Mortgage Application - Skipton

smem18

Hello everybody. This forum has been so useful the past few weeks during our mortgage application.

We have applied for a 90% LTV mortgage on a new build with Skipton through a broker. We had the agreement in principle straight through and sent off bank statments, payslips, etc. The only additional information Skipton wanted was proof of deposit, which we sent straight off too.

The broker is now intentionally holding back our signed declaration form from Skipton until a few days before our exchange date and is sending it on the 7th June so that our mortgage offer will be valid for as long as possible (it will be valid for 6 months and the build is not due to complete until beginning of November, and of course there could easily be delays). Skipton have already done the valuation too and that came back fine.

I am just so so stressed that we will not get the offer! We have obviously spent a lot of money now getting everything lined up (we have the contract from the solicitor and all other documents ready, such as our deed of trust etc.). I expected to have to have a mortgage interview with Skipton as all my friends had to have an interview when they applied for a mortgage, but they haven't asked for anything else! They're just waiting for the declaration.

Our deposit is £33,000 and the property is costing £320,000. My partner earns £40,000 and I earn £29,000 + £4000 annual bonus.
We have excellent credit scores and no loans, debt or finance on anything. The only thing is that we use our current account overdraft fairly regularly.

Can anyone reassure me! I have chewed off all my nails and still have a while to wait until he submits the declaration and we hopefully receive the offer! I am nervous because Skipton are the only lender who will do 90% LTV on a new build flat, so if they don't give us an offer we are completely stuffed.

ACG

There is only a declaration outstanding, you are all but home and dry...I just made myself laugh when I said that - no pun intended.

Your broker sounds like they know what they are doing and are doing everything possible to avoid having to get an extension at the end.

I really like Skipton, common sense underwriters, nice underwriters you can have a laugh with, they keep things fairly simple. Did your friends apply directly rather than through a broker? That could be the difference as none of my clients have had to have an interview with them.

kingstreet

Skipton offers a 6+6 on its offers for newbuilds.

That's six months with a six month extension if needed.

https://www.skipton-intermediaries.co.uk/mortgages/new-build

smem18

Yes they went direct. If this is all that was involved because we went through a broker then I can't understand why anyone would go direct!! My friends had 2-3 hour interviews where they even got asked how often they get their hair cut! They had to wait weeks for a mortgage appointment and then days for an offer. Our broker has been fantastic - responds to emails within half an hour usually and knew exactly what to do every step of the way. Skipton have been incredibly quick to respond and its all been so easy. I got a text saying they had set up the mortgage direct debit already.

I guess my question is: if they were going to reject us, would they have likely told us already by this point or raised a concern? As I say, the only additional information they requested was proof of deposit. I felt like an idiot having to submit current account statements showing that I had used my overdraft. We didn't plan to buy so quickly but the perfect property suddenly came up and we didn't have time to fully "prepare". But like I say, everything else about us should tick the box.

smem18

Thanks Kingstreet. Yes we know. Our longstop date is end of March so we should be completely covered. But our broker doesn't in an ideal world want us to have to extend because they of course do checks etc. again and that's always a slight risk. As the build is due to complete beginning of November, he's ensuring we have a valid offer for the whole month of November. I think he's doing the right thing but its just scary waiting.

Thrugelmir

smem18 wrote: »

The broker is now intentionally holding back our signed declaration form from Skipton until a few days before our exchange date

Has your solicitor been informed?

smem18

Thruglmir - yes, she has and she also agrees it is a good idea.

smem18

For anyone else reading this, I just wanted to update to say that my mortgage declaration form went in this morning and we got the offer within 2 hours! Very happy. Only condition was that we clear my Halifax credit card, but that's already cleared anyway. It only had money owed on it because I worked away in America for a week and was owed expenses!

ACG

Congratulations.
I know I said you were home and dry, but I am sure you still worried. Now you can stop worrying about the offer being issued and start worrying about the buyers/vendor pulling out instead :P

Dont worry, its normal if you do.