Mortgage Complaint - Can anyone help?

m22kk56_2

Hi - hoping someone can give some advice on whether I can raise a formal complaint against a mortgage lender.

Long story short. We are going to rent out our house and use the equity to buy a second house that we are going to live in. We are using an experienced broker to arrange both the Buy to Let Mortgage and the Purchase Mortgage. He has found suitable deals from two different lenders.

After a long time waiting, we finally received both written mortgage offers and were happy to proceed. However, our solicitor noticed that on the purchase offer letter there was no mention that our deposit was coming from the equity released by the BTL mortgage. Our broker definitely advised the lender of our situation at the start of the application to check they were ok with this before he completed the application and they confirmed that they were absolutely fine with it.

Anyway, since my solicitor pointed out to the lender that there was no mention that our deposit was coming from equity on the offer paperwork, they are now dragging their heels, asking for lots of additional info on the BTL and advising they will need to arrange a new mortgage offer after they have reached a decision.

I can't understand why they are reviewing this again because nothing has changed since our application and they were fully aware of all the facts.

Problem is that this is dragging on so long that the seller is going to re-advertise the house and we risk losing out. Can I do anything to complain against either the broker or the lender? If I miss out on this house and lose all the fees I've already paid, can I sue...?

StuC75

What are you hoping to Sue for? somewhere along the way this information had been either missed out or overlooked..

Mortgage companies can audit applications right up to forwarding of funds to check that it matches there lending criteria..

GMS

Your broker should be dealing with this. If the source of deposit was correctly declared at application then they should be chasing it up.

HAve you seen a copy of the application form for the purchase?

Goldiegirl

Any customer is entitled to complain if they are unhappy about something - you can write or phone or email or go into the office.

Banks etc have formal complaints procedures, and complaints have to be investigated and resolved in a set period of time.

However, this resolution doesn't mean that they will agree with you - the complaint may be found not to be justified.

You can sue if you want to.... but it'll probably cost you a lot of money, give you even more stress and probably wouldn't get you anywhere

Dave_Ham

Who is the lender on the purchase, speed will be determined by which lender it is.

Sure your broker is back involved at this point smoothing this along.

Suing is an incredibly unlikely eventuality.

dunstonh

Can I do anything to complain against either the broker or the lender?

Buy to lets are unregulated. So, the broker is off the hook on this one. However, based on what you have said, the broker hasnt done anything wrong. So, why would you want to complain about them?

What is the broker doing to help resolve the issues?

m22kk56_2

I've said I'm annoyed at the lender. The application clearly included the fact my deposit is coming from equity in another house.

I also stated that this is a purchase mortgage I am having issues with, not the BTL one.

I'm annoyed that because the lender hasn't completed their paperwork properly I might lose out on my house. The broker is chasing them to resolve but they are just plain slow. Lender is Accord.

If I miss out on the house I lose my application fees and survey, a couple of grand, and it's not my fault

GMS

Selecting Accord was the first mistake. They are a nightmare.

Down to broker to resolve whether escalating it within Accord or find another lender.

m22kk56_2

Yeah but select another lender means I lose all the fees and have to wait another 4 weeks to get an offer. Plus extra fees and another footprint on my file.

In the meantime the house I want could get snapped up by someone else.

Why can't someone regulate lenders and penalise them if they cause delays like this? In any other line of business, if they cause me financial loss they must put it right. Why not here...?

Goldiegirl

Lenders are heavily regulated.

As I said, you need to make the complaint, and let them investigate through their complaints process.

If you are not happy with the outcome of the complaint you can then go to the ombudsman

Leon_W

What you are proposing therefore is a Let to Buy.

Accord say this "Let to Buy (LTB) applications are acceptable where the income is sufficient to support both the outstanding mortgage and the new mortgage with Accord."

Now, that is all a bit woolly if you ask me. Are they saying your earned income has to cover both mortgages or will they allow rental income as well ? The reason they would ask about the deposit is the fact that by releasing equity you are increasing the mortgage on the property you are letting out which in turn DECREASES your affordability for the new mortgage.

I don't know the answer but just saying their criteria would need a lot more clarification for me to put this sort of case to them.