Leeds Building Society - Mortgage Application Process

Jonquil87

[FONT=&quot]Hi all, [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]I just wanted to share my experience of Leeds Building Society mortgage application process from start to finish. If anyone is like me they worry and panic through the whole process and spend countless hours reading forum threads trying to get an idea of the process and what to expect. There wasn’t anything out there really up to date regarding Leeds Building Society & the reviews of Leeds are bad which worried me also. People reviewing they ask for further needless information etc. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]I am a first time buyer purchasing a shared property 50%.[/FONT]
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I didn’t go through a broker as didn’t see the need. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]07/11/18 – Contacted Leeds to arrange a Decision in Principle, told that we need to schedule a meeting as too busy to complete now[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]12/11/18 – Decision in Princple telephone meeting. The DIP was referred to underwriters[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]13/11/18 – Email received from Leeds advising DIP approved. Then told that we have to have a further telephone appointment when have made an offer on the property to choose mortgage product. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]12/11/18 – Equifax credit report shows a hard search has been carried out from LBS[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]23/11/18 – Offer on the property accepted[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]23/11/18 – contacted Leeds to say we need to apply for the mortgage. We were told that it’s a busy time and the next available appointment to discuss mortgage products is 4th December[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]04/12/18 – 1hr appointment discussing finances so Leeds can recommend a mortgage product (not given to you in the appointment[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]05/12/18 – Mortgage product proposed and agreed. (Note. At this point we still haven’t applied!)[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]11/12/18 – Mortgage pack received in the post, asking us to complete and send back with all our supporting information[/FONT]
· [FONT=&quot]3 months bank slips for all applicants[/FONT]
· [FONT=&quot]3 months pay slips for all applicants[/FONT]
· [FONT=&quot]Proof of address in the form of driving license for all applicants[/FONT]
· [FONT=&quot]Proof of address for previous residence as we are not on the electoral register due to the annual canvas [/FONT]
· [FONT=&quot]Proof of return to work for my partner as she’s been on maternity leave for the first half of the year[/FONT]
· [FONT=&quot]Memorandum of Sale from the housing Association[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]12/12/18 – Sent recorded delivery in the post[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]14/12/18 – Notification from Leeds to say received[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]19/12/18 – Text from Leeds saying application has been assessed by an underwriter, the valuation of property is outstanding[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]24/12/18 – I heard nothing re. house valuation, I chased Leeds who advised they are having difficulty contacting the sales agent to arrange the valuation! I contacted agent to say please get in touch with Leeds to arrange[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]27/12/18 – I called Leeds who advised valuation has been booked for 7th January[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]7/01/19 – Valuation completed[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]10/01/19 – I called Leeds to chase valuation report. They originally advised me it hasn’t been looked at and it can take 3 working days from receipt of valuation to be assessed. And then a further 2-3 working days for final offer checks! I queried final offer checks and they said this is drawing up the offer paper work.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]11/01/19 – FULL OFFER RECEIVED [/FONT]J[FONT=&quot]. Much quicker than their lead time they provided me. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]So it took 7 full weeks from me contacting LBS to say I want to do a full mortgage application and a lot of the time was waiting for the initial appointments and the house valuation (due to xmas period). [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]I am very happy with Leeds and their communication throughout the process. Their customer service team are open 8-8 and always happy to give you a progress update on the application. I must have called them 4/5 times throughout and always had a good experience and never waited longer than 5 minutes to be answered. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]I hope my above process puts a few new applicants mind at ease with how long the process can take compared to other lenders and happy to answer any questions if anyone has any![/FONT]
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kingstreet

Jonquil87 wrote: »

I didn’t go through a broker as didn’t see the need.

23/11/18 – contacted Leeds to say we need to apply for the mortgage. We were told that it’s a busy time and the next available appointment to discuss mortgage products is 4th December

11/01/19 – FULL OFFER RECEIVED

As a newbuild specialist handling HTB and Shared Ownership applications on a daily basis, I would expect our builders to fire us if our applications worked out like this.

We would have expected to have your offer in your hand within two weeks of the submission of the application.

Jonquil87

kingstreet wrote: »

As a newbuild specialist handling HTB and Shared Ownership applications on a daily basis, I would expect our builders to fire us if our applications worked out like this.

We would have expected to have your offer in your hand within two weeks of the submission of the application.

Agree that the process took longer than expected, that's why i'm sharing the experience with the forum. from what I've read and now experienced, LBS are notoriously slow, but I couldn't fault their communication.

Fortunately our housing association weren't strict on the 28day exchange rule due to Christmas period.



Perhaps going through a broker would have sped things up?

kingstreet

As an example, we charge £250 on top of the lender commission.

As I say, we do this all the time and would expect to have got you to offer in a couple of weeks.

Worth it? Who knows...

MortgageMamma

I find Leeds very slow generally. Yes great comms and always a BDM around when you need them, but snail like

I only ever use them if I know there isn't a tight deadline. I once took 5 months to get an offer for a mother and son buying together and there were no obstacles on the case. They almost lost property.

annetheman

Has anyone else had any other experience with Leeds Building Society, especially new build Shared Ownership properties? Either brokers or buyers?

I submitted the application for a new build through a broker on 10th March and he has told me it would take about 10 working days but I'm freaking out. I just feel like they're going to rejected me

LauraE28

annetheman said:

Has anyone else had any other experience with Leeds Building Society, especially new build Shared Ownership properties? Either brokers or buyers?

I submitted the application for a new build through a broker on 10th March and he has told me it would take about 10 working days but I'm freaking out. I just feel like they're going to rejected me

I submitted my application for a shared ownership with a broker on May 22nd.. i heard today they have completed the valuation of property and could i send another payslip and bank statement.. sent them back and now i guess I'm just waiting to hear if it's been approved. The broker said they are busy with a back log so I'm not expecting to hear anytime soon unfortunately! I'm going out my mind refreshing emails every 2 minutes!

Hache9326

I am currently waiting on my decision from Leeds in regards to a Mortgage Offer, the application started mid January for Shared Ownership new build, I believe the Valuation was finally done on Friday but have to admit I am very anxious on this.  Unfortunately my Broker couldn't do anything to speed it up as being a new build the access to the flats was not available for the lender to send someone in.  I have to admit I am so impatient and worried that after almost a year of trying for one of these flats that my mortgage offer will not happen for whatever reason.  I have never felt so stressed in my life before as I do now.