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

PZH

Just spoke to CW and asked who the Panel Firm was for the Warwick area and was advised it would be Premier Property Lawyers

Does anyone know if these are any good ?

betmunch

phoodless wrote: »

Just spoke to CW and asked who the Panel Firm was for the Warwick area and was advised it would be Premier Property Lawyers

Does anyone know if these are any good ?

Think they have their own thread on here about how bad they are......

ReflexReaction

Hello all, just wanted to weigh in here with my own experiences. I have also been in the process of house moving, and taking an HSBC mortgage.

I knew in advance of this "countrywide" "mess" that HSBC are forcing people to pay for. Shame on HSBC - it's worth noting that during the application process it was not mentioned once that I would be paying for their legal costs. It's a really bad lack of communication that HSBC need to address. Anyway, as I've said, I knew about this process and knew I'd be paying the bill for their potentially shoddy work.

My sale / purchase is a bit odd, we are looking to exchange as soon as possible however our completion date has been agreed at middle of June! We "sold" the house to our buyers in Feb, so this sale has been going on for a long time. We only found the house we are buying a bit later, in March.

I went with HSBC because of their low rates. This said, a quick check today has shown me that Co-op are now offering better rates and no fees. Alas, such is life but anyone considering HSBC should look around and check out co-operative bank.

I actually had a long conversation with my solicitor BEFORE cementing the choice of HSBC. At the time, I had been warned of long delays and some sale/purchases falling through because of countrywide slowing things down crazily. I was also aware of the reason they were so busy at that particular time - the stamp duty benefits ending. So, I spoke to my solicitor and he advised me that although he was aware of delays, he'd not had too many problems. I got the feeling he was the kind of guy that would push countrywide, chase HSBC, and get the job done. I advise anyone looking to use HSBC/countrywide to look for these qualities in their solicitor.

So, what happened? Well - there was a delay. However, it wasn't as bad as others have reported. In fact, I would put my delay at about 1 week. Countrywide asked lots of questions, which were all replied to same day by my solicitor. The resulting delay was only a week, 1.5-2 weeks max.

Of course, this is still a delay. But this is what I knew would happen - I excepted there would be a delay. In my case, I knew that I had a long period between exchange and complete, so I wasn't TOO worried.

I may be an exceptional case, I don't know. But I just wanted to share my experience with someone "on the fence". Be prepared to be delayed, but it's not all the gloom others are reporting... at least, not for me.

Bluemeanie_2

I currently have a mortgage with HSBC. Was hoping to move in 18 months and wanted to stay with HSBC. Now I am seriously scared of doing so!

ReflexReaction

Bluemeanie wrote: »

I currently have a mortgage with HSBC. Was hoping to move in 18 months and wanted to stay with HSBC. Now I am seriously scared of doing so!

If you mean move house, then fine. If you meant just move mortgage product, then you won't have any problems as Countrywide are only employed when you are moving house!

gwernybwch

ReflexReaction wrote: »

Of course, this is still a delay. But this is what I knew would happen - I excepted there would be a delay. In my case, I knew that I had a long period between exchange and complete, so I wasn't TOO worried.

I may be an exceptional case, I don't know. But I just wanted to share my experience with someone "on the fence". Be prepared to be delayed, but it's not all the gloom others are reporting... at least, not for me.

Thanks ReflexReaction, that's a really interesting post. I'm seriously thinking of going with HSBC (I'm in no great hurry to complete) and was wondering if recent applicants are still experiencing major problems.

ReflexReaction wrote: »

I went with HSBC because of their low rates. This said, a quick check today has shown me that Co-op are now offering better rates and no fees. Alas, such is life but anyone considering HSBC should look around and check out co-operative bank. .

Although if you were referring to the lifetime tracker mortgage it does have an ERC, which the HSBC mortgage doesn't have.

