First time buyer with Which? Mortgage advisiors.

joe_ftb

I was considering the Which? service until seeing this.
Some people mention they use advisors from this site but if you have to conduct interviews over the phone anyway because of them being in another part of the country, is there really much difference?

Had considered one on the high street but you could get bad service anyway, like johannalf88. What sort of come back do you have when you are paying a fixed fee?

AlistairM

Things seem to be moving a bit more smoothly now that they have the right contact details for each other, before Nationwide was emailing the person who had left, even so you'd think they'd check that email address!


1 day into my "up to 3 days" waiting on a redone formal mortgage offer.


Fingers crossed for it being smooth from here on

johannalf88

Yay! Got the AIP and an email yesterday saying the full application was submitted!

AlistairM

Contgrats! Glad things are moving for you now. Got a house in mind yet? I got my AIP about 5 weeks ago (that was the easy bit) and made an offer on a house 4 weeks ago.


We got the contracts last night to sign. Just got to get them witnessed and shipped off. Still waiting for our corrected offer letter to come, or any contact at all from the broker.


Called the bank and asked how things are progressing and they've said everything has been agreed/accepted and a new offer letter will be posted in the next couple of days.


Nearly there now!

johannalf88

Well writing on here has really helped! Broker confirmed the AIP yesterday, and it has been underwritten today and passed that bit already! Now just the valuation which I have just paid the fee for! Whoop!
For anyone interested we have it submitted with Post Office, as Halifax had a 3 week wait before they would look at it.

Alistair- we have the flat offer accepted, we just needed the mortgage application put in. As we have a 5% deposit, and DH is just (3 weeks away) finishing his probation period we thought a broker would be easier.

maxthepolarbear

I used which? and I had completely different experience than Alastair - they were quick, kept me up-to-date and professional - I guess it depends on which advisor you deal with...

AlistairM

maxthepolarbear wrote: »

I used which? and I had completely different experience than Alastair - they were quick, kept me up-to-date and professional - I guess it depends on which advisor you deal with...

I think the main problem was that my assigned advisor left so I was passed on to another employee and no one told the bank.


Things are moving now. Although after being told I would hear back from my guy when changing my mortgage had gone through on Tuesday its now Friday haven't had anything yet.


I just ring the bank now and they tell me what's happening.

AlistairM

More issues today.


On the 15th I was told my broker had processed a new mortgage product as the previous one had expired, and that it would take a maximum of 3 days to be completed. I called the bank the next day and the confirmed they had.


3 working days have come and gone but no contact from our broker, so I called the bank this morning.


They've said that they've had no contact since the 11th from the broker.


I tried ringing the broker after that, no answer, called the mortgage coordinator no answer.


I've had to leave an email now.


It's so disheartening. To keep getting so far, then it's wrong, then its apparently sorted, then it's wrong again.


I've given them so much information, done everything to the letter, both of us have a maximum credit score, a large deposit. Sent everything we were posted to sign back next day.


It just doesn't work. How can there be such incompetence in this?

dunstonh

It just doesn't work. How can there be such incompetence in this?

There shouldnt be. However, a no answer on a call centre operation could be that they are already on the phone. After all, they spend most of the day on the phone dealing with the next person.

You appear to be experiencing the typical outcome that many before you have posted about when using a call centre operation. If it goes off the norm, you are strung out and left in the dark.

It doesnt help you now but it may help others but this is why we say that call centre based brokers are not a good idea unless you have an easy application and are experienced with getting a mortgage.

KayTM

Once again, our experience has been different from dunstonh's.

I'm sure that if you can find a good broker, they're worth their weight in gold. But that didn't happen to us. We had a bad experience of using a local broker who did nothing to help us, and a good experience of using a lender's factory line "advisers".

When we made our full application for a mortgage loan (helped a lot by this forum), we were very clear about what we wanted in terms of what mortgage product we wanted, what LTV, the amount of deposit, etc. We were prepared to go it alone without any "professional" advice. But the lender wanted us to take advice from their call centre advisers - OK, we agreed to go along with that if it keeps them happy.

As it turned out, they declined our first attempt at an application. This might put us in the box that dunstonh points out - not the norm.

However, by submitting various other documents - which weren't asked for - eg a cash flow projection and other stuff, the underwriters changed their decision and approved the application.

I'm sure that dunstonh is right in the majority of cases, and I've no bone to pick with someone who gives a lot of great advice on this forum. It's just that we're not all the same and for some people, they may do better to make their own case. If you're not confident about doing it yourself and if you can find a good broker, then you probably should use a broker.

On the other hand, if you have the confidence to do it yourself you might as well DIY.

I have nothing against brokers. My starting point was to use one. It was only when we were let down and I started to do a lot of research for myself, I realised that there was no point in having one to represent me.

If you can find a good broker, it's probably worth the money not to have to spend the time doing it yourself.