Britannia Mortgages - Any views or experiences?

cwcw

Starting to be put off HSBC due to the horror stories on here. Britannia can offer us a similar rate and we would be more safely away from their max LTV as well. Does anyone have any experience on what they're like to deal with and what sort of timescale to expect? How strict are they?

Their "how much can you borrow" calculator offers you 3.75x joint income, or 4.25x main income + 1x second income, which for us gives very different results. Do they just let you choose when you apply? Neither seems as generous as HSBC's though.

asandwhen

We are going through a remortgage with them at the moment - they seem ok so far - we have had the full mortgage offer which took about 2 weeks from start to finish.
They do contact your employer for a reference rather than sending in bank statements and wage slips.

fimonkey

CWCW, how are you getting on? Have you seen a Britania advisor yet and are they proceeding OK?

osian

We had a mortgage with them. I think it was between 2006 and 2008. They were fine and found it went through quickly. It was a very good deal, tracker - 0.5% above base rate for the whole period of the mortgage, with no set up fees. I cleared it in 2008 but would have been very happy to continue with them.

I can't comment on how strict they were with lending, as it was a fairly low re-mortgage compared to the value of the house but other bits were really good.

cwcw

fimonkey wrote: »

CWCW, how are you getting on? Have you seen a Britania advisor yet and are they proceeding OK?

We did the full application over the phone just over 3 weeks ago. The form came through with a load of mistakes, which we corrected and sent off along with all of our documentation nearly 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately we're now waiting for our employers to bother to respond to the reference requests. As we're both with large organisations, one with a centralised HR function, you can imagine this isn't as easy as just asking your boss. We provided wage slips but they insisted on references too due to LTV above 75%/

Overall though, I think they've been ok and there's a freephone number to use to chase up progress. The only thing that has annoyed me was them questioning why our wages didn't show up on a bank statement we used for proof of address - the statement was purely for address purposes, I thought the contents of it would be private, aside from a nosey employee having a quick snoop, I don't think they should be reviewing its contents other than the address. A gas bill wouldn't show salary payments either, would they question that?!

daveyjp

Had a mortgage with them for less than 2 years, it was a nightmare. The only bonus was no redemption penalty when I moved.

Suzy_M

The Co-Operative Bank took over the Britannia so you may want to look into their reputation as well.

Have dealt with the Co-Operative Bank in the past (not a mortgage) but found them to be very feudal in their attitude to customers.

fimonkey

hmmm seeing a Britannia mortgage advisor today so fingers crossed. Spoke to hime yesterday and he said that by seeing him I could get things done quicker than if I go direct myslef - we will see.
How long from the application to the mortgage offer? and how long from the application to the mortgage valuation of the property?
Thanks

cwcw

fimonkey wrote: »

hmmm seeing a Britannia mortgage advisor today so fingers crossed. Spoke to hime yesterday and he said that by seeing him I could get things done quicker than if I go direct myslef - we will see.
How long from the application to the mortgage offer? and how long from the application to the mortgage valuation of the property?
Thanks

Application to valuation (and full survey in our case) was 5 days (the 4th working day). Application to mortgage offer is so far 3.5 weeks and counting.

liubeliu

Have been a Britannia mortgage customer since 2005. Just product switched before Christmas, all of my dealings have been very smooth and pleasant. All the branch advisors kept in regular contact.

fimonkey

Application to valuation = 1 week. Application to offer = 4 weeks. Woo hoo!