I think that this post together with discussions with my solicitor and the estate agent has made me go for the HSBC mortgage.
I think.......

steevo_h

I managed to complete 3 weeks ago. If it wasn't for trying to beat the stamp duty deadline, I would probably have been more relaxed about the whole process taking 3 months. As it is though, I did everything I could to push things through quickly. Every form was turned around within 24 hours, everything I sent by post went special delivery. I was also phoning HSBC nearly everyday to check where things were and push them to investigate delays. The fact is though, if I didn't have that stamp duty deadline there is no way it would have happened within 3 months and I'd probably still be waiting now.

What HSBC and countrywide don't seem to worry about, is the effect it has on the people involved. The people I was buying from spent weeks with everything half packed so they would be ready to go when CW were ready only to keep being told "hopefully there will be news within the week". If the housing market was in a better state, the sellers would have probably lost interest and started trying to find another buyer.

What I would suggest to people still waiting is that you get into the habit of posting or faxing a communication once a week outlining your concerns at how long things are taking and urging them to hurry things up. Address it to the manager of the lending centre. That way, you also have a paper trail if you decide to complain and subsequently end up going to the financial ombudsman. It allows you to demonstrate you have been proactive in trying to make your sale happen.

That's just my opinion, so take it or leave it. My official complaint to HSBC is in and I'm waiting to see the outcome of their investigation - so far they have merely acknowledged my complaint.

I am still at a loss to understand what made HSBC get into bed with a company like CW. Can't be doing their reputation much good at all.

Thrugelmir

steevo_h wrote: »

What I would suggest to people still waiting is that you get into the habit of posting or faxing a communication once a week outlining your concerns at how long things are taking and urging them to hurry things up.

Takes 2 or more parties to make a transaction. There's no control over other party which at times can be frustrating. As often or not the other party has their own agenda.

MissTeach

Not sure if anyone might be able to help me, as I'm rapidly losing patience with the situation I'm involved in!

We offered on a house and had our offer accepted 21st February. Our mortgage application went in 5th March and we had to wait until 19th March before our mortgage offer was made.

We had already instructed our solicitor and made the choice to go with our own rather than using the panel. We were aware of the £192 charge and decided we would pay this to ensure we had someone competent dealing with our sale. We were in no particular rush to complete so were aware it may have taken a bit of time with Countrywide involved.

We signed and sent back all paperwork as soon as we got it. Our solicitor had carried out all the searches and the survey was done the week after the offer was accepted. So everything on our side was all ready to go.

My solicitor then informed me that she could not finalise contracts until she had received the formal mortgage offer from HSBC/Countrywide. It took almost a month of chasing for this to appear with my solicitor. Once she received this, my solicitor then started to try and agree a completion date with myself and the vendors (that is as far as our chain goes, as we are FTB and the vendors are mvsing into a vacant house.) Our vendors had asked for 2 weeks between exchange and completion to do some repairs on their new property and so we agreed 17th for completion.

Here lies the main problem. My solicitor was then waiting for almost a week for Countrywide to give us the go ahead for exchange. After a week of daily/almost hourly pestering to my solicitor and mortgage advisor, Countrywide then said they had all the relevant paper work and that we could exchange. However, my solicitor has now asked everyday for the past week for an undertaking from Countrywide that they will release the mortgage funds on time, my mortgage advisor has also asked them to do the same but they will not agree.

They keep saying that they cannot confirm they will release the mortgage funds until after we have exchanged. My solicitor has pointed out to them that this is not sufficient and that she cannot exchange until they confirm the funds, as if they do not release them on time, we will be in breach of contract and could be sued by the chain.

My mortgage advisor seems to be at a point where she says she no longer knows what to do as she does not know the legalities. My solicitor has been constantly trying to get through to Countrywide how ridiculous this is but we are getting nowhere. I have escalated several complaints to HSBC but nothing seems to be happening.

We have now run out of time for the 2 weeks between exchange and completion and even the vendors have got annoyed and decided they don't need this if it means we can get this sorted, but still Countrywide are holding us up.

Does anybody have any advice on where I can take this? Or what I can say to try and get this moving?

Thanks

Richard_Webster

Does anybody have any advice on where I can take this? Or what I can say to try and get this moving?

Just keep escalating the complaints through higher levels of HSBC.