London & Country (L & C)

Quibbling

I went to L&C a number of years ago, but I also did my own searches before dealing with them. While they did find a reasonably good deal, I had found a better one from a direct only lender.

What surprised and concerned me was that my L&C advisor then tried to persuade me to go with them based on statements about how much longer it would take me to get approval from the direct only lender than it would take if I went through L&C.

I don't recall the exact difference in monthly payments, but it amounted to several hundred pounds per year. It did take a little longer than the L&C advisor suggested he would have taken - as the direct only provider asked for extra information on a couple of items which introduced slight delays (and the advisor may have known to request such extras in advance). However, the difference in cost justified taking on the extra hassle.

In summary, seemed competent but a little of the hard sell at the end. I recommend doing your own research of direct only as well. MSE helpfully lists some of the direct only providers.

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser

Interesting. Can I ask how long ago this was?

I can't a broker in the current regulatory environment trying this kind of hard sell trying to make you take a significantly more expensive product. They'd be skewered by compliance.

Quibbling wrote: »

I went to L&C a number of years ago, but I also did my own searches before dealing with them. While they did find a reasonably good deal, I had found a better one from a direct only lender.

What surprised and concerned me was that my L&C advisor then tried to persuade me to go with them based on statements about how much longer it would take me to get approval from the direct only lender than it would take if I went through L&C.

I don't recall the exact difference in monthly payments, but it amounted to several hundred pounds per year. It did take a little longer than the L&C advisor suggested he would have taken - as the direct only provider asked for extra information on a couple of items which introduced slight delays (and the advisor may have known to request such extras in advance). However, the difference in cost justified taking on the extra hassle.

In summary, seemed competent but a little of the hard sell at the end. I recommend doing your own research of direct only as well. MSE helpfully lists some of the direct only providers.

Jay123321

I used them, was a relatively straight forward purchase with no chain either side, first time buyers, etc. I didn't use their solicitors and I already had insurance. My advisor was excellent, gave me really good advice which helped get my mortgage offer applied for and approved within days. 

MsGeorge88

In my case they were horrendous! They never return calls or emails!

n15h

Went with L&C a few years ago as a FTB. Would have been better off doing the process myself. The mortgage advisor didn't check that the mortgage offer expired before my completion date which meant i lost a great deal and had to apply for a new product, with a higher interest rate / monthly payment. Then it turned out he recommended the wrong product after the mortgage had completed. In the end, it took about 9-10 months for L&C to investigate and agree they were in the wrong and to compensate for their errors.

I generally had no issues with their customer service as they called/emailed as promised, but I am wary of their advice service. I thought I just got the 1 bad apple in the bunch which left a sour taste, but this thread would suggest that's not the case.

A local broker may seem a better choice or go direct to the lender - that's what I'm going to do.

Broomey11

Used this site and was advised to use these. Contacted once and they kept my info on record and said to update my mortgage changes with current provider and get back to them if I wanted to still use them. Did this 2 days later, was told that I'd be rang back, which never happened. Tried a 3rd time to arrange a call back and waited and waited. A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME. LOOM ELSEWARE. 

PixelPound

They are a volume based broker company, and you have to have a fairly straight forward case. We tried them 5 years ago, you got a personal broker by name who you could contact. You just need to remember they will have a ton of clients so it is a case of doing the paperwork and moving onto the next, so you needed to prompt calls.

They ended up been no good for us, saying we needed 10% not 5% deposit, and then when we got 10%, then said still no, so we started looking to F&F to get 20%, and then informed us we were adverse and gave us the contact of some adverse lenders to go direct to. Almost devastated us into not buying, until we went with a local broker who managed to get us a high street lender and a deal that came with £500 cashback to us!

Unicorn_cottage

As balance as people will tend to point out problems on these forums. I have used them twice - for my original mortgage and for my remortgage. I have not any issues with them. My remortgage has cost me less than £100.

csgohan4

nic_c said:

They are a volume based broker company, and you have to have a fairly straight forward case. We tried them 5 years ago, you got a personal broker by name who you could contact. You just need to remember they will have a ton of clients so it is a case of doing the paperwork and moving onto the next, so you needed to prompt calls.

They ended up been no good for us, saying we needed 10% not 5% deposit, and then when we got 10%, then said still no, so we started looking to F&F to get 20%, and then informed us we were adverse and gave us the contact of some adverse lenders to go direct to. Almost devastated us into not buying, until we went with a local broker who managed to get us a high street lender and a deal that came with £500 cashback to us!

Sadly not alot of people are aware of this and say L+C are the next best thing since sliced bread and not realizing they cherry pick their cases which is why they appear to have a good review base. 

Some still swear by them, but no one size fits all with conveyor belt brokers, you get what you pay for

rachie_2011

I've been really disappointed with L&C and after my partner and I had been trying to contact an advisor for the past week we have made a decision to go directly with a local mortgage broker for our first mortgage.  Obviously with everything going on at the moment, I understand that response times have been extended but after reading previous comments I'm glad that we didn't wait around for them.  I just think it's a shame that MSE promote them as much as they do.