Halifax mortgages A/ roll numbers issue

Eric268

If you can afford the payments and you're not borrowing more money they will let you have the fixed rate. They will ask about your income but if your payments are up to date and you state you are comfortable with the payments you'll be able to switch. They'll do this for you as an existing customer. You'll need to go through an advised process but this is fairly standard across all lenders.

martin1959

Unless thing have changed recently, they do not take much notice of income when doing a product transfer. You already have the loan....


The only time they would normally carry out a PT would be if the account is in arrears, or you have breached the terms of the mortgage eg let without consent.

lite_ruse

A relevant article:

http://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/news-and-features/sectors/products/products-news/brokers-miss-out-on-proc-fees-with-thousands-of-halifax-rate-switchers/2021335.article

I'm in the same situ with old number, hoping to be able to switch soon.

keira1234

Just wanted to say we were recently in a similar situation, unable to switch product online with Halifax so we're forced to have the phone interview. Our circs had changed a lot, I had given up work so only one wage coming in and had more cc debt. Halifax were excellent and asked future plans, (me returning to work) looked at our outgoings to make sure we weren't overstretched month by month and it went through. Couldn't fault them. Definitely took a commen sense approach to that one.

dindin20

I have been in the same situation, it took 3 months to be transferred to the new fixed rate deal and in the meantime my mortgage went up to the SVR which was approximately £200 more per month.

The whole process was a joke, they claimed to have a specialist team, but I had to call on 4 different occasions to actually get through to someone after being on hold for an hour each time on an 0845 number. The interview process over the phone was ridiculous, as I didn't know what information they would need beforehand, I was rushing around trying to find the bits of info they were asking for while speaking to them.I constantly had to chase them and the conveyancer to get the mortgage processed and visit the branch on numerous occasions to hand in documents. There was no urgency from anyone and frankly have caused me a lot of stress.

I went through their complaint process, and they have agreed to reimburse the difference between being on the SVR mortgage and the fixed rate had I been able to remortgage like everyone else that had been migrated, some money for phone charges, and not charge the £295 mortgage account fee that is usually applied to a new mortgage.

However, they are only awarding £300 in compensation which frankly I am not happy with considering the time, effort and stress they have caused me. Why should I be treated differently to an existing customer just because they took a decision not to migrate me onto a new system. Not just that, they didn't even try and make the mortgage process easier or prioritise my case in any way.
I am now going to the financial ombusman.

amnblog

Use a broker if you do not want to struggle with the Lender.

dindin20

You can't use a broker if you are facing this issue.

I tried to use my usual broker who also dealt with my original halifax mortgage 2 years ago when I was faced with this problem, and because the account is not on the new system, the broker could not access the account for me and Halifax told him the only way for me to move to a new deal and be migrated onto the new system is to go through the whole mortgage process as if i was applying for a new mortgage through calling the number they provided.

Ian011

dindin20 wrote: »

The whole process was a joke, they claimed to have a specialist team, but I had to call on 4 different occasions to actually get through to someone after being on hold for an hour each time on an 0845 number.

Banks are changing their 0845 numbers over to 0345 numbers. Even if someone gives you an 0845 number, always try calling the matching 0345 number instead. If it works it will be a cheaper call.

dindin20

Thanks Ian011 but my concern was more that Halifax have made a mistake with customers like me and are not making the process easier or assisting in any way. The least they could do is provide a 0800 number or make sure you don't have to be on hold for over an hour to get through to someone given they chose not to migrate the account to their new system?

Ian011

Of course, but if they don't do those things you can at least save some money by calling their 0345 number using your inclusive allowance on a landline or mobile rather than paying a Service Charge to the benefit of Halifax and their telecoms provider on top of the Access Charge collected by your landline or mobile provider. As they did keep you hanging on, enquire about a refund of your call costs.

If, instead of an 0345 number they had an 0800 number, most callers wouldn't pay any less but the costs incurred by the bank would be much more than double.