Letter to Halifax | 44 years old and "Too Old" to remortgage | Halifax odd couple

webdesigner

Dear Halifax


I am writing to you on behalf of myself and my husband. I am compelled to write this letter as feel I would like to inform you of our frustration and extreme disappointment at the recent outcome of several mortgage and financial review appointments with our Halifax Derby branch.


My Husband and I made an appointment which my husband attended with a view to look at our finances and re-mortgage at a fixed rate and if possible borrow a little more to facilitate the building of an upstairs bathroom in our small terraced house. We both have good jobs and work full time earning approximately £60,000 per annum jointly.


Unfortunately after several more appointments, emails and phone calls with one of your mortgage advisors you could not do anything to help us, not even improve our standard variable rate mortgage to a fixed rate mortgage. We were told that unfortunately we don’t fit into the “normal couple” category that Halifax have.


I am 58 years old and my husband is 44 years old it seems that I am very old and my husband is old when it comes to re-mortgaging with Halifax. When did your criteria become so severe and intransigent?


We have always paid our mortgage regularly and on time, we are not cash rich and we do have short term debts, we are just a very hard working couple and we feel we handle our finances very well. Our lives have not been easy and we imagined and hoped that if we work hard and always pay our bills we could look forward to the simple facility in our home of having an upstairs bathroom like most other homes, not the luxury of an ensuite like most homes, just an upstairs bathroom!



It was truly disappointing to not fit into the Halifax criteria and be helped in any way. When did the Halifax decide that a man of 44 years old is too old to re-mortgage when the government expects him to still be working at 68 to 70 years old in the future? When was it decided Halifax criteria does not make any allowance for couples who marry who are not the same age? Where is the human side of Halifax that looks at its clients as individuals not figures on a spreadsheet?


This letter is not to complain about the service we received from your mortgage advisor as he did the best he could for us, as far as we could see, but to no avail. This is a complaint about your mortgage application criteria, it appears to us, an “odd couple” in the Halifax banking world that our situation and many others like us has not been thoroughly examined and if “the computer says no!” hard working human beings and their lives are forgotten or left to struggle on paying higher interest rates.


Yours faithfully

Senior_Paper_Monitor

Not enough information there to be absolutely sure that that you can't 'shoe in' to Halifax's criteria but I suspect they are correct and the issue will be your age rather than your husbands.


Halifax are generally not the most 'age friendly' of lenders.


My guess is that this is readily placeable elsewhere (at many lenders) - have a word with a broker and I suspect you will have a fairly easy answer and at rates as good if not better than Halifax.

amnblog

Agreed

There is a decent chance that a broker can assist you here.

Just this week we completed a product switch for a Halifax client that did not meet 'current criteria'.

mgfvvc

That sounds fairly typical of the Halifax, a little extra (inflexibility) as the ads say.

First Direct had no problem giving me a 20 year mortage at 49.

andyfromotley

You focus on your husbands age in the letter but its obvious to me that the problem is your age. How long is the mortgage that you applied for, if it was a joint mortgage then they are probably assuming that you will retire in 10 years time.

Impossible to comment properly without all the details but their position hardly seems outrageous.

betmunch

This is exactly the sort of person that would have been helped by that post that got deleted yesterday.


Admittedly not for getting the extra money, but the bit about getting a better rate than the SVR is exactly the same.


I would encourage you to focus on getting a product transfer, not changing the borrowing, term, or repayment method. Lodge the complaint and take it to the FOS if need be, another poster had success doing this.


Alternatively, if you really must have the extra borrowing, speak to a broker to find out your options.

Let_Us_See

webdesigner wrote: »

When did your criteria become so severe and intransigent?

A little old thing called MMR in April 2014.

Possibly a justified rant to let off steam, but very little facts. As already stated it will probably be your age combined with lack of guaranteed income in retirement that will be the stumbling block with Halifax. If you feel aggrieved you can raise a complaint with Halifax that could ultimately lead to FOS. However, see a broker as other lenders should be able to assist.

Bellabella_2

Check your PMs webdesigner.