London and Country Mortgage Brokers

GeenyWeeny

Hello!

can anyone give me opinions/advice/experiences of using this broker?

We are first time buyers and want to try and do as much research as possible and make the right decisions. They are phoning me back tomorrow to hopefully get a mortgage in principle - as we have seen a house we want to make an offer on.

We know HSBC have the best rates, but I've read some horror stories of how awful the service is. As this is the first time doing this, we'd rather go for the smoothest quickest transaction possible!

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks x

koexelek

They probably have one of the cleanest and best reputations of a national broker. Whole of market and don't charge fees.
They are not unique in providing that type of service... but probably like to portray themselves as being so .

ACG

Its like anything, there will be good and bad advisors there.
Just like there will be good and bad experiences with HSBC and any other lender.
2-3 months ago, i was slating nationwide for taking 2 weeks just to look at a piece of paper. But there are occassions where theyre on top of it and pretty good.

So its just the luck of the draw.

dunstonh

Like most direct/online brokers, they like the easy stuff. Posts on this board seem to indicate they are not as good when you need hand holding or have issues. However, that would apply to any such service where you go direct.

Robin.84

Hi, I'm a FTB too and I used L&C for my recent (and successful) mortgage application and they were very friendly and helpful, happy to answer all my questions etc, so I would definitely recommend them. It was all done over the phone and was much easier than I thought it would be.

It would be a good idea to know roughly what kind of mortgage you want (eg. fixed rate, flexible or not) before you phone them because they will ask you. I read Martin's "first time buyers guide to mortgages" which explains all that!

kingstreet

I get the impression from other posts that they don't want to "invest" in buyers early on. Where many of us do initial appointments to explain the homebuying process, L&C want you at the point you've made an offer so you're ready to do business immediately.

Nothing wrong with that business-wise, but not very FTB friendly, pushing many into the arms of estate agency advisers, IMHO.

koexelek

Robin.84 wrote: »

It was all done over the phone and was much easier than I thought it would be.

Did you have to send them original ID ( passports/driving licences etc) or photocopies ?
As they don't see people face to face, I have often wondered how they get around money laundering rules ?

sockpuppet

I used them once a few years back (before I started working for a mortgage broker) and the advisor I had was called Mark Cooper. I found him to be very good - I havent dealt with anyone else there.
Two other people where I worked also used them after me (Am not sure what advisors they had) but as far as I know, neither had any issues with them.
They were free, and like anything else, i would just say keep on top of them - I emailed them every 2 or 3 days for updates!

I did have to send passports etc but did this by signed for postage so I could keep track of them and they came back the same way fairly promptly.

sockpuppet

I think (as kingstreet says) I had to go back to them once I had an offer accepted - but i had no problems with that as I had an understanding of the process already.
If you are not really sure of how things work you may be better having a broker you can see face-to-face and can ask questions??

GeenyWeeny

Thanks for your replies. Just had a conversation with them .

Kingstreet- you are absolutely correct - had a 10 minute chat, gave them the basic details and they gave me the possible rates and monthly payments i'll be looking at. Then I get an email with a decision in principle - this just says phone me back once you've had an offer accepted. No information explaining the homebuying process.

We also received a quotation from their conveyancer with all these fees, most of which I dont understand. Can you let me know if these are standard fees i should be expecting?

Lawyer's Fees:
Legal fee 460.00
Mortgage fee 75.00
Stamp Duty Land Tax fee 55.00

Additional Costs:
Local/Water/Enviro searches 265.00
Land Registry fee 190.00
Stamp Duty Land Tax 1270.00
Land Registry searches 23.00
Chancel Repair Liability 30.00
VAT on Lawyer's Fees 118.00
Total £2486.00

They have also sneaked some fees in the small print:

To comply with Money Laundering legislation, for each party there will be a money laundering ID verification fee of £12.50 + VAT.
The Lawyer's fees for each sum sent electronically by telegraphic transfer are £39.00 plus VAT.
A charge of £29.00 + VAT will be made at completion to cover the cost of maintaining an archive of documents associated with your case. No further charge will be made should you require us
to retrieve these documents at a later date.
This purchase quotation includes the cost of personal Local, Drainage/Water and Environmental searches. However, our experience shows that additional searches are often necessary due to the location of the property being bought and we therefore ask for an advance payment of £335.00 to avoid any delays in ordering these when necessary. Any unused funds will be credited
against the other costs shown.

Any help would be great!

Thank you x

Robin.84

koexelek wrote: »

Did you have to send them original ID ( passports/driving licences etc) or photocopies ?
As they don't see people face to face, I have often wondered how they get around money laundering rules ?

Yes I had to send them my original passport and 3 months payslips and bank statements by recorded delivery, so it wasnt completely over the phone!