halifax didnt keep promise about porting mortgage over

kristian13

Join Date: Apr 2007
Post Count: 2
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts halifax wont let us port mortgage over

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i have had four nightmarish weeks with halifax giving me a decision on porting my existing mortgage over to a new property. it took them four weeks of endless bad communication to decide we cannot port the same amount of borrowing over to a house we are buying which we should have signed contracts mid may. they declined us on our earnings not being enough when we were earning less last year when we took a fixed tracker with them for 170000 interest only. chap who declined me said they would waiver 7000 fees if we got another mortgage offer. went into a branch at the weekend, another adviser was annoyed at the way we had been dealt with then tells us we cant have the interest only have to have a repayment as we have no isas etc which will be 350 per month more then she tried to jiggle figures even advising me to spend my credit card on moving fees instead of our 5000 savings we have. mad a complaint later on the halifax customer services demanding they waiver the fees as basically they should have not given us an interest only mortgage promised us we could port it and then tell us half way through the tracker that we hve to go on repayment 350 more which will take us under am i right in my request any help would be appreciated thanks

dunstonh

they declined us on our earnings not being enough when we were earning less last year when we took a fixed tracker with them for 170000 interest only

Some lenders have tightened up on their criteria. Particulary where interest only is concerned.

chap who declined me said they would waiver 7000 fees if we got another mortgage offer.

Seems like a good result.

went into a branch at the weekend, another adviser was annoyed at the way we had been dealt with then tells us we cant have the interest only have to have a repayment as we have no isas etc which will be 350 per month more

Quite valid reasons.

mad a complaint later on the halifax customer services demanding they waiver the fees as basically they should have not given us an interest only mortgage promised us we could port it and then tell us half way through the tracker that we hve to go on repayment 350 more which will take us under am i right in my request any help would be appreciated

So, you made a complaint that they lent you the money you wanted?

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I'm answering this bluntly and with no emotion attached. There is no point me saying things like "how dreadful" etc as it does you no good. So, don't take any offence in the style of positing.

You cannot afford your current mortgage on repayment basis but want to move house (and borrow more). This has warning bells all over it. This is high risk lending. If you cannot afford £350pm extra on a £170k mortgage then I wouldnt lend you the money either. A few percent interest rate rises and you are not far off that level anyway. Basically, everything you have said suggests you are trying to borrow beyond your means and Halifax dont want to be a part of that with an interest only mortgage but are only prepared to accept it on repayment mortgage or if you have a repayment vehicle (personally I think pushing a repayment vehicle for someone with your financial problems is a bad move and they would have a hard job justifying it if the case was put under scrutiny, such is in the event of a complaint).

They have very fairly offered to allow you to move the mortgage to another lender without incurring any exit costs. There is no obligation for them to lend you the money and you shouldnt have proceeded with a purchase that you didnt know whether you could afford it or not.

If you are able to get another lender on board, then it is unlikely to be in place in 2 weeks so the chain will have to move. I suggest you contact the estate agents to let them know about this as the people you are buying from will be making their arrangements and it wont be fair on them and everyone else up the chain.

wisbech_lad

Also, interest rates have probably gone up more than your earnings in the last year, so the same income criteria they used last year probably no longer apply.

kristian13

you have misread me the lady in halifax offering us the repayment only says that it is our only option they are offering and no redemption of the fees we asked at the time borrowing the 170000 if we could port it over and were told no problem, we are not borrowing any more money and will be reverting to a repayment next year when the rate ends when our daughter finishes college. they guy who declined us at their leeds office which took four weeks had miscalculated our earnings anyway i do think in the middle of a deal having to pay 350 extra a month plus the rises of rates is a bit harsh especially after the delay in even telling us we couldnt have the mortgage dont you think. i never made a complaint about the money they lent us i made a complaint that they wouldnt port it over for us on the same rate actually the chap who i complained to in so many words quote as we should have lied and said we had isas etc to get the interest only - we dont lie all i want is the same mortgage i have now in my new house, dont want any more money off them and earning more than last year

dunstonh wrote: »

Some lenders have tightened up on their criteria. Particulary where interest only is concerned.



Seems like a good result.



Quite valid reasons.



So, you made a complaint that they lent you the money you wanted?

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I'm answering this bluntly and with no emotion attached. There is no point me saying things like "how dreadful" etc as it does you no good. So, don't take any offence in the style of positing.

You cannot afford your current mortgage on repayment basis but want to move house (and borrow more). This has warning bells all over it. This is high risk lending. If you cannot afford £350pm extra on a £170k mortgage then I wouldnt lend you the money either. A few percent interest rate rises and you are not far off that level anyway. Basically, everything you have said suggests you are trying to borrow beyond your means and Halifax dont want to be a part of that with an interest only mortgage but are only prepared to accept it on repayment mortgage or if you have a repayment vehicle (personally I think pushing a repayment vehicle for someone with your financial problems is a bad move and they would have a hard job justifying it if the case was put under scrutiny, such is in the event of a complaint).

They have very fairly offered to allow you to move the mortgage to another lender without incurring any exit costs. There is no obligation for them to lend you the money and you shouldnt have proceeded with a purchase that you didnt know whether you could afford it or not.

If you are able to get another lender on board, then it is unlikely to be in place in 2 weeks so the chain will have to move. I suggest you contact the estate agents to let them know about this as the people you are buying from will be making their arrangements and it wont be fair on them and everyone else up the chain.

kristian13

hi thanks for reply i think ive been misread. the earnings we were declined on were wrong the chap at leeds branch miscalculated my husbands's earning and the mortgage advisor in the liverpool branch was disgusted in the way we had been treated. she quoted as saying we should never have been given the interest only mortgage last year and repayment only so therefore we would not have taken it on board if that the case. only reason we are not on repayment at moment as i told them last year as daughter in college waiting to go to university when this deal was to end july next year we were reverting to a repayment. but now they want us to revert middle of fixed tracker instead when we need the extra money plus i always though it is policy if they cannot offer you a suitable mortgage they have to waiver the fees which this lady advised was not the case as she was offering us a repayment instead, trying to jiggle our earnings to make the computer say yes instead of just waivering the fees and letting us go with another lender who is actually offering us part repayment and part interest at a fixed rate for fives years which we can revert whenever, port whenever at a cost we can afford she even suggested we get a bank loan with them i am not happy with their service at all we are not irresponsible we are not borrowing any more money just unfortunate we have to move house hope this is more clear to everyone just want the fees waived and explanation about the way we were treated over the length of time it took them to decline our mortgage offer of actually the same mortgage we have

wisbech_lad wrote: »

Also, interest rates have probably gone up more than your earnings in the last year, so the same income criteria they used last year probably no longer apply.

regularsaver1

I'm sorry but i do find your posts quite hard to understand as there are no full stops and sentances. like who offered you a loan? I'm confused

can you put some figures



So you've seen 2 mortgage advisers?

Porting isn't a promise - it is subject to application, and you haven't met their criteria.
dunstonh is right, lenders have tightened up their criteria in regard to interest only

the adviser could do a rationale in regards to your intention to change it, but sounds like this has happened and it has been declined

jamesd

Since the waived fees offer is no longer available one option is to accept the Halifax offer, keep the mortgage until the repayment penalty ends, then switch. If you have to borrow the money to do that, doing so is likely to be cheaper than switching. Using savings or a personal loan for the extra mortgage costs and a 0% credit card for the moving costs may work out least badly of the available options. Even a loan at a poor interest rate appears better than paying the exit charge.

I'm assuming that once your daughter is at college you'll have sufficient income to handle the loan and mortgage payments.

If your savings were in an ISA that might have satisfied their repayment vehicle criteria for the interest only loan. It's worth asking.

toonfish

start an ISA, then stop it.

will get you through short term but you need to be disciplined enough to restart when you can afford it

regularsaver1

I don't think starting an ISA is going to change their decision

they would have done a rationale anyhow