woolwich mortgage..how long?

the_survivor

hi all....
I am a first time buyer and i have recently applied for a mortgage through woolwich. Its been just under 2 weeks since my broker sent the application through.
how long does this normally take more the valuation to be instructed?
I have had no news so am just a bit concerned as i have heard from my estate agent that they have had mortgage offers come through in 2 weeks max!

any advice will be very helpful.

obee

We have also applied to the Woolwich about 2 weeks ago, and the valuation is yet to be instructed. Although my case is a little more complex (I have a BTL and now applying for a residential mortgage at 75% LTV), they seem to not communicate their queries and rather wait for me to call them and then ask me questions!! Once they have more information from me, they say it will take 2-3 days for them to process this!! Unbelievably slow processing. And when I call the processing centre in India, different people tell different things on the progress.
You should definitely chase your broker (I wish I had one) and s/he should be updating you on the progress.

picardygirl

Get your broker to chase it up ........ or chase it up yourself ......... we changed to the Woolwich last year, and on our application in branch (barclays) the application said no survey/valuation required (remortgaging) so i wasnt "waiting" for a valuation call ..... two weeks after application, received a call from Woolwich saying they had everything in place, just need to arrange survey (even though computer said no!), so that was arranged for the next day (wednesday) ..... had verbal mortgage offer by thursday afternoon (by text) and written mortgage offer in the post on the friday morning.

Hope all goes well.

handytips

Woolwich admin is notoriously slow, they will not instruct the valuation until they have all outstanding information, your broker will be able to track your mortgage app on line via the intermediaries website that he will have logins for. Quite often it will be something simple that needs to be sorted, what you have to realise with woolwich, the vast majority of the underwriting is done in India, and talking to these people whether you are a Broker/Bank advisor or indeed member of the public, can be very frustrating. Check with your broker that he has sent the declarations to them via fax and the ddm via their postal address as this is the most common thing that holds things up, however it should not stop them offering the deal if everything is in place. Should you need further help PM me.

Wh05apk

Speak to your broker, something has fallen down somewhere, I hate Woolwich, but have recently used them a lot due to good rates, and they have been quick, turning around "correct" apps to offer within 7-10 days (had one remortgage offerered within 6 working hours!) It sounds like something has been queried and is waiting for your broker to act on.

handytips

Or your broker burying his head in the sand about it !! FIND OUT

the_survivor

thanks for the replies.
i have been told that they are now close to complete the underwriting phase, apart from getting questions asked about my partner who is not going on the mortgage because of only being self emplyed for 18 mnths and having a default on his credit file. those answers have been faxed over yday so im thinking when could i potentially get a offer.

obee

Has your valuation been done yet?

We finally have our valuation booked with esurv for Friday, but the underwriters are still waiting for some documents from us (which I ma in the process of sending to them). Once they have these documents and the valuation is ok, we hope to get an offer quickly, but I'm not holding my breath.

the_survivor

yeh i suggest you dont hold your breath as ive been holding my breath for a week and im going blue.
how does an underwriter in india even decide if a uk resident can have a mortgage or not?
its strange as i thought the underwriting being the most important part would have been based in UK....
just a thought....

Meeper

It doesn't matter where the underwriting is based, they have a set of rules to follow whether it's done in the Uk, India or Mars.

Woolwich are a joy to deal with if you know their systems ad processes and obtain all of the relevant information prior to case submission. If it needs to go back to them 2-3 times for additional information, that's when you get delays. Your adviser needs to pull his finger out.

obee

the Survivor - Have you had your valuation done yet?