Mortgage broker complaint

nickyboy1975

Firstly I want to say that this is not an anti-broker thread, but a genuine request for opinion on a particular broker's actions, and whether I should take the matter further.
Basically my partner took on a broker(recommended to her) to find her a mortgage back in August. The property was new build(broker told this several times) with a 10% deposit.
Now 2 weeks away from the arranged completion date with the builder, there is no mortgage arranged, and the broker's service has been terminated by her.
All salary details, expenditure and so on were provided to the broker.
Pretty much all communication has been done via email and so is recorded!
I will list reasons why below.

i) Broker has found multiple mortgages that the borrower will definitely not qualify for. Basic eligibility check not done regarding lenders ltv for new builds, Most state 85% for new builds. This goes back to August. The original mortgage they recommended and got a DIP with a lower offer for, was not picked up on by the broker at any stage as being a result of the 85% ltv rule.

ii) When she realised that ltv was an issue(which broker never picked up), the broker said that many lenders have changed their ltv's on new build since brexit. Stated that "Nationwide changed their's last week from 90 to 85%". Further investigation has shown that this is a blatant lie. Google cached pages going back to last year show it was 85% for a long time, along with many others.

iii) I found several lenders myself who appeared to do ltv upto 90%.
Broker never found any of these(basically i did their job). They checked these(allegedly) and recommended them. However after further investigation one of them doesn't accept incentives (which I have), which is fair enough. On another he said they don't accept incentives either. I made enquiries with lender myself and this is another blatant lie. Incentives accepted at 90%. I believe the broker realised they had messed up and wouldn't be able to arrange a mortgage in time and was trying to backtrack.

iv) Should the broker have provided an initial disclosure document?
Other than an invoice for their fee nothing else has been forwarded.

v) I believe that the broker has not assessed her affordabilty correctly. The DIP she got back in August would not offer her the full amount she wanted to borrow. It now appears that the issue is the 85% ltv on new builds being the reason, not affordability. The broker stated that it must be a problem with credit rating, nothing else. Surely they should have spotted this in the early days and not led her to believe her credit was a problem. It actually seems that she can borrow considerably more than was suggested. This has limited her search for a house below a certain value for the last few months. Her credit looks good across all credit agencies.

vi) They were providing a number of illustrations that made some mortgages look cheaper and better deals for her. The payments were lower yes, but when i looked closely it was because the mortgage length was being extended to 27, 29 or 30 years! She told them she wanted a 25 year mortgage if possible. They still kept sending these though to her.

There are numerous other issues like this with the broker. Phone calls not returned, emails not answered, and so on in addition

I feel that this broker is totally incompetent at best, and has cost my partner considerable worry, and the loss of the house she was due to purchase. She has incurred solicitors fees and monies lost to the builder in reservation fees, as she can't proceed by the agreed date.
They added no value for her, and actually did the opposite and messed the whole thing up for her. Luckily I caught on that something wasn't right and did my own research.
He was told that she wasn't satisfied with their efforts and highlighted some of their mistakes. They didn't acknowledge any of it, and just sent more useless mortgage deals through that I found problems with. Finally she terminated his services.
I am inclined to lodge an official complaint with the broker, as i have considerable documentary and written evidence against them.
The question is should I be looking to recoup the costs she has incurred as a result of their incompetence and lies. They had a duty of care and there has been none whatsoever.

Sorry for the long post. There's lots more I could have written. Thanks for any opinions.

csgohan4

Where was the broker referred? Estate agent?

amnblog

nickyboy1975 wrote: »

Firstly I want to say that this is not an anti-broker thread, but a genuine request for opinion on a particular broker's actions, and whether I should take the matter further.
Basically my partner took on a broker(recommended to her) to find her a mortgage back in August. The property was new build(broker told this several times) with a 10% deposit.
Now 2 weeks away from the arranged completion date with the builder, there is no mortgage arranged, and the broker's service has been terminated by her.
All salary details, expenditure and so on were provided to the broker.
Pretty much all communication has been done via email and so is recorded!
I will list reasons why below.

i) Broker has found multiple mortgages that the borrower will definitely not qualify for. Basic eligibility check not done regarding lenders ltv for new builds, Most state 85% for new builds. This goes back to August. The original mortgage they recommended and got a DIP with a lower offer for, was not picked up on by the broker at any stage as being a result of the 85% ltv rule.

ii) When she realised that ltv was an issue(which broker never picked up), the broker said that many lenders have changed their ltv's on new build since brexit. Stated that "Nationwide changed their's last week from 90 to 85%". Further investigation has shown that this is a blatant lie. Google cached pages going back to last year show it was 85% for a long time, along with many others.

iii) I found several lenders myself who appeared to do ltv upto 90%.
Broker never found any of these(basically i did their job). They checked these(allegedly) and recommended them. However after further investigation one of them doesn't accept incentives (which I have), which is fair enough. On another he said they don't accept incentives either. I made enquiries with lender myself and this is another blatant lie. Incentives accepted at 90%. I believe the broker realised they had messed up and wouldn't be able to arrange a mortgage in time and was trying to backtrack.

iv) Should the broker have provided an initial disclosure document?
Other than an invoice for their fee nothing else has been forwarded.

v) I believe that the broker has not assessed her affordabilty correctly. The DIP she got back in August would not offer her the full amount she wanted to borrow. It now appears that the issue is the 85% ltv on new builds being the reason, not affordability. The broker stated that it must be a problem with credit rating, nothing else. Surely they should have spotted this in the early days and not led her to believe her credit was a problem. It actually seems that she can borrow considerably more than was suggested. This has limited her search for a house below a certain value for the last few months. Her credit looks good across all credit agencies.

vi) They were providing a number of illustrations that made some mortgages look cheaper and better deals for her. The payments were lower yes, but when i looked closely it was because the mortgage length was being extended to 27, 29 or 30 years! She told them she wanted a 25 year mortgage if possible. They still kept sending these though to her.

There are numerous other issues like this with the broker. Phone calls not returned, emails not answered, and so on in addition

I feel that this broker is totally incompetent at best, and has cost my partner considerable worry, and the loss of the house she was due to purchase. She has incurred solicitors fees and monies lost to the builder in reservation fees, as she can't proceed by the agreed date.
They added no value for her, and actually did the opposite and messed the whole thing up for her. Luckily I caught on that something wasn't right and did my own research.
He was told that she wasn't satisfied with their efforts and highlighted some of their mistakes. They didn't acknowledge any of it, and just sent more useless mortgage deals through that I found problems with. Finally she terminated his services.
I am inclined to lodge an official complaint with the broker, as i have considerable documentary and written evidence against them.
The question is should I be looking to recoup the costs she has incurred as a result of their incompetence and lies. They had a duty of care and there has been none whatsoever.

Sorry for the long post. There's lots more I could have written. Thanks for any opinions.

A long list of issues which seem to boil down to either the broker has minimal experience, and or communication is horrendous.


Your partner is within her rights to complain.


Are you aware of how this broker is regulated (via a Network or Directly via the FCA?)


Search the register here: https://register.fca.org.uk/ShPo_Homepage


If Partner of a larger group there will probably be someone there to deal with a complaint sensibly. If a small firm they may be an incompetent with the complaint as they seemingly were with everything else. This does not stop you referring the case to the Ombudsman if the complaint is not managed to your satisfaction.

Thrugelmir

Why has the matter been allowed to drag on for so long. Personally I would have sought a different source a while back considering you are referring to August.

nickyboy1975

Just to cover points raised.

The broker was recommended by a friend of a friend.

The broker is a small business that is registered with the FCA, and has experience going back some years with a few companies.

It's dragged on since August because it has only become apparent in the last week or two that the broker doesn't know what he's doing. The original DIP done in August was assumed to be fine. The affordability mistake has been only become apparent when I looked into this, and now makes sense as to why.

ACG

The broker should be putting you in the position you would have been had any errors their side not happened. We only have your version of events to go off, but based on what you have said I would say you have a strong argument to ask for your expenses back.

csgohan4

mortgage offers vary from a day to a few week, not 3 months, we're not talking about issues with a property search or subsidence which are not relevant.

This is a simple electronic application that has gone spectacularly wrong.

nickyboy1975

Ok thanks.
I appreciate its only one side of the story, but fortunately there's lot of written evidence to show their incompetence and lies.
There are other issues I haven't even covered.
He even tried to push her towards help to buy in the end. Affordability is not a problem.
Thankfully she got rid of him, after I highlighted his mistakes and blatant lies.
Thanks again.