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Mortgage Nightmare to Heaven
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s03jlord1
Posts: 8 Forumite
Hi All,
I thought i would document my journey as a FTB and the nightmare experienced, coupled with the steps i took to get to the end goal of owning my house.
JAN 2018.
I received a note in the post that 15 high quality, new build houses were to be built in the area and proceeded to take a look, after viewing one of the 3 bed houses (off plan) i decided to take the leap and formally reserve the properly with a 1% refundable fee on completion (£2600).
The house to be complete in May 2019.
I decided from that point that i would take advantage of the years gap to organize my finances and gear up to applying for a mortgage which naively thought would be a doddle having a good Job (50K a Year salary with savings and no debt). More fool me.
I was informed at the end of October that due to the good weather and a small change in building plans on the site that the house was expected to be completed March. I then moved out of the house i was in and temp moved in with the parents.
In January i applied for 80% LTV mortgage with Natwest and after 5 working days i received an AIP for the full amount required.
Approximately 10 days after that i had an email from Natwest underwriters to say my application was declined due to adverse credit on my Equifax File. Upon questioning the underwriter, they told me that they cannot see a credit score ore exacts but items were on my file that they deemed adverse which was a shock and they couldn't advise any more.
I immediately contacted equifax and found an entry on there that didn't show on other credit files...it was a default registered in 2014 for £37 that was going to a very old address from a mobile phone company. I disputed the entry with equifax and the provider which took a few days to pick up and did not get a reply for 30 days and as such was temp removed from my file (eventually fully removed).
In that 30+ day period of continuously chasing i took the following 3 proactive steps.
1) I contacted an all of market Mortgage Adviser.
2) i contacted an Adverse Credit Adviser
3) I applied at YBS as there is a part of the application where you state anything that may effect the application.
YBS approved another AIP and i thought i was back on track having explained the small default which was fully explained but unbelievably to my naive mind, they then declined the mortgage days later for that property stating that they had too much liability in the local area but i was free to explore other properties. Nope.
The All market Mortgage Adviser told me they couldn't find a mortgage anywhere for my circumstances other than NORTON home loans where my mortgage payments would have been >£1000 a month. Insane and suspicious.
The Adverse Credit Advisor told me that after a review of my bank statements, i couldn't get a mortgage because i had a few gambling transactions in a previous months statement. I did but these were Saturday afternoon £10 football bets..anyway, i quickly ignored this advice after i researched who i was speaking to and it was a trainee advisor as per their LinkedIn page.
I had then given up, i was being rejected left right and center or being offered mortgages that would have bankrupted me long term.
At this point, it was April, the house was coming to completion and i was being hounded by the solicitors, estate agents and builder regarding completion dates. I held firm, passing little information on as i was covered by the reservation fee until May. Basically burying my head in the sand.
One evening in early April after a few beers, i decided to make a complaint back with Natwest and ask them to re review my application with an increased deposit to a sway, with the amendments made on the minor default, my salary history and a years worth of bank statements.
The next day, with a minor hangover, i received an email to say my complaint had gone back to the original underwriter who had reviewed my documents and still rejected the mortgage because she could not see any amendments to my credit file.
I then had the bit between my teeth, i asked equifax (approximately 15 phone calls) to have my case escalated to have the mark removed from my file as it was sat in a queue in the data entry team. Once this was completed i called the underwriter back who had left her phone number on a stray email. It was answered by another underwriter as the original underwriter was on vacation. I explained the entire history of my application and it was passed to a Senior underwriter to investigate.... in the meantime i again composed a document of my finances, salary history, bonuses.. i even went into highlighted individual transactions on my account and explaining any that would seem irregular to a 3rd party.
1 week passed and my application had been APPROVED. Sense had been seen by the Senior Underwriter (who i am extremely grateful to) and they had progressed my application to approved pending Survey/Valuation.
Time was running thin, the developer could tell something was wrong but i reassured them we was on track to complete and we were waiting on a survey.
The survey was paid for and outsourced to L&G who in turn outsourced it locally who booked in a survey for the next month citing a busy period. The Developer rejected this saying it needed to be done quicker as we were likely to breach our reservation (understandable).
In reverse order, back to Natwest, this had been translated and interpreted as a rejection and as such my application was again placed on hold and the fee i paid had been refunded back to my account.
Scrambling around, i repaid the fee again and spent hours calling L&G and helping THEM find a local person who could do it quicker, eventually we found someone who was willing to do it ASAP who provided a satisfactory report to NATWEST.
The Application was the moved into the Formal Offer Stage.
Here we entered May, i had a survey completed, a formal offer and instructions to the solicitor to act on my behalf and the light was at the end of the tunnel when i received the news that the developer had been approached with an offer, £15,000 more than mine with that if we breached May, he would be unbound to the reservation agreement and would be selling to them.
Under pressure i took 1 week off work and chased Natwest and the Solicitors, all day, everyday for updates and escalating at every point possible. I must have easily made 100+ calls. The main hold up was the parties swapping documents, documents being sent incomplete or missing key information. As i understand it, things were with certain people and when they were off, nothing happened unless escalated OR when documents are uploaded to NatWest, they take 4 hours to clear into their system to review. Without taking that week off and juggling it with life/ work i could have never made the progress i did.
After all the trials and tribulations, making hundreds of phone calls, explaining my story to every single new person i spoke to, avoiding bad advice, chasing chasing chasing I completed on Friday 17th May at 3PM and moved into my new house on Monday 20th May.
Looking back, i worried way too much, i believe i had anxiety attacks when waiting for decisions, especially when it was completely out of my control however i would urge anyone in a similar boat to try and get to the source of any declines, get to the human and state your case.
Do your research on advice.
Don't be naive
and most of all....DO NOT LOG INTO THE TRACKER - it will give you a false sense of where you actually are, if you have questions, pick up the phone and ask. It will also cause huge anxiety.
You have to realize and operate in the sense that although this is the center of YOUR universe, you are really just in a large queue with many others so do what you can to prioritize it if you have a genuine emergency.
TL/DR.
Made an offer.
Had issues.
Eventually got there.
Cheers!:beer:
I thought i would document my journey as a FTB and the nightmare experienced, coupled with the steps i took to get to the end goal of owning my house.
JAN 2018.
I received a note in the post that 15 high quality, new build houses were to be built in the area and proceeded to take a look, after viewing one of the 3 bed houses (off plan) i decided to take the leap and formally reserve the properly with a 1% refundable fee on completion (£2600).
The house to be complete in May 2019.
I decided from that point that i would take advantage of the years gap to organize my finances and gear up to applying for a mortgage which naively thought would be a doddle having a good Job (50K a Year salary with savings and no debt). More fool me.
I was informed at the end of October that due to the good weather and a small change in building plans on the site that the house was expected to be completed March. I then moved out of the house i was in and temp moved in with the parents.
In January i applied for 80% LTV mortgage with Natwest and after 5 working days i received an AIP for the full amount required.
Approximately 10 days after that i had an email from Natwest underwriters to say my application was declined due to adverse credit on my Equifax File. Upon questioning the underwriter, they told me that they cannot see a credit score ore exacts but items were on my file that they deemed adverse which was a shock and they couldn't advise any more.
I immediately contacted equifax and found an entry on there that didn't show on other credit files...it was a default registered in 2014 for £37 that was going to a very old address from a mobile phone company. I disputed the entry with equifax and the provider which took a few days to pick up and did not get a reply for 30 days and as such was temp removed from my file (eventually fully removed).
In that 30+ day period of continuously chasing i took the following 3 proactive steps.
1) I contacted an all of market Mortgage Adviser.
2) i contacted an Adverse Credit Adviser
3) I applied at YBS as there is a part of the application where you state anything that may effect the application.
YBS approved another AIP and i thought i was back on track having explained the small default which was fully explained but unbelievably to my naive mind, they then declined the mortgage days later for that property stating that they had too much liability in the local area but i was free to explore other properties. Nope.
The All market Mortgage Adviser told me they couldn't find a mortgage anywhere for my circumstances other than NORTON home loans where my mortgage payments would have been >£1000 a month. Insane and suspicious.
The Adverse Credit Advisor told me that after a review of my bank statements, i couldn't get a mortgage because i had a few gambling transactions in a previous months statement. I did but these were Saturday afternoon £10 football bets..anyway, i quickly ignored this advice after i researched who i was speaking to and it was a trainee advisor as per their LinkedIn page.
I had then given up, i was being rejected left right and center or being offered mortgages that would have bankrupted me long term.
At this point, it was April, the house was coming to completion and i was being hounded by the solicitors, estate agents and builder regarding completion dates. I held firm, passing little information on as i was covered by the reservation fee until May. Basically burying my head in the sand.
One evening in early April after a few beers, i decided to make a complaint back with Natwest and ask them to re review my application with an increased deposit to a sway, with the amendments made on the minor default, my salary history and a years worth of bank statements.
The next day, with a minor hangover, i received an email to say my complaint had gone back to the original underwriter who had reviewed my documents and still rejected the mortgage because she could not see any amendments to my credit file.
I then had the bit between my teeth, i asked equifax (approximately 15 phone calls) to have my case escalated to have the mark removed from my file as it was sat in a queue in the data entry team. Once this was completed i called the underwriter back who had left her phone number on a stray email. It was answered by another underwriter as the original underwriter was on vacation. I explained the entire history of my application and it was passed to a Senior underwriter to investigate.... in the meantime i again composed a document of my finances, salary history, bonuses.. i even went into highlighted individual transactions on my account and explaining any that would seem irregular to a 3rd party.
1 week passed and my application had been APPROVED. Sense had been seen by the Senior Underwriter (who i am extremely grateful to) and they had progressed my application to approved pending Survey/Valuation.
Time was running thin, the developer could tell something was wrong but i reassured them we was on track to complete and we were waiting on a survey.
The survey was paid for and outsourced to L&G who in turn outsourced it locally who booked in a survey for the next month citing a busy period. The Developer rejected this saying it needed to be done quicker as we were likely to breach our reservation (understandable).
In reverse order, back to Natwest, this had been translated and interpreted as a rejection and as such my application was again placed on hold and the fee i paid had been refunded back to my account.
Scrambling around, i repaid the fee again and spent hours calling L&G and helping THEM find a local person who could do it quicker, eventually we found someone who was willing to do it ASAP who provided a satisfactory report to NATWEST.
The Application was the moved into the Formal Offer Stage.
Here we entered May, i had a survey completed, a formal offer and instructions to the solicitor to act on my behalf and the light was at the end of the tunnel when i received the news that the developer had been approached with an offer, £15,000 more than mine with that if we breached May, he would be unbound to the reservation agreement and would be selling to them.
Under pressure i took 1 week off work and chased Natwest and the Solicitors, all day, everyday for updates and escalating at every point possible. I must have easily made 100+ calls. The main hold up was the parties swapping documents, documents being sent incomplete or missing key information. As i understand it, things were with certain people and when they were off, nothing happened unless escalated OR when documents are uploaded to NatWest, they take 4 hours to clear into their system to review. Without taking that week off and juggling it with life/ work i could have never made the progress i did.
After all the trials and tribulations, making hundreds of phone calls, explaining my story to every single new person i spoke to, avoiding bad advice, chasing chasing chasing I completed on Friday 17th May at 3PM and moved into my new house on Monday 20th May.
Looking back, i worried way too much, i believe i had anxiety attacks when waiting for decisions, especially when it was completely out of my control however i would urge anyone in a similar boat to try and get to the source of any declines, get to the human and state your case.
Do your research on advice.
Don't be naive
and most of all....DO NOT LOG INTO THE TRACKER - it will give you a false sense of where you actually are, if you have questions, pick up the phone and ask. It will also cause huge anxiety.
You have to realize and operate in the sense that although this is the center of YOUR universe, you are really just in a large queue with many others so do what you can to prioritize it if you have a genuine emergency.
TL/DR.
Made an offer.
Had issues.
Eventually got there.
Cheers!:beer:
0
Comments
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As an experienced newbuild specialist broker I'd say there's little in there which would worry me unduly. You seem to have come across people who have made a real meal of it.
A small comms default more than three years before, a few bets and a 20% deposit?
This should have been simple.I am a mortgage broker. You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a Mortgage Adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice. Please do not send PMs asking for one-to-one-advice, or representation.0 -
A small comms default more than three years before, a few bets and a 20% deposit?
Exactly... being a total naive novice with mortgages and process, i thought it would have been easy(ish)... now i have the mortgage, keys and my experience in mind, i have no idea how others in less favorable positions (defaults, IVA, lower salaries) buy houses without the stress and hassle.
The whole experience has put me off ever doing it again, even if it was a one time bad experience.0 -
Bloody hell, what a palaver.
I'm glad you got there in the end and am not surprised you don't want to do it again!Mortgage started 2020, aiming to clear 31/12/2029.0 -
Well done! Enjoy your new home0
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