Countrywide Conveyancing/HSBC - avoid like the plague if you want to complete

aslan2

betmunch wrote: »

Definately option 2 if your not prepared to apply elsewhere.

Remember saving 0.2% (or whatever) doesnt count for anything if you lose the house

Thanks, my worry with applying elsewhere is that it would be another credit search. An extra .2% would not bother me too much, so would happily go elsewhere but don't want too many searches. Also I hear First Direct although part of HSBC are better, but I would have to set up a current account with them and do another application...

PatzyG

Well contracts exchanged today with completion on the 30th. Countrywide added nearly four weeks to the whole process! Thank you much appreciated!

jonas123

Not sure how credit searches work but if you've been approved by HSBC surely you're likely to be ok with someone else too (don't take my word for it!) And if you fail them, you always have HSBC to fall back on.

The one bit of good news with HSBC and Countrywide is they've had enormous problems recently due to the stamp duty deadline. I was told today by them that this week, they have only been working on cases eligable for the stamp duty relief, hence why it's been even worse! Hopefully things will pick up again from next week.

fladda

kingstreet wrote: »

Would that estate agent perchance be a member of Countrywide group?

Yes, the local office of Spencers were excellent - 10/10 in our case. However, I only found out when I saw the plaque on their office wall on Wednesday, that they are indeed part of the Countrywide Estate Agents empire (or whatever they're called).

In the event, we successfully exchanged contracts late on Wednesday afternoon, and completed on Thursday morning (i.e. yesterday) - so it can be done. I think that we were very lucky that at the last minute we were assigned a Countrywide property lawyer who had the rare gift of actually getting things done :-) She even answered emails (thanks Sam :-) Also it does seem that Countrywide might have been giving priority to the stamp duty cases and delaying the others (as mentioned elsewhere).

That said, as per this thread's title - avoid CC like the proverbial plague.

Fladday

ChrisLUFC

I'll just post something brief that may help people.

We had an offer accepted on a house (as FTB) at the start of February.

Our aim was to beat the stamp duty deadline but knew deep down it was unlikely as we had 6 weeks to go to the deadline.

We applied for a HSBC mortgage and chose to select our own solicitors that had been recommended to us, rather than go through HSBC solicitors (that was before reading all about their solicitors on here). We applied over the phone the following day and it took 2 working days for them to say our paper work was fine and they were sending our application to an underwriter to confirm approval. This process took a stressful 8 days when they said they would do it in a maximum of 7... but still... we got the ok, and proceded onwards!

In the time it took HSBC to accept us, our solicitors had done most the searches and everything else they needed to do. THey then spoke to HSBC solicitors (O'Neill Patient were appointed) and found it quite hard to get information from them.

The first thing O'Neill wanted was to have more searches done (the more expensive ones), which delayed things. AS the days went on it looked like they were only replying first thing in the morning, and even if our solicitors replied, they didnt get back to them until the following day.

We signed the papers for exchange approx 4 weeks after our offer was accepted (we had 3 people in the chain - everyone else was cash buy). Our solicitors sent everything to O'Neill expecting things to be moving in 2 or 3 working days to actually exchange.

This is where the nightmare hit. They then started requesting nitty gritty things that our solicitors answered back with but then didnt get a response till the following day. The main thing that held the whole application up was a missing middle name on my partners passport, and as she had no other ID, they were insititng on all sorts of things. We ended up sending her birth certificate which they came back to the following day saying it was not eligible ID, for which made me mad as the bank were happy with her ID, but the solicitors weren't..... I rang up HSBC, put a complaint about them in, over the length it was taking to get little things sorted, to which HSBC noted, and gave the solicitors a call about the middle name. HSBC got back to me saying a bank statement would be fine.

So we ended up having to send a copy of the birth certificate and bank statement. The following day they came back saying they wanted to see the original!!!!! By this point our solicitors had a phone number and was able to reply to things straight away. So it was on Tuesday we sent the 2 originals via the solcitors courier. THe following day, low and behold, they didnt receive it!!! Even though they arrive next day! So we had to send another copy on Wednesday this time recorded, which eventually got there on Thurs. They confirmed later that day that they were happy and that we could exchange and agreed a Friday completion (so that was one day to sort rather than the 6 we were originally told!).

Today we exchanged and completed, and beat the stamp duty deadline by mere hours! Delighted but exhausted, i've never been through so much stress!

The thing that annoyed me the most was the fact we were ready a week and a half ago to complete, yet the banks soliciors were slow and held things up, and at one point it looked like we were going to miss the SD deadline. Right up until yesterday we were left wondering what was going to happen, whereas if we had dealt with our own solicitors only, we would have completed weeks ago.

Looking back at the whole thing now, the process from start to finish only took 6 weeks which wasn't bad. If it wasn't was the SD deadline I may not have been so stressed out about it. I guess we have been one of the lucky ones, but I must say our solicitors really put a lot of effort in chasing up the banks solicitors.

I hope anyone who goes with HSBC from now on has an acceptable experience which I think had we not been messed around for a whole week over a middle name, I would have said it was.

Solciitors are now catching on to HSBC's new routine now so i'd check with your own solicitor that they won't charge extra as i can imagine a lot will, or at least advise their clients not to go with HSBC.

Good luck to everyone, and congratulations to all that beat the deadline today.

HTW

I completed my purchase on the 23-03-12 I used my own solicitor and Countrywide were appointed by HSBC
On the 20-03 I was told that the deal was stalled because of Countrywide. They had received the paperwork 11days ago but had not even looked at it
Here is what I did
Rang HSBC explained the problem and raised a complaint about their solicitors (Countrywide) holding up the deal and not returning calls from my solicitor. I told HSBC that I wanted Countrywide to contact my solicitor in the next 2 hours.
HSBC said that they can not guarantee contact within 2 hours .
I pointed out that I want Countrywide to do what I had paid them to do and if they do not contact my solicitor I will ring up every 2 hours and raise a complaint every time until they do their job.I also said that if I do not complete the transaction by the 23rd I would complain to the Banking Ombudsman and Law society . After a few complaints my paperwork was fastracked and I moved on the agreed date.
If you try this method do not shout or swear at the HSBC staff its not their fault and they will be recording the call.

I did get a fee free intrest only traker which was a very good deal

Thrugelmir

ChrisLUFC wrote: »

This is where the nightmare hit. They then started requesting nitty gritty things that our solicitors answered back with but then didnt get a response till the following day.

From a business perspective I would consider that an unreasonable expectation on your part. 24 hours actually is pretty good turnaround.
All very well to talk about Countrywide generically. Ultimately its people that are doing the work. With the high levels of transactions being processed I'm sure that they were trying their hardest.

steevo_h

I applied for my mortgage 2 months ago and elected to use my own solicitor having read about how terrible Countrywide are. I wanted to beat the stamp duty deadline and thought this would make things smoother. I wasn't too worried because 2 months is plenty of time, even with delays to get everything done - or so I thought.

What I didn't realise, are that the £200 you pay for their legal fees was the fee that you pay for Countrywide to check your solicitors work. By the time it became clear that Countrywide were being forced into the process, I had already had my mortgage approved and so thought, I just need to make sure everything is done at my end quickly to ensure delays are minimised.

Countrywide have ruined everything, and now caused me to miss the stamp duty deadline, still with no idea when everything can complete. I am a first time buyer and this should have been a simple purchase. I have made sure I returned everything that needed signing by first class post, often by special delivery. I have been phoning daily to check progress and to try and push things along. Then when finally everything seemed ready, and my solicitor requested the money to be paid (2 and a half weeks in advance of intended completion) Countrywide waited until that point to then demand 2 more searches to be done. These searches my solicitor assures me no other lender ever insists on them. They could have asked for these at any point, so I can only assume it was a wilful delay tactic. I also faxed the lending manager at HSBC twice expressing my concerns that the unneccessary delay was in danger of pushing things past the stamp duty deadline. The first fax they got back to me and assured me they had contacted Countrywide to tell them to get things done as a priority. The second one, was not acknowledged.

So anyone who needs to have a quick (i.e. less than 2 months) transaction, should steer well clear of HSBC because they, in combination with Countrywide, will let you down. Don't trust to luck, their system is woeful and will let you down too. Now I will be making an official complaint to Countrywide, to HSBC and to the financial ombudsman. I also am going to seek advice as to whether I can take them to court to recover the stamp duty that I will now have to pay which was definately avoidable.

It's a shame, because the mortgage would have been a good deal - but HSBC if they do value their reputation, really need to consider whether it's worth having this association with Countrywide.

Lance

I was in rented and purchased late 2011 using HSBC. The estate agent, Baistow Eves, suggested Countrywide but did not argue when I declined. I gave a local solicitors details to HSBC and he was on their 'list' of acceptable solicitors so fine. HSBC did not mention Countrywide to me and no extra fee mentioned regarding having them check my documents. Sods law the woman I was buying off used Countrywide but we were lucky and it went through very quickly as she needed to move. HSBC were fine.

Yorkie1

I'm pretty sure all this has come in since you bought late last year, Lance.