Meeting to go over mortgage offer - normal?

David_White

Banks and Estate Agents generally have a very rigid interview process designed to cross sell you products.

Don't discount what they've told you about insurance though, just do some shopping around.

Regarding your employers "cover" .... what happens if you stop working for them?

No such thing as a job for life..........

Thrugelmir

amnblog wrote: »

Banks spend hundreds of millions evaluating and revamping the customer experience but they are always looking from their side out.

No different to main car dealers. As the money is made on the "extras" not the car itself. Try offering cash for a discount now. They are not interested. Everything is finance contract driven.

amnblog

David_White wrote: »

No such thing as a job for life..........

Apart from our illustrious Sovereign, God bless her

geoham

So, here is how the meeting went...

I was handed my mortgage offer and told they'd post a copy out to both my solicitor and I.

Then spent time attempting to sell me insurance. Their home and contents was quite literally four times the cheapest quote I could find online. Not that I'll be going with the cheapest...

Just need to wait for the solicitor to get his copy - hopefully be over and done with soon!

cashbackproblems

With a broker its never this complicated, your own fault plus you probably havent got best deal

geoham

I did actually attempt to go via a broker a friend recommended and it wasn't the best experience. I called to make an appointment, and the guy wasn't especially enthusiastic. He made comments such as 'oh...you're quite a low earner' - which I found quite strange giving I earn slightly more than the UK average salary, I only need 2.5 times my salary as a mortgage, plus I had 10% deposit. Nevertheless, an appointment was made for him to come to my house. He then cancelled the day before, apparently double booked. I realise this is just one guy, but was still enough to put me off!

Having wasted a week by then, I decided at that point to test the waters going directly with my bank - I've always had a good experience with them in the past.
Got off to a good start - the online agreement in principle was easy enough. The deal I ended up with has comparable monthly payments to the best deals that can be found through this site, so I'm happy enough with the deal. £150 cashback and a £500 Currys voucher thrown in for good measure too.


The impression I got from the bank was that they were terrified of anything that could be considered misselling and overdid eveything in order to cover their backsides.


Anyway, I have my offer now - just waiting on my solicitor doing his bit then we are done!

nidO

I'm just curious to know which bank your mortgage is actually with as I don't see it mentioned anywhere.
In my experience of going directly to the banks mentioned earlier, insurance "cross-sale" has extended as far as, during the application stage, "...and you're aware you'll need buildings insurance, and having life cover is a good idea.." "yep, and i'll be sorting my own thanks" "ok, fine".

geoham

I'm with Bank of Scotland, though it's a Halifax mortgage.

David_White

Halifax have gone completely full circle in branch now, they're beyond paranoid about customers complaining about mis selling therefore they go overboard with their appointment process.

They don't have sales targets anymore and are required to show videos for every product in order to cover ALL of the T&C's.

The irony is it's created a terrible customer service experience.

Might not be the same at BoS, but I'd assume same group same policy to an extent.

kingstreet

As a matter of interest, did they spend time explaining;-

accrued interest
payments taken in advance, not in arrears
first payment timing

when you were presented with your offer?