5 weeks, no mortgage offer, agent is getting twitchy

ijrwe

Day 0 - offer accepted
Day 3 - mortgage application submitted (YBS)
Day 8 - application acknowledged
Day 15 - documents/ID/etc. requested
Day 23 - acknowledgement of receipt of the above
Day 37 - today, no further updates

Is the agent likely to be genuinely concerned or are they just, quite rightly, trying to keep track of things and make sure I'm not dragging my feet? There's been no valuation yet.
I presented myself as being in a good position with my finances, and I thought I was, so it's a bit embarrassing. I don't want to be holding things up.

Do you think there's cause for concern yet? YBS have nothing to tell me about my application at this stage, it's simply being processed apparently. From what I've read this kind of time scale is quite normal so I wasn't worried, but I thought I better check...


Thanks,

Jazzyjeff_2

I'm new to all this Mortgage Malarkey myself but I've found First Direct to be massively quicker than your timescales below:

Day 0 - offer accepted
Day 1 - application to FD online
Day 2 - phonecall from FD to go over all the details
Day 4 - pack from FD requesting all the various info they need
Day 12 - info posted back to FD
Day 16 - phonecall from FD to confirm a couple of minor points
Day 17 - confirmation of mortgage subject to bank a/c opening (mandatory with FD & valuation)
FORECAST Below
Day 19/20 - written confirmation of mortgage
Day 24 - 27 Valuation

I must say I am amazed how fast they have been, they have said over the phone they have no back log so are way up on their estimated timescales

Conrad

The regional Building Societies that tout nationally for business do tend to have horrendus backlogs. YBS and Principality are amongst the slowest. Sometimes there's more to a mortgage than a headline grabbing deal, something I always stress with clients.

Maybe try a complaint citing the FSA's 'Treating Customers Fairly' principle, in particular;

'OUTCOME 1 - customers can be sure they are dealing with firms where the fair treatment of customers is CENTRAL to the corporate culture'

I would argue, touting for too much business causes a knock - on detriment on service levels.

Essex22011

ijrwe wrote: »

Day 0 - offer accepted
Day 3 - mortgage application submitted (YBS)
Day 8 - application acknowledged
Day 15 - documents/ID/etc. requested
Day 23 - acknowledgement of receipt of the above
Day 37 - today, no further updates

Is the agent likely to be genuinely concerned or are they just, quite rightly, trying to keep track of things and make sure I'm not dragging my feet? There's been no valuation yet.
I presented myself as being in a good position with my finances, and I thought I was, so it's a bit embarrassing. I don't want to be holding things up.

Do you think there's cause for concern yet? YBS have nothing to tell me about my application at this stage, it's simply being processed apparently. From what I've read this kind of time scale is quite normal so I wasn't worried, but I thought I better check...


Thanks,

Have you contacted YBS to see if there is any reason for the hold up?

ijrwe

Essex22011 wrote: »

Have you contacted YBS to see if there is any reason for the hold up?

Yes - and no information was available. They send you automatic updates as it goes along and they don't/can't/won't tell you much more than that. It makes sense, really - once they have something new to tell me they'll presumably tell me, and they can't tell me anything until they do have something to say.

zzzLazyDaisy

Has your survey been carried out yet?

ijrwe

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

Has your survey been carried out yet?

The valuation, you mean? No, not that we know of.

My own surveys are unrelated to the mortgage offer, of course.

Essex22011

ijrwe wrote: »

Yes - and no information was available. They send you automatic updates as it goes along and they don't/can't/won't tell you much more than that. It makes sense, really - once they have something new to tell me they'll presumably tell me, and they can't tell me anything until they do have something to say.

It seems to be very drawn out, someone must know why its taking so long and what timescale you are looking at, we are with Natwest who seem a lot quicker but every bank is different i guess! Fingers crossed you get some news soon!

ACG

Conrad wrote: »

The regional Building Societies that tout nationally for business do tend to have horrendus backlogs. YBS and Principality are amongst the slowest. Sometimes there's more to a mortgage than a headline grabbing deal, something I always stress with clients.

I had my offer from principality within 5 working days of application only 6 weeks ago. Spoke to our BDM asked what they would want all sent with the app, infact it was done so quick the even the solicitors were a bit behind the game.
I didnt even try to pull any strings.

Anyway, back to YBS... ive never used them, i have used Accord (who are basically the same company), theyve never been great. At best they have been average, at worst theyve been a pain in the backside.

That being said 7 days to acknowledge paperwork is a little bit on the high side.

Speak to them, ask them what their current turn around times are. Ask them also if you think at this stage they will need anything else so you can get that sent over otherwise you could be waiting another couple of weeks before they acknowledge and review any extra information.

5 weeks and a valuation hasnt been booked in, its not a huge surprise the estate agents are asking questions. My tip is to be pro-active with them. Call them tomorrow, say you have spoken to the underwriters and they have said they will be reviewing your application in xx days, but they have had a quick look over your info and they said that should be everything, the more they know the less they will hound you.

zzzLazyDaisy

ijrwe wrote: »

The valuation, you mean? No, not that we know of.

My own surveys are unrelated to the mortgage offer, of course.

That's why the agent is getting twitchy. 5 weeks is a fair time to wait for the surveyor to go out. Until that has been done, most sellers and EA's will not consider you to be a serious buyer. You should get on to your lender and find out what the hold up is - after all, I doubt it is because they are snowed under with work!

SG27

That seems very strange. Did you make your application online or in branch?

We applied two weeks ago on a Sunday night online. They phoned Monday to request documents and the valuation was done Tuesday. We had some issues with bank statements so had to resend them. We recieved our mortgage offer through the post Saturday.

I found them very efficient and helpful when I called them. Which was quite a few times throughout the week. Overall I was very impressed with them.