Mortgage cancelled on completion day

charlievalentine_2

Can anybody give me some advice please. My partner inherited a house a couple of years ago. It has been up for sale and vacant as it has no carpet etc. Even though he owns it legally outright, he was going to pay his brother half of the sale value as it should have been left to both of them. House worth 70000. He has now taken it off the market as we want to live in it. We applied for a 40000 remortgage (even though there is no current mortgage) to pay the brother his half and decorate. We were accepted a few weeks ago and told completion date due. It got rejected at the last minute as we do not live at the property. The bank was well aware of the situation when we applied so apologised and put a reapplication in last week. We had a call on Tuesday to say funds would be in the bank today. But today they have rejected it without so much as a call. We found out on the online tracker. Through a mix up in communication, the person at Enact accounts who rejected it today accidentally called me earlier, so I asked why it was rejected. She said it was because we do not live there among other reasons she wouldn't discuss other than she was unhappy with the information. She advised us to go elsewhere.
We have booked an appointment to speak to the mortgage advisor who did the reapplication but does anybody have any idea what kind of things cause a case to be rejected at such a late stage please?
We are still in need of the loan to pay the brother but are moving in anyway and were wondering how long to leave it before applying with another bank as the brother is desperate for the money.
We were led to believe it was a very simple remortgage so have no idea what information comes to light so very late?
Any advice from anybody with experience of this kind of thing would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Wh05apk

Sounds like a !!!! up, obviously someone is concerned that as you do not live there you will be renting it out, suggest you submit a formal complaint against the lender, as it soounds like they know your circumstances, but somehow keep kicking it out.

I hope they are not charging you anything?

charlievalentine_2

Well they practically admitted as much the first time, hence why they second application was rushed through. When I questioned the women today that somebody called to say the funds would be paid in today, her response was "well, they shouldn't have." Not much help to me now I have booked a host of tradesman to get the house ready.
If we are do not meet their lending criteria they should have said. I am now concerned about the credit searching done on the count over the last few weeks.
Sleepless night and headache :mad:

magpiecottage

From what you say, I agree with Wh05apk.

Complaint to lender for all out of pocket expenses (including anything you have to pay the tradesmen) plus distress and inconvenience.

They have up to 8 weeks to respond. Contact details will be on the FSA register. E-mail it over the weekend and it is deemed received on Monday.

Same if you can fax (a PC with a fax modem will do). This has the advantage of proof of receipt.

GMS

She said it was because we do not live there among other reasons she wouldn't discuss other than she was unhappy with the information

What were the other reasons? Do you have any idea?

A lender can withdraw an offer at any time if they are not happy with new information.

Which lender was it? Did you use a broker or apply direct?

Sambucus_Nigra

Can you move in?

charlievalentine_2

We applied in the Santander branch as the first application was done over the phone with them and had got rejected. The lady from Enact gave me no idea what the other reasons for rejection were and referred me to our mortgage advisor. We had an appointment first thing but she couldn't tell us anything new as Enact are closed today. She is amazed it has failed as although we do not live in the property, she is aware of our circumstances and there has been good reason we didn't live in the property. It was on the market until last month and we were living cheaply in a council flat. Her manager is contacting Enact on Monday to take it further and has said if need be she will go to the district manager. They have assured us they do not want to lose our business and that it is not over yet.
We are moving in 3 weeks time thanks to my Mum bailing us out with money to carpet the place on her credit card. We have started changing utility bills, council tax etc addresses already.
I will be making a complaint regardless of the outcome as if there was still checks to be completed they should not have phoned us to say the money would be in the bank on Friday.
I am still anxious to find the other reasons we were declined as I still think we will be reapplying elsewhere.

Thrugelmir

charlievalentine wrote: »

We were led to believe it was a very simple remortgage so have no idea what information comes to light so very late?

Do you have any debts of any kind?

Do you own the council flat you live in?

Although no carpet why haven't you previously moved into the property?

Why has the property been empty for a couple of years? Was it let for a period of time previously?

Conrad

There are a thousand reasons you may have been declined. You need an EXPERIENCED broker to sort you out. Beware many so called mortgage brokers lack experience or they are primarily insurance sellers ('financial advisors').

I suspect there is a combination of reasons that lead to the declines.
Lenders are often wary about people saying they will move in to the property, but who in fact aim to let it out.

Another complexity results from electronic application forms.
The application software #expects' a remortgage to be on the property where the applicant currently lives.
When the software was written, the code monkeys that wrote it will not have imagined that a remortgage applicant would live somewhere else. THIS IS WHERE AN EXPERIENCED BROKER MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE.

I can guarantee your current 'advisor' has not realised the implications of this and as such approached the application in an incorrect manner.
It may be that you need a small hands on Building Society as they often do not place such a reliance on software, but insread use a good old fashioned brain!

Good luck

charlievalentine_2

Hi Thrugelmir,
The application was in my partners name only and we checked his credit file which looked fine and we don't own the flat we live. The house has been empty since the end of 2008 when my boyfriend lost his Dad. It had some work done it i.e new windows, heating, walls skimmed etc and was then put on the market. We never moved in before as he hoped it would sell. It needs more than carpets to move in and we couldn't afford it before anyway! It has never been let and has just sat there wasting money all this time which seems crazy now. Thanks to Mum we are moving in with the bare essentials only in the hope somebody will still give us the loan.
Conrad...that makes sense what you have said. I was concerned that although the person that took the application understood the situation I do not know if that information has been input anywhere. It seems we have been rejected the 2nd time for the same reason as the first. I also think that Enact used the original application twice as we never even had chance to return their forms the second time before they called to say it was all going fine so we thought they weren't needed.

HelpWhereIcan

My understanding of Santander's criteria is that they will not do this type of remortgage. I asked them about a similar enquiry I had last year and the answer was a flat 'no'.

http://www.abbeyforintermediaries.com/content/lending-criteria?search=remortgage&&filter=E

"If you answer yes to any of the questions below, unfortunately we will decline the application.

12. If this a remortgage application, does the applicant currently not occupy the property? "

Your adviser (a Santander branch one from the sounds of it) may have had the case specially sanctioned but you should also check the application form copy you have to make sure everything has been disclosed.

I placed my client with the Nationwide as they were one of only a few lenders who would do it at the 85% Loan to Value my client needed but there may be others available to you.

It is a case that a whole of market adviser would be the best bet for you to save a lot of leg work and, yes, experience does count but this is something most can sort out in an afternoon of speaking with underwriters and account managers to get the sanction.

Whether someone does protection, investments etc as well says nothing about their experience with mortgages - it says a lot less than how long they've been doing the job.

Mortgages are not rocket science and are generally considered the starting point for most in the industry so you need to choose an adviser on a number of criteria including, whether they offer a local service etc etc.

Ideally use personal reccomendations to pick one or even something like the Yellow pages etc. No harm in speaking to more than one and always make sure to ask the questions Martin suggests in http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1101649966,86816#step2.

Have a quick initial chat with a couple to get a feel of the service they offer and the experience they can bring to bear.

If the broker you prefer charges a fee make sure you know how they calculate that fee, when it is payable and what circumstances it is refundable.

My personal opinion is that anyone charging a fee should refund all the commission they receive as I believe it is fairer to take just the fee required rather than complicate things by charging a fee and taking commission as well.

Be careful of anyone who approaches you unsolicited and use the services of a face to face adviser unless you are confident enough to deal with someone via post & email.

Hope this helps

Good Luck