Halifax Mortgage Application Process

halifaxmortgage

Hello,

I found a house that is suitable for my family and also did an AIP with halifax, which got accepted. The mortgage advisor said that the missus and myself both had an A1 credit rating and low LTV which is supposed to be really good (not sure, lol). She advised that we have a full mortgage application appointment in a week's time.

We asked her a couple of questions and were shocked to hear that Halifax don't even have people as underwriters as it's done by computer :shocked:

I still can't believe this, but I want to know if this is true and does our A1 credit rating really make a difference? Also, when we go down next week to do the full mortgage application, how quick can halifax give you an offer?

FYI, our LTV is 40%.

marksoton

Forget what Halifax have said.

With a 40% LTV you should be shopping around and not restricting yourself to one lender...

halifaxmortgage

I wish we could, but a small part of our income is based on tax credits and disability benefit. Halifax are supposed to be easier in accepting such applications.

Mulder00

Still shop around - we were also told for us that the only lender who would consider us would be Halifax and after insisting to our broker that they apply to Santander, we ended up with them.

halifaxmortgage

I've already checked Santander which is another one recommended, but their rates aren't much better than Halifax:-

Halifax:-
2yr fix - 1.64% + £495 fee
5yr fix - 2.24% + £495 fee

Santander:-

2yr fix - 1.59% + £995 fee
5yr fix - 2.34% + £995 fee

To be honest, we're happy with Halifax as we've been with them for years and built up a good credit history.

marksoton

halifaxmortgage wrote: »

I wish we could, but a small part of our income is based on tax credits and disability benefit. Halifax are supposed to be easier in accepting such applications.

A broker would no doubt find other lenders prepared to consider them.

At 40% ( And assuming all else is well) you really are able to cherry pick the lender and rate.

halifaxmortgage

marksoton wrote: »

A broker would no doubt find other lenders prepared to consider them.

At 40% ( And assuming all else is well) you really are able to cherry pick the lender and rate.

All else is fine. I seriously appreciate what your saying mark and thank you for the advise, but we've already made our minds up and we are going to stick with halifax.

So can someone please advise:-
What is involved when we go down to halifax to do a Full Mortgage Application?
Is the process really automated?
Does an A1 credit rating make a difference?
Can you get an offer on the same day or do you have to wait for a while?

marksoton

halifaxmortgage wrote: »

All else is fine. I seriously appreciate what your saying mark and thank you for the advise, but we've already made our minds up and we are going to stick with halifax.

So can someone please advise:-
What is involved when we go down to halifax to do a Full Mortgage Application?
Is the process really automated?
Does an A1 credit rating make a difference?
Can you get an offer on the same day or do you have to wait for a while?

OK fair enough.

I'd imagine they'll require a fair bit of information. Payslips etc...
They will have human underwriters, whether they apply them to your application who knows...
Don't believe this supposed A1 credit rating...
I very much doubt you'll get a full offer that same day...

Best thing to do is post on the mortgage sub-forum. There's brokers there who will advise and they deal with lenders and their processes every day.

halifaxmortgage

Thanks very much for that information Mark. I will post on the mortgage forum too.

I have another question regarding solicitors. Can people recommend good solictor firms on here? If so, who do you recommend?

Sianybaby82

I went with Halifax for my recent mortgage, also with a great credit rating.

I had an AIP. At the first meeting after the AIP we arranged the survey. After the survey I had another meeting went through all the paperwork and the mortgage offer was issued the next day - due to the property being a repossession and having to move quickly the mortgage broker walked the mortgage offer to the solicitor.

I am extremely happy with the service received and have found them to be very efficient.

Ftb2016

Hi, below is my experience with Virgin money and then Halifax. I did everything over the phone with Halifax. I'm a first time buyer in Manchester with a 10% deposit.
4th Feb - viewed house
5th Feb - put offer in and was accepted, £134,500
9th Feb - met with mortgage advisor, he said Virgin money have the best deal at the moment, he will apply. Same day got DIP
10th Feb - sent all my docs to MA
12th Feb - MA makes full application
17th Feb - survey (homebuyer report £350)
19th Feb - virgin said they will not lend me the full amount due to me paying into a 9.1% pension!! And they'll only lend me £116k (I asked for £121k). I was annoyed withMA as I had given him all my details and he hadn't declared the pension to Virgin and they picked it up on my payslip. Decided to get rid of MA and go to my bank Halifax and apply directly. Got a DIP from Halifax on same day.
22nd Feb - made full application to Halifax. They said as I have banked with them for 15 years I only had to send them my most recent payslip.
26th Feb - Halifax received my payslip and booked Valuation for 1st March (they wouldn't accept Homebuyer survey that I already had, had to do their own)
1st March - Halifax valuation, £315
4th March - mortgage offer received and sent to solicitor
7th March - sent £300 to solicitor to start the searches. It is a probate so expect it to take slightly longer than usual to complete.

Personally I would never use a MA again.