General Mortgage Questions

Wanton

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can help put my mind at rest with our mortgage application, it's still early days but this is our first mortgage so unsure of a few things. Here's a (short) timeline of events -

25/06 - Met with broker to discuss application, he recommended NatWest and obtained a decision in principal from them
26/06 - We e-mailed decision in principal to Estate Agent to support our offer. Offer accepted
26/06 - Broker sent mortgage application to NatWest, which was acknowledged
02/07 - Survey fee debited from our account

My questions are -

1. Does the fact that we have a decision in principal and the survey fee has been debited from our account mean that, provided there are no survey problems, we've been accepted for the mortgage? (i.e. credit check been done, affordability passed)
2. Do we find out when the survey is going to be done, or does it get done and then we get the report through the post?
3. Does anyone know how long NatWest take between the application and survery, and how long between the survey and final decision?

As mentioned I know its early days, just I hate not knowing these things! Any other advice would be greatly appreciated!

ACG

1) No, it just means they have taken the fee in readiness. Once its been instructed then I would be fairly confident it had been accepted (subject to the valuation).
2) You broker should let you know when it has been instructed so you can ask the agent when it has been booked in for - usually it would be back with natwest 48 hours after that.
3) 3-4 working days at the minute based on a recent application I sent in.

Mortgage_Mark_2

1. No - a DIP is just a credit score. Full underwriting will now take place (income assessment, affordability etc) alongside a survey of the property.
2. Ask your broker - he should be able to find out when it's booked in for, and you will then subsequently receive the report.
3. No idea, I'm sorry, I don't use Natwest very often.

EDIT: Or apparently, what ACG said!

Leon_W

I'm not being rude but there are always lots of posts like this on the board and I don't quite understand why.


You have a broker working on your behalf who knows your application inside out and yet you post here asking questions that your broker is being paid to answer.


Don't take umbrage. I've seen plenty of posts like yours get random answers which induce panic and worry that is unnecessary.


Give your broker a call and I'm sure they'll be able to give you much more concise response than you'll get here.


Regards.

ACG

I agree with Leon. If any of my clients were on here asking questions like this I would class that as reflecting badly on me. In the sense that I would be wondering why you feel you cant come to ask the person who is being paid to help you.

Our job is not limited to doing research and submitting an application. We are there to "hand hold" if you want that or at the very least give you timescales and set your expectations on what to expect and when.

As much as I and the other brokers are happy to help on here, you do have a person who knows your circumstances far better than we do.

amnblog

Straight to the point Leon.

Nice one.

Wanton

Thank you for your responses to my questions, they’re very much appreciated.

I completely understand what you’re saying about asking these questions to my broker, I didn’t feel these questions warranted bothering him, but he’s being paid as a result of my application so I will reconsider in the future! Another reason I asked them on here is that I thought they were pretty straightforward and general questions, that I would be able to receive a quick and informed response to (which was the case - thanks again!). Whilst my broker knows about my application more than anyone else I felt that these questions were not really specific to just my case, and what better way to get answers to general questions than the vast knowledge base that is the MSE forums.

amnblog

He is getting paid to be bothered.

We are quite used to it.

Some clients 'bother' us every hour.

ACG

Even 9pm on a sunday night or 11pm on a saturday night!

kingstreet

I got a call at 8.40 the other night asking why the first payment would be higher and if she would start paying her mortgage before the house is ready.

Halifax puts an assumed completion date and accrued interest on the offer and these bear no relation to our cases.

ReformedShopper

Wanton wrote: »

Thank you for your responses to my questions, they’re very much appreciated.

I completely understand what you’re saying about asking these questions to my broker, I didn’t feel these questions warranted bothering him, but he’s being paid as a result of my application so I will reconsider in the future! Another reason I asked them on here is that I thought they were pretty straightforward and general questions, that I would be able to receive a quick and informed response to (which was the case - thanks again!). Whilst my broker knows about my application more than anyone else I felt that these questions were not really specific to just my case, and what better way to get answers to general questions than the vast knowledge base that is the MSE forums.

Think I can see both points here, although I'm probably more on Wanton's point of view. I'm using a broker myself for my application, but there were certain queries I've asked on here in order to phrase queries to my broker in a knowledgeable fashion, rather than be dealt with in a patronising fashion or a clueless hillbilly! Some not all brokers can be awfully patronising and make their clients feel intimidated to ask a query.

That being said, I've always tried to search the forums comprehensively, and do some general research on google first before posting a query

Btw, I do think Kingstreet, ACG, Amnblog and co. do a great job of setting the ball rolling, although technically they don't need to, and I appreciate the "free" initial advice and time they give, which helps a lot when you're taking that first step into the big, scary, incredibly murky and frustuating world of mortgages.