Hsbc mortgages

dshart

I re-mortgaged with HSBC about 3 years ago, they had been after my mortgage for a while and every review with my premier manager they always asked what I was currently paying on my mortgage and they always had to admit they couldn't give me the deal that I was on. But about 3 years ago I was coming of a halifax 2 year deal that was 0.11 below base rate and the best they were offering was something in the region of 2.5 above base rate so I decided to look round. I spoke to a broker and the best they could get me was 1.6 above base rate. I happened to see that HSBC was advertising a deal for premier customers at 0.69 above base rate and mentioned this to the broker. He informed me that the fees HSBC charged would be non-refundable and advised going for it. Anyway I thought there was nothing to lose from speaking to them and they couldn't have been nicer. They told me the fees were refundable and went through the whole application process very efficiently. So now I am happily sitting with a lifetime tracker at 0.69 above BoE base rate with ability to overpay as much as I want.

I would recommend them highly, even though the deal I got is no longer available.

MoneyKing2007

Hi,

Just to add to this topic we recently applied for HSBC mortgage in branch, and from point of contact in branch to approval (over the phone with Our Mortgage Consultant) took 2.5 working days! Next we have to sign the dotted line and valuers will go out.

Very good service indeed

handytips

Any Horror stories ?

jjjenny

I can't speak more highly of the service received from HSBC. The lady in the Hilsborough branch in Sheffield was knowledgeble, patience and offered good solid advice about the whole house buying process.

The only down side is the slow turn around time from Head Office when sending in surveys. We are now waiting to find out if they will lend on a cracked bit of wall after having the full structual survey and into messy bits like that. If it was a simple case (without cracks in walls etc) I'm sure we'd be in by now - because the lady in Branch really fought our corner.

Engeroosi

All good for my remortgage, everything went smooth and as we were in no rush I didnt think it took too long. They have always been informative and helpful.

g_attrill

catslovelycats wrote: »

I have a mortgage with HSBC which I took out nearly 2 years ago. I did all my dealings over the phone and by post. I had to pull out of my 1st choice of purchase and then bought another house instead. I found them nothing but helpful and polite throughout (shame I couldn't say same about the solicitor) and there was no issue with time. I was very pleased with them and plan remortgaging with them when my current deal runs out.

I also did my mortgage by phone and post, except for witnessing of the deed, which I dropped in at a branch to do.

I originally went into a branch and was told there was a two-week wait, but I knew the exact product I wanted so there wasn't much point waiting all that time just to fill in a form.

unhappy_shopper

handytips wrote: »

Any Horror stories ?

HSBC backtracked on their AIP (issued for a second property with the knowledge that the first one was already on a HSBC mortgage) when we went to fill up the mortgage application. Their cited reason was 'we do not offer mortgages for 2 properties'. This, after having been a HSBC mortgage customer for 4 years and with a healthy credit history. Only drawback was that we had made hefty overpayments for the 1st mortgage, even with ERC. All I can say is that they lost our custom.

pinkteapot

Bought in August 2010 and had completely smooth service from HSBC. As mentioned above, they don't offer deals through brokers so brokers may try and put you off. Obviously our experience is slightly out of date but we had no problem getting an appointment and after we did our formal application the approval only took about 2 weeks.

Go with the best deal financially for you. Even if HSBC are taking a week longer than other lenders currently, the people you're buying from will certainly wait in this climate. We got a lifetime tracker at BOE base rate +1.99%. We did give in at one estate agent and sat down with their mortgage broker. The closest he came was a five year tracker at the same rate. We politely turned him down.

One thing I love about HSBC lifetime tracker mortgages is that overpaying is so easy if you're an HSBC bank customer with online banking. You just transfer money from your current/savings account to the mortgage account - exactly the same as transferring cash between savings accounts for example. So you can make odd overpayments whenever you want. They automatically reduce the term (your standard monthly repayment won't be recalculated unless you specifically ask them to).

I'm not sure if overpayments are as simple on fixed rates etc where you're limited in how much you can overpay.

koexelek

Meeper wrote: »

You will likely have been told this by a "broker", because HSBC don't traditionally deal with intermediaries, and even when they do there is no commission payment made. It's a pretty standard argument for those brokers who aren't able to justify themselves through quality service, they have to belittle the opposition instead.

As a broker, although HSBC are "the enemy"... I have always had a lot of respect for them.
They have always put two fingers up to brokers, and state publically that they are in clear competition to us.... so we all know where we stand.

Other lenders would like to follow this lead, but don't have the balls to... wanting the best of both worlds.
Whilst they tell us to our faces how valuable we are, they will try to undercut us at every opportunity and get the customer to cut us out of the deal whenever they can.

Like any lender, the HSBC service will go rapidly downhill when they have market leading rates, but this is because they just get swamped with applications.

pinkteapot

Nicki1878 wrote: »

Thanks for the info everyone. We've gone with them because they were significantly cheaper than the other mortgages we'd found. Any tips on how to stay on top of the application and make sure it all goes through smoothly, in particular making sure HSBC are working hard for us????

To be honest, my advice would be to relax! Actually that goes for the whole house purchase process. There are posters on the House Buying board saying how stressful they find it (even for straightforward purchases). It's a slow process - there's a flurry of activity when you start out, arranging a solicitor, doing a mortgage application, then nothing happens for ages.

Unless you have a useless solicitor who doesn't do anything without being prompted (and frankly I've never had one like that), you just need to let it happen and complete any paperwork/answer any questions you are sent promptly.

With regards to the mortgage, it will go through HSBC's queue along with everyone else's. Unless your buyers start turning the thumb screws, there's no need to hurry HSBC along. And as I said before, in the current climate your seller would be daft to start being unreasonable.