Bank issues/mortgage completion delays

babyblade41

RPH9891 wrote: »

I plan to call them tomorrow - I haven't been particularly impressed with Purple Bricks on the occasions I have dealt with them during the process but hopefully they will shed some light.

Probably not going to be any help ,

Socrat

Wow, this sounds like the kind of thing that would happen to me!
I recently discovered that my bank had mocked something up a few years ago and basically had the correct information in one department but wrong in the other. It was quite surreal to be honest, to find out that at this day and age, they are not all connected and share the info on the same server.
I escalated it within the bank, got sorted in less than a week.

I am guessing it's a similar situation here. Someone processed the payments without actually checking the status (or the status got recorded wrongly). Did the mortgage amount actually get transferred at all?

I hope it gets sorted asap and doesn't spoil your Christmas.

davidmcn

Socrat wrote: »

I am guessing it's a similar situation here. Someone processed the payments without actually checking the status (or the status got recorded wrongly). Did the mortgage amount actually get transferred at all?

No, not similar at all. The bank have transferred the money to the solicitor and assumed that the purchase has completed (as either nobody has told them to the contrary, or the message has got lost somewhere). Mortgage funds can't normally just "rest" in the solicitor's account for two+ weeks while everybody tries to sort out completion.

silvercar

Normally your solicitor requests the funds from the lender and has them in his client account for 1-3 days ready to complete. If completion is delayed then the solicitor is meant to send the funds back to the lender.

pinkteapot

OP - were you planning to complete on the same day as exchange, or to complete very quickly (1-3 days) after exchange?

As others have said, the solicitor won't usually request the mortgage funds be released to him (and therefore 'start' the mortgage) until 1-3 days before completion.

If you're exchanging and completing very quickly then sometimes they will have to do that before exchange.

My first call would be to the solicitor to make sure they did that and received the mortgage funds. As above, also check that they returned the funds to Barclays. I'd also be asking the solicitor to phone Barclays, not fax them! When you phone a bank's mortgage service centre there's usually an option on the phone system for solicitors to press.

If you phone Barclays yourself: This is such an unusual situation that the first-line call centre person you get at Barclays probably won't understand what's happened, let alone what to do about it. The upshot is, they've started your mortgage not only before you own the property, but before you've even exchanged contracts and at this point there's no guarantee you WILL own the property! I'd call and ask to speak to someone senior, or go into my nearest branch and ask for the mortgage advisor or branch manager.

Let us know how you get on!

RPH9891

babyblade41 wrote: »

Probably not going to be any help ,

Oh I'm not looking for them to help with this issue, more to see if they can shed any light as to what is wrong with the seller and why she's not responding to anybody currently.

Socrat wrote: »

Wow, this sounds like the kind of thing that would happen to me!
I recently discovered that my bank had mocked something up a few years ago and basically had the correct information in one department but wrong in the other. It was quite surreal to be honest, to find out that at this day and age, they are not all connected and share the info on the same server.
I escalated it within the bank, got sorted in less than a week.

I am guessing it's a similar situation here. Someone processed the payments without actually checking the status (or the status got recorded wrongly). Did the mortgage amount actually get transferred at all?

I hope it gets sorted asap and doesn't spoil your Christmas.

I think that must be the case as Barclays on the phone was adamant the mortgage was live (the two advisers I spoke to were clearly not trained to deal with anything other than a generic query). My understanding was, the funds were released, but the bank had been made aware of the delay and that I just had to sit tight - had I known the risk of them taking the mortgage payment, I would have insisted on getting the deposit back straight away and assurance this wouldn't happen. As I now have the deposit (which is much larger than the payment they have taken) I can live without that money for now - as long as I get it back and this doesn't happen again.

pinkteapot wrote: »

OP - were you planning to complete on the same day as exchange, or to complete very quickly (1-3 days) after exchange?

As others have said, the solicitor won't usually request the mortgage funds be released to him (and therefore 'start' the mortgage) until 1-3 days before completion.

If you're exchanging and completing very quickly then sometimes they will have to do that before exchange.

My first call would be to the solicitor to make sure they did that and received the mortgage funds. As above, also check that they returned the funds to Barclays. I'd also be asking the solicitor to phone Barclays, not fax them! When you phone a bank's mortgage service centre there's usually an option on the phone system for solicitors to press.

If you phone Barclays yourself: This is such an unusual situation that the first-line call centre person you get at Barclays probably won't understand what's happened, let alone what to do about it. The upshot is, they've started your mortgage not only before you own the property, but before you've even exchanged contracts and at this point there's no guarantee you WILL own the property! I'd call and ask to speak to someone senior, or go into my nearest branch and ask for the mortgage advisor or branch manager.

Let us know how you get on!

Yes - the solicitor advised me to pay the deposit on the Monday, so he could complete on the Tuesday, to prevent the mortgage expiring as that was the last day it was valid. He called me that morning saying it would all be going ahead, but then on Tuesday afternoon said that the seller had caused an unexpected delay which prevented him from completing. I'm a bit confused as to what happened with the funds, as I have the deposit back and my solicitor is insistent the bank is aware of the delay so I don't know if the confusion lies with him and the bank (I'm losing confidence in him as well now).


My mortgage adviser is now going to try and resolve this mess out for me today - I will see how he gets along before I make any further moves.