing us.
It is absolutely unbelievable that our lives are being held hostage by a computer.
We have never missed a mortgage payment but are being held to ransom by a failed bank because “the computer says no”.
It really is bringing that famous sketch from Little Britain to life. Except that it is not funny when it has very serious implications for the lives of a young family.
I don't know where to turn. BoS are useless, I have lodged official complaint but that will take too long. My solictor is getting the same reply - should be able to do it but computer not letting it.
I have also informed Watchdog and my MP. The Financial Ombudsman says I have to wait 8 weeks to give a chance for resolution.
That is far too long.
Any help?
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