Turns out getting a mortgage isn't as terrifying as I thought...

zesh90x

Aha, this thread needs to be pinned at this stage lol!

I was shockingly surprised how the quality of. Brokers can vary so much, its heinz beans vs tescos everyday beans in some cases!

haras_nosirrah

If you read the glassdoors review of london and country (from the staffs point of view) it is very enlightening.

From reading it it seems like they do their industry exams, get a few weeks training on the systems and then let loose on customers with very little support. They then get given almost impossible targets to meet and a very large number of staff leave or are managed out for not meeting them.

All advisors have to start somewhere but new advisors will be in the estate agency branches and these large internet firms as they put them through the exams. If they can survive 2-5 years they will normally leave and go to independents taking their knowledge with them.

Independent brokerage firms are where the experienced consultants are. Those who have done years and years at the coal face of estate agency and high pressure sales targets and now take their knowledge elsewhere.

That is why the quality is so different. In one market you have new brokers and target driven sales people who will be pressurised to sell a lot of add ons and to write a certain number of mortgages a month otherwise their job is at risk, In the other you have experienced advisors who don't have managers breathing down their necks and can spend time with the customer and making sure everything will go through.

MCL1

I've officially lost the will to live with L&C. If there is anybody looking at applying for a mortgage, I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT GO NEAR L&C.

Exactly as has been mentioned above, we haven't had any real help from our "adviser". I've spoken to him twice and both times he was very pleasant but now I think about it, didn't offer any actual advice other than pointing us towards the best rate. Since we agreed to apply we've been dealing with a "case manager" who is completely useless. E-mails are ignored and the only time I get any sense is if they phone me. If I call them its like I've caught them unaware and they have nothing useful to say.

The current issue is with ID. Despite the fact we've sent them passports, bank statements, council tax statements and payslips they're saying they need more. We already have our mortgage offer from HSBC, so clearly the bank itself is happy yet L&C are holding up the process, insisting they need the data on file.

I'm really fed up dealing with them. Not only are they unhelpful they're actually just plain rude on the phone. Honestly if they weren't tied to our mortgage offer I'd be running a mile!

I understand its likely very bad form, but is it possible to ditch the advisory firm at this point without having to re-apply for the mortgage?

Thrugