clydesdale wont make a formal mortagage offer till I exchange contracts

Sunny2good

Hi everyone,

I applied for a clydesdale mortgage on the 3rd of June. Credit check passed, addordability check passed, valuation completed this Monday and the results are satisfactory. Clydesdale however do not want to make a formal offer and asked me for my expected completion date which is beginning of september. When I called today to ask for a timeline to get a formal offer, they said they can't tell me as to when the formal offer will be made and that they will now work towards getting things ready for completion date. They assure me that mortgage is approved in principle and they have everything they need but some "internal checks are pending" and they do not know how long it will take.

The seller and their agent are breathing down my neck as they have cash buyers waitiing and I simply cannot keep telling them to wait more. Clydesdale also don't issue mortgage in principle documents, even if they did, it won't help as the seller wants a confirmation of mortgage.

I and the seller has also not instructed the solictors yet. I called clydesdale a few times today to complain and they eventually emailed me to say "have you got an exchange of contratcs date yet. If not, please let us know what that is and we will try to issue a formal mortgage offer before that". How are they expecting me to exchange without giving a formal offer. Has anyone heard of anything like this before? I have read about other people getting formal offers from them a week or two after valuation but I am experiencing something totally different.

Shall I just make an exchange date up and let them know so things can be sped up, or shall i instruct solictors now so they can start searches etc and agree on a exchange dateThis will obviously take time and I cannot see the seller agreeing to it. (This will also mean paying the solicitor and as I have already paid for a valuation, if clydesdale for some reason turn around and say no, i will lose all this money). So confused. Not sure what to do.

Buzby

Where is the property located, Scotland or England? If the former, your contract exchange is your formal obligation to purchase irrespective of the status of any potential mortgage.

egoode

Your title is misleading what you have written in your post is that they will aim to issue the offer before your exchange date once you give it to them. Not that they won't issue it until after exchange. I would tell them you are aiming to exchange in the next 2 weeks and hope you get it in that time. To be honest it's been less than a month since you applied and these things can take 4-6 weeks, especially with the MMR checks. I don't think you should be panicking yet. Also you probably shouldn't have given a Sept completion date as they probably think you are able to wait a bit longer for the offer as that's over 2 months away and are most likely prioritising apps by date if they are asking that sort of question.

Sunny2good

Buzby wrote: »

Where is the property located, Scotland or England? If the former, your contract exchange is your formal obligation to purchase irrespective of the status of any potential mortgage.

Agreed. The property is in England which is why I wanted to get a formal offer before exchanging contracts. But clydesdale don't seem to think its necessary.

Sunny2good

egoode wrote: »

Your title is misleading what you have written in your post is that they will aim to issue the offer before your exchange date once you give it to them. Not that they won't issue it until after exchange. I would tell them you are aiming to exchange in the next 2 weeks and hope you get it in that time. To be honest it's been less than a month since you applied and these things can take 4-6 weeks, especially with the MMR checks. I don't think you should be panicking yet. Also you probably shouldn't have given a Sept completion date as they probably think you are able to wait a bit longer for the offer as that's over 2 months away and are most likely prioritising apps by date if they are asking that sort of question.

Hi, thanks for your reply. They actually wanted me to exchange contracts and then give me a formal offer nearer to the time of completion. Its only when I objected, that they agreed to "try" and do it before exchange of contracts. I just think its silly of them to get buyers to pay for valuation, pay solicitors, exchange contracts without having a formal offer on the table. I could have told them about completing early, but that would be incorrect (solictors is also acting on their behalf so did not want to complicate things) and I did not want to say anything misleading in regards to completion. But yes, I can try telling them about exchanging in a few weeks and see how it goes.

stefanov

Hi,
I have the same issue with Clydesdale now.
I've received the valuation report on 16/6 in the post. The survey was done on 12/6. Since then I am waiting for an offer. The MA told that we are looking for end of this week. It is almost over and there aren't any news.

Will chase him again .

Thrugelmir

Mortgage offer may only be valid for 3 months. So timing is important.

Foxy-Stoat_3

Sunny2good wrote: »

Hi, thanks for your reply. They actually wanted me to exchange contracts and then give me a formal offer nearer to the time of completion. Its only when I objected, that they agreed to "try" and do it before exchange of contracts. I just think its silly of them to get buyers to pay for valuation, pay solicitors, exchange contracts without having a formal offer on the table. I could have told them about completing early, but that would be incorrect (solictors is also acting on their behalf so did not want to complicate things) and I did not want to say anything misleading in regards to completion. But yes, I can try telling them about exchanging in a few weeks and see how it goes.

And if you exchange and they suddenly decline your mortgage, you will lose your deposit and maybe more if you were unable to secure another mortgage....no solicitor in the land would exchange contracts without a formal offer from the lender....actually no vendor would agree to this either if they wanted to move quickly.

Can you choose another lender?

Mortgage_Mark_2

Standard Clydesdale offer is valid for 90 days.

It is also a process of theirs that, in order to chase up an offer, they require a letter confirming a proposed exchange date. Unless someone who doesn't know what they're doing has picked this up, they would NEVER suggest that they will issue a mortgage offer AFTER exchange.

You shouldn't be exchanging without it!

Sunny2good

Foxy-Stoat wrote: »

And if you exchange and they suddenly decline your mortgage, you will lose your deposit and maybe more if you were unable to secure another mortgage....no solicitor in the land would exchange contracts without a formal offer from the lender....actually no vendor would agree to this either if they wanted to move quickly.

Can you choose another lender?

Good points. Sadly choosing another lender at this stage means losing the house as seller won't wait that long. I have already sat through 3 hours of MMR interviews and keen to not do it again.

Thrugelmir

Agree a provisional date with your vendor. That's less than 3 months away. Then go from there.