When does a bank ask for an employer reference?

meishkablue

Hi,

I have an appointment with my partner this afternoon to apply for a mortgage. It's our first time having a mortgage but we do not class as first time buyers as we are buying the house from the estate of my partner's father. The house is worth £130,000 and we need a mortgage of £75,000.

We are going to Brittania and I was a bit worried as it says they approach your employer for a reference? Can anyone tell me if this is normal practice and what they ask when they approach them. We are already taking in 3 months worth of bank statements and payslips, so will this be necessary? I've nothing to hide, just my work are pains at being slow!

Thanks

Helen

AbbieCadabra

one of our employees got a mortgage with Yorkshire Bank earlier this year, they never contacted us for any details at all. another rented a place & the landlord wanted a reference & confirmation of his earnings, but i suppose that's a bit different.

if they do need info, just find out who would deal with it at your work & keep giving them a gentle nudge if things are taking too long

Senior_Paper_Monitor

The answer to the actual question is 'whenever they chose to do so". Nothing you can do to influence it (other than chase the internal dept to reply if it is asked for).

kkgree1

We've just completed on our purchase last month and our mortgage is with Britannia.

They asked for an employer reference for both me and my husband shortly after we had completed the mortgage application (the next day in our case). The forms were faxed to each payroll department and Britannia asked for a named contact at each of our companies.

Having seen the document (my husband completed his for his boss!) it is just a standard A4 document asking basic salary, commission, etc. They also called my company a couple of days later to confirm with payroll that it was them that had completed the form.

We went from mortgage application (over the phone) to mortgage offer in 10 days so we were really impressed with Britannia and would highly recommend them.

meishkablue

Thanks. The advisor yesterday said it depends on your application whether they contact your employer or not. Sometimes they consider the payslips and a "website check" to be fine (they took 3 months worth of payslips from us) and other times they do contact your employer to check it's just pot luck. I will let my HR department know just in case. I was very impressed by Britannia yesterday too and she said that we should receive the mortgage offer in 2-3 weeks. I should expect a call from the surveyor today to arrange for the valuation so fingers crossed.