Ditch broker mid application?

orangecrush

Hi folks,

Long-time lurker, first time posting!

I need a bit of a sense check on what to do with our mortgage application.

We found a broker through unbiased, and through him applied for a DIP with Leeds, which was granted.

We went to see the broker on Tuesday night and took all the documentation we were told we needed to bring for our full application, and he emailed us on Weds to say the application was in and he'd keep us posted.

This evening I made the mistake of googling timescales for lending decisions, and found the Leeds intermediaries website and the mortgage submission requirements. It appears that the broker hasn't submitted the gifted deposit form (he didn't ask us to complete anything of the sort, despite knowing our deposit was gifted) and didn't ask for our marriage cert despite us being married within the last 3 years and my maiden name being on my passport (married name on bank statements)..

So now I'm stressing out that it will get batted back or rejected altogether. I've emailed the broker but he won't pick up til Monday.

On top of this we've found out that the fees associated with the product are not exactly what he told us. I know we should have done our own research, but we're both super stressed after a recent death in the family so trusted the broker to highlight all the key points. This makes the Leeds product less attractive than a Nationwide product we were also considering previously.

My questions are:
1) Is it unreasonable to expect that he should have picked up on everything we needed for the application?
2) Is it likely to cause us to be rejected?
3) Depending on the likely answers to 1 and 2, is it possible to ditch your broker mid application and continue yourself? I only have the DIP reference number, nothing else so not sure if Leeds would even speak to me.
4) How stupid would it be to ditch both broker and the Leeds application, and go direct to Nationwide, which now has the best deal?

Thanks and sorry if this is garbled! I'm probably worrying over nothing so it would be good to get some objective opinions!

ACG

1) They are only minor things. I do not use Leeds often enough to know their processes inside out. It could be that the solicitor requires a copy of the gifted deposit letter rather than Leeds b/s - that is not uncommon with lenders. Marriage Certificate seems a little OTT but its not unheard of, again Leeds may decide to leave this to the solicitors however.

2) No. The most it will do is cause a delay.

3) You are not even sure he has done anything wrong yet. I think you are probably jumping the gun. You have also raised it to him so if it is an issue, he may be able to prevent any hold ups before they even occur - granted it should not be down to you to do that, but its not the end of the world even if he has caused some delays.

4) Not stupid necessarily but seems like a bit of a gung ho approach.

When you say the fees are not as descirbed what are you talking about? Typically on the KFI you will see:
Arrangement fees,
Valuation fees,
broker fees,
Legal fees (although this is not a fee that will get charged as such, it is ni incorporated into the fee agreed with your solicitors).
Deeds release fee/sealing fee, all lenders charge this but it is charged when you leave the lender.
Telegraphic transfer fee, again all lenders charge this. Typically about £30.

When discussing fees, most commonly it is the arrangement fee and valuation fee. The others are either minor or chargeable in years to come and subject to change. Nationwide charge the other fees also but they are not normally displayed on the page where the deals are.

MortgageMamma

Hi

Sorry to hear you are losing confidence in your broker. Did your broker explain to you WHY he chose to use Leeds over Nationwide?

Just to explain things a bit further, sometimes a lender will have "direct to public" deals that exclude brokers, and "broker only" deals that are not for their direct sales force to use. This could be why the deal looks different from what he told you when you checked up. That said, the broker should have told you at outset if he was considering "direct to lender" deals for you or not, some brokers do if you pay a fee.

I doubt your application would be rejected on the basis of not having marriage certificate, that can be sent on, but the gifted deposit problem could be an issue. Not all lenders are happy to accept gifted deposits, I am not sure if Nationwide do but I don't think they did when I was a broker.

I don't think you can ditch your broker mid application without withdrawing entirely and reapplying without advice.

I think at this stage, if you have concerns you need to make an effort to get explanations from your broker. If he/she is worth their salt they will be more than happy to take time to explain to you what you need to know. If you are not confident after that there are a few other things you need to consider before pulling out of the deal

1. Have you paid an advice fee or application fee?
2. Do you know for sure Leeds won't make you an offer?
3. Do you have the time to apply elsewhere without causing problems within the chain?
4. Are you prepared to take a risk and apply for another mortgage from another lender without advice?
5. If the broker has done nothing wrong, are you prepared to waste their time and therefore their earnings on a whim?


Quite a lot to think about, try not to make any knee jerk decisions you did right coming on here to ask

MM

orangecrush

Thanks ACG, this is really helpful.

I suspected I was overreacting but when I'm stressed everything seems like an utter disaster. (High maintenance?? Never...)

He said the total fees associated with the product were X. I was surprised it was so low, so double checked, and he confirmed. It turns out they are X plus one or two extra things; he emphasised the extra things more with Nationwide but didn't bring them up for Leeds. I suspect they're probably much the same but TBH it's not the money that worries me, it's more the suspicion that he hasn't been on his A-game.

That said, I'll go get a glass of wine and try to stop panicking over nothing! As you've said, it may all be fine and I need to see the bigger picture. Thanks again

ACG

Its not uncommon to stress, there is a lot at stake (sorry to pile the pressure back on).
Just take a deep breath, trust your broker and have the glass of wine. Its Friday night, nothing will get done until Monday so just make the most of the weekend and pick it up then.

orangecrush

Hi MortgageMamma,

Thanks for this! He compared the total cost over 2 years for both deals (both 2 year term) and the Leeds had such low fees it came out on top, despite Nationwide cashback. The one or two extra things in the Leeds fees now make it slightly less attractive, but we're talking a few £ over 2 years so really not significant. It's the confidence thing, as you mentioned! Little things are adding up and making me doubt him.

That said, I am overreacting and panicking when I don't know anything is wrong. I knew I'd get a sense check here so very grateful to you for replying!

I will wait to see what the broker says on Monday and will update if anything else occurs!

Thanks for your kind advice!

Thrugelmir

orangecrush wrote: »

Little things are adding up and making me doubt him.

If you are going to question every thing your broker does then your relationship is unlikely to last. As you are going to cause your broker a huge amount of wasted time. A good broker will know best where to place a mortgage application. Anybody can find cheap interest rates on the internet. That's the easy part.

orangecrush

Hi all,

Thanks again for the excellent advice above. I just thought I'd update. Unfortunately not a happy ending!

It turns out we did need the additional documentation I read about - the advisor said he forgot. No harm done really, the bank just needed an extra day to review.

The mortgage advisor also forgot we wanted to upgrade our survey to a homebuyers, so we had to sort that ourselves too.

He told us he was independent and received no commission from lenders, as he made commission from insurance products - this allowed him to be fee-free. Then it turned out he did receive commission from the lender (as well as from the insurance he has sold us).

On top of all this, we need some urgent advice after new information from the vendors, but the advisor has gone AWOL. He hasn't answered his phone or email since the end of Feb. We called a colleague of his and they said they'd pass on the message - so it doesn't sound like he's ill or on leave. That was early March. We're going to try and handle it ourselves from now on but it's just left us rather disappointed, like he's got his commission so he no longer needs to bother with us (yes I realise how naive this sounds!!).

Anyway, I'm sure it will all get sorted I just thought I'd update people with the observation that in this case, a gut feeling of something not quite being right turned out to be true and I wish I had trusted my instincts. Even if I had turned out to be wrong, and he'd been a total saint, the seeds of doubt were planted and it made things more stressful than it could have been.

If we were doing it again (and we may have to as the sale is precarious at the minute), and I felt uncomfortable with my advisor, I'd probably switch ASAP so as not to waste anyone's time (his or mine!). But hindsight is great, isn't it?!

Regardless of the outcome, the advice above helped me chill out, so I am grateful to you all!

Happy Friday everyone and have a great weekend! :beer:

ACG

He only gets the commission if the Mortgage completes. No completion = no commission.

It is not naive to expect your broker to be there once you complete. I always try to give my clients a call or email a week or so after completion just to ensure everything has gone through smoothly.

If you asked him to instruct the homebuyers and he did not and that is now costing you more - they should be paying the difference.

What is the info from the vendors? We may be able to help on here.

dunstonh

He told us he was independent and received no commission from lenders, as he made commission from insurance products - this allowed him to be fee-free. Then it turned out he did receive commission from the lender (as well as from the insurance he has sold us).

Just for the icing on the cake, he wasnt tied to the insurer was he? - i would not be surprised if he sold you L&G insurance.

orangecrush

ACG wrote: »

He only gets the commission if the Mortgage completes. No completion = no commission.

Ok that's good - so he has at least some incentive to help right now? Really curious as to the radio silence. Maybe it's me? I am a bit anxious about it all (FTB!) but I always try to be super nice and polite so I don't think I could have annoyed him that much!?

I do wonder if something happened? Maybe he's no longer with the company? He's disappeared from vouchedfor too.

ACG wrote: »

If you asked him to instruct the homebuyers and he did not and that is now costing you more - they should be paying the difference.

TBH I was more worried about annoying the vendors with having too many appointments at their place, and the delay (at that point had no idea about divorce - see below!). And we had a good surveyor so, not the worst thing.

ACG wrote: »

What is the info from the vendors? We may be able to help on here.

They are getting divorced, and want to do a transfer of equity. We had no idea about this. We are in a hurry (rental contract expiring) and we asked if there was any reason they couldn't complete in 3 months and they said "no, it should be fine". I know "should be fine" is fairly open but divorce and transfer of equity would maybe lead me to be less positive in my answer. (I guess I shouldn't have expected the whole truth? They were trying to sell me a house I guess! But they also lied about how old their boiler was but nevermind :rotfl:)

Anyway the timescales are just one worry - our solicitor isn't sure that Leeds will accept the transfer of equity, and has told us to talk to broker. Broker has vanished. We will just deal directly with Leeds, and I'm sure (I think) it will work out, it's just frustrating to be mislead by the vendors ans the broker then have him vanish.

Our solicitor isn't the best too - we made the newbie error of letting estate agents refer us to one as we're new to the area and didn't really have anyone else to ask for recommendations.

dunstonh wrote: »

Just for the icing on the cake, he wasnt tied to the insurer was he? - i would not be surprised if he sold you L&G insurance.

You are correct, it is L&G insurance! :T

Oh well, at least it's Friday, spring is coming, there are blossoms on the trees and I have some lovely wine and peanut butter oreos at home!