Mortgage offer issued through broker - can I apply for another product directly

ItsyBitsySpider

Hi all,

Abbeys issued a mortgage offer after processing the mortgage application and doing a mortgage valuation. The mortgage product comes without any booking or valuation fee and I applied for the mortgage through a fees free mortgage advisor.

I have now realised HSBC and some other lenders have better mortgage rates and fixes available. I believe HSBC offers best deals directly. While the mortgage offer has been issued by Abbey, can I apply for a better product directly with HSBC?

Before I speak to my mortgage advisor, I would like to know if it is possible to apply for a mortgage with some other lender directly. How could I compensate the mortgage advisor for his time if I could apply directly with HSBC now.

I would highly appreciate any helpful responses

Thanks

ACG

You can apply to whoever you like.

If your purchasing a property, just be mindful that you are now however many weeks down the line and getting another offer could take another couple of weeks.

ItsyBitsySpider

ACG wrote: »

You can apply to whoever you like.

If your purchasing a property, just be mindful that you are now however many weeks down the line and getting another offer could take another couple of weeks.

Thanks ACG, do I have to get the first mortgage offer with Abbey cancelled and then apply with HSBC. How should I go about this, if anyone has any advice.

Thanks once again.

Thrugelmir

Do you meet HSBC's criteria as a potential borrower?

ACG

You can leave you abbey offer in place.

ItsyBitsySpider

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Do you meet HSBC's criteria as a potential borrower?

Thanks for your reply Thrugelmir.I have not spoken to HSBC yet but I guess I would be able to meet their lending criteria. Is there any way I can check their lending criteria online.

kingstreet

HSBC does not offer products via brokers and does not publish its criteria.

ItsyBitsySpider

I have one more question please. In case, I apply for HSBC mortgage directly with HSBC leaving Abbey offer in place, do I have to inform HSBC, Abbey ( who has already issued a mortgage offer) and my mortgage advisor.

What could be the implications if I inform Abby and my mortgage advisor and then later on HSBC mortgage application does not result favourably. If, for example, HSBC comes up with a reduced valuation and I decide to go back with Abbey, could this affect Abbey's decision.

I may be worrying too much on this, but I don't want to make a stupid mistake which leaves me with no options to move on.

I will really appreciate any help in this regards,

Many thanks

Leon_W

Some lenders do ask the question "Have you applied for a mortgage on this property with another lender ?" Or words to that effect. What the implications are I wouldn't be too sure but answering yes rather than no will obviously prompt further enquiries.


No idea if HSBC ask the question, as by not publishing their full criteria they can pretty much make it up as they go along.

Dave_Ham

At this point it is also worth valuing your own time. If your total saving is £x with the HSBC product, but takes you 5-6 hours to jump through the hoops, speak to the adviser, understand if your chosen solicitor is on their panel, fight off their insurance sale pitch, provide any documents, re-provide any documents when they ask again - then is your time worth the saving and stress.

Open question, it may well be worthwhile.

ItsyBitsySpider

Dave_Ham wrote: »

At this point it is also worth valuing your own time. If your total saving is £x with the HSBC product, but takes you 5-6 hours to jump through the hoops, speak to the adviser, understand if your chosen solicitor is on their panel, fight off their insurance sale pitch, provide any documents, re-provide any documents when they ask again - then is your time worth the saving and stress.

Open question, it may well be worthwhile.

Thanks Dave for reply. The mortgage deal is a fixed rate deal. After the fixed rate period, the interest rate reverts to the variable rate which in case of Abbeys is about 0.8 percent higher than HSBC currently but I suppose, similar would be true after two years, so in the long run we may be losing a lot of money unless we switch the lender.

Changing the lender may be our only option after two years which could be quite tough if our circumstances change. At the very least, we will have to pay the booking fees and valuation of the house again.

Unless I am missing something very obvious or making some stupid assumptions here, my thoughts are why not try to jump the ship now rather than after two years if there is an option to do so without derailing the current status.

I would love to get any further thoughts on this.

Many thanks