First time buyer with Which? Mortgage advisiors.

KayTM

The broker we used wasn't the one recommended by the estate agent we were dealing with (ie buying the house with). But it's true to say, he was recommended by another major EA, and I think that's where we made our mistake. We should never have gone along with anyone who was handed our business on a plate along with many other people's business - presumably people with much bigger deals on the table.

I just thought we weren't getting someone who had our interests at heart and, after a few weeks of being let down by him, figured we could do a better job for ourselves. And we did, even though we weren't necessarily a straightforward case. At least we managed to arrange what we wanted, rather than what that broker thought we should have (presumably to make it easy for himself).

So, where does one find a broker if not via various property websites? Are they good at SEO so you just just find them via an Internet search? That would only mean they're good at SEO and not necessarily good at doing their job.

csgohan4

Unfotrunately we cannot recommend due to forum rules, I got mine from the forums here and he did a good job, take your pick and PM them, you will know when you have got the right one.

Generally go for the ones that only pay on completion and have been an active poster on here.

kingstreet

Word of mouth recommendation from friends or relatives, failing that try https://www.unbiased.co.uk switching off the sponsored ads only option, so you get full list for your area.

KayTM

Thanks. I don't need a broker. I was just asking for those who might want one and not make the same mistake I did.

jacobtheamish

IMO, and I stress this. Not that I expect anyone to care about my opinion.

Estate Agency Broker - This is place to find a baby broker, he/she maybe be in the first job after education and will have little and very limited experience. Will be tied to a small panel of lenders to net the biggest proc fees and will sell you every conceivable extra, including if your lucky their "lifetime broker service". If your a regular on this forum and you go with a EA broker, you deserve the pain and suffering you will probably experience.

Call centre brokers - Usually a step up from the EA broker, but still usually as inept. Only benefit would be they are probably 'whole of market' and may not charge a fee. You will be a number and even straightforward applications will be slow and often 'cocked up' Good luck with this one.

Independent brokerage - In my opinion by far the best, may charge a fee, may not. These are the guys and girls that will likely have experienced all you can throw at them and then some. They are worth there weight in gold, literally! You will likely save money than going direct or using one of the above and also a hell of a lot of time.

You will always find the odd rotten apple, the same as you might find a good EA broker (if you do, buy a lotto ticket as your luck is in!)

Finally, you can never beat meeting a broker face to face. Its the only way to rule out the morons ;-)

AlistairM

More ridiculous problems today.

I sent this email last night:

“I'm emailing to reiterate how extremely urgent it is now that the mortgage offer is finished ASAP.

The property sale is at risk as the seller isn't prepared to wait much longer. The valuation was completed almost 4 weeks ago and there has been no movement since then.
Tomorrow it will be 2 weeks since I instructed Which of the house price change and mortgage amendments, but this is still not yet sorted with the bank. I still don't fully understand why this is?
We've already paid Which £249 but I don't feel as though this is being taken seriously. Even now we're delayed because the assigned broker "isn't in today" so won't be looked into until tomorrow.

Could I have a written explanation for why there have been so many problems? Some of which I'll list below.
BROKER1 left Which but Nationwide were not informed of the change, so it was only from me contacting the bank directly that we found out, over a week later, about the under-valuation of the property or the outstanding queries the banks had on payslips and source of the funds for the deposit.

After renegotiating the house price and deciding on a new mortgage plan, I instructed my Which broker to carry out the changes. A week later my mortgage offer arrived with the earlier incorrect details. When queried with Nationwide, they said changes had not been made because they were waiting for the broker to answer their query about the house price changing and the product being used having expired.

I contacted Which to find out why this had happened and was told it was because of the house price changing. This does not explain why this was not factored in when I first told Which the house price had changed and needed updating. I was told this would be corrected and a new product would be used, this would take a maximum of 3 working days.

I called Nationwide this morning to check if it had gone through, again it had not been processed because the product Which had used had expired much as it had the week before.

What I'd like now in writing is some assurance that I wont be waiting another week to have the same thing happen again.


I do not understand how things could be going so wrong.


Alistair"

This morning I got this short reply.
"The product change had been processed last week, however that product expired again. When speaking to Nationwide when we processed this we were not told of any product changes and made the changes that we had discussed.

I have passed your concerns on with our point of contacted at Nationwide, who is in the process of getting this escalated as we speak to get this resolved asap.

Kind regards"

Doesn't really explain anything and offers no apology.

Anyway, I rang Nationwide to check if they had done what they said and they said they’d had a call from Which yesterday but they’d again submitted an application for an expired product. They’d left a voicemail for the broker but had not had a reply.
I tried to ring my broker and couldn’t get through, tried to call the mortgage coordinator but couldn’t get through the phone said he was out of the office, I called the switchboard where I was told my broker had "gone home for the day". So they then put me through to the coordinator.
He said that he had spoken with Jagjit who had sorted out the package with Nationwide this morning and that everything would be fine and that Nationwide has a back office that dealt with brokers and that may be why it wasn’t on the system.
I then called Nationwide back and asked them about this, they said they only had the one call centre and that if it wasn’t on the system it wasn’t done.

I then called Which back and the coordinator said it won’t show up on the system as its an escalation and that’s why it wasn’t showing. He has guaranteed that was done. I’ve asked him to email me words to that effect. (Still not had anything through yet.)


That’s where I am now, I don’t know what to believe now.

I could do with some advice really. I don’t have time to go through to a new broker now, but this treatment from Which is terrible.

I’m getting so stressed out by this that its making me feel physically sick.

dunstonh

I could do with some advice really.

Somewhat ironic as you are using a mortgage adviser!!!

As I am not a mortgage adviser, I will leave the answer to someone that is as the mortgage advisers here are what you expect a decent mortgage adviser to be (based on their postings). I bet you wont use a factory line/call centre service again!!!

kingstreet

I'm assuming this is an online submitted case with an M57 number, not a paper application which would be M3.

You cannot select an expired product when going through application submission. The system tells you what is available, you pick it. You then move through reservation to full application and submission.

If the product you originally selected has expired, has the broker provided you with a key facts illustration for the new product before confirming the product selected to the lender?

If not, how can the broker have informed you of the costs and suitability of the product?

AlistairM

kingstreet wrote: »

I'm assuming this is an online submitted case with an M57 number, not a paper application which would be M3.

You cannot select an expired product when going through application submission. The system tells you what is available, you pick it. You then move through reservation to full application and submission.

If the product you originally selected has expired, has the broker provided you with a key facts illustration for the new product before confirming the product selected to the lender?

If not, how can the broker have informed you of the costs and suitability of the product?

That's right I have a M57 number with Nationwide.


Which? has said several times that they used a product that had expired. They have never come back to me with new terms.


They've just said the rate will be the same.


Are you saying they shouldn't be able to submit an incorrect application as the option shouldn't be there?

kingstreet

Only current product options are visible, so it's impossible. The system will simply not allow you to continue until you've selected a product from the current list.