Woolwich withdrew mortgage offer due to their mistake - claim/compensation?

corndisty

Hello, I was due to move into a property and had a verbal mortgage offer from my lender, Woolwich who stated they were faxing the mortgage offer in the morning to my solicitor. When I called the next morning they assured me there was no problems and the offer would be with me within 30 minutes.

They didn't and when I called them in the afternoon they said their underwriter had make a mistake, he missed vital figures of the case and had incorrectly calculated the mortgage offer.

They accepted liability but now due to their error they were unable to continue. I was homeless and had now had to place all my goods into a hired van and stay with my parents.I have registered a complaint in which they have yet to even respond to and am over £3,000 out of pocket due to their incompetence.

I would like Woolwich to honor the offer but if they REALLY can not then I will be seeking compensation for all this has cost me as without original acceptance I would not have progressed, rented and would not be homeless.

Can anyone please advise?

JSR

It's very unlikely you will get compensation. I know it's no help now but you should really not give notice on your tenancy until you have exchanged contracts - there are far too many things that can go wrong.

Thrugelmir

Until you received a written mortgage offer, that you signed and agreed to, and returned to the lender. You weren't in a position to progress with the purchase. You weren't at the stage of moving into the property. As contracts hadn't even been agreed and exchanged.

corndisty

Hi,thanks for your reply. In usual circumstances I would agree although we were given notice to us and were told that all was fine for 4 weeks. It was the moving day,2 hours before moving in they called us highlighting their miscalculations and we could not proceed. They are 100% at fault and admit it but that doesn't change the fact we have no home now. Surely they this is professional negligence and we paid for and are still paying for their gross misconduct?

maninthestreet

corndisty wrote: »

Hi,thanks for your reply. In usual circumstances I would agree although we were given notice to us and were told that all was fine for 4 weeks. It was the moving day,2 hours before moving in they called us highlighting their miscalculations and we could not proceed. They are 100% at fault and admit it but that doesn't change the fact we have no home now. Surely they this is professional negligence and we paid for and are still paying for their gross misconduct?

How could it be 'moving in' day if you didn't even have a written mortgage offer? Your solicitor would not have the funds available form Woolwich to complete the purchase.

kingstreet

You need to clarify exactly what happened and when.

In your last post you say this happened two hours before moving, but I cannot imagine ANY circumstances in which a solicitor would arrange an exchange and simultaneous completion without having a mortgage offer to hand for a few days. In most cases, lenders request, if not demand, at least three days notice to release funds.

Thrugelmir

corndisty wrote: »

It was the moving day,2 hours before moving in they called us highlighting their miscalculations and we could not proceed.

Do you receive a written mortgage offer previously?

corndisty

We did receive a mortgage offer in principle 3 weeks prior to the moving in day and was told a week before moving in that the bank were going to fax the actual mortgage offer to the solicitors, they didn't and postponed this for a week until I escalated this.

If the bank had faxed the mortgage offer to my solicitor in the morning which they agreed to, then yes we would have exchanged and completed the same day so that was actually our moving in day. Our solicitor only need the mortgage offer before 1pm to wire the funds before 3pm and we could move in at 5pm, this was all ready until Woolwich realised they could not count!

Sorry for any confusion before, I am obviously very distressed by this situation.

GMS

corndisty wrote: »

We did receive a mortgage offer in principle 3 weeks prior to the moving in day and was told a week before moving in that the bank were going to fax the actual mortgage offer to the solicitors, they didn't and postponed this for a week until I escalated this.

If the bank had faxed the mortgage offer to my solicitor in the morning which they agreed to, then yes we would have exchanged and completed the same day so that was actually our moving in day. Our solicitor only need the mortgage offer before 1pm to wire the funds before 3pm and we could move in at 5pm, this was all ready until Woolwich realised they could not count!

Sorry for any confusion before, I am obviously very distressed by this situation.

Offer in principle means nothing. Cannot attempt to exchange with it.

No way can you exchange and complete on a faxed offer the same day.

Something does not add up here. Lender may have made an error but as they never issued an offer there is no way you can claim any compensation. Even if they had issued an offer they can withdraw it at any time.

shar46y

GMS wrote: »

Something does not add up here. Lender may have made an error but as they never issued an offer there is no way you can claim any compensation. Even if they had issued an offer they can withdraw it at any time.

And/or the solicitor messed up too??

corndisty

Well that is the opposite information that our solicitor and bank agreed upon so completing and exchanging on the same day was available to us.

However thanks for your reply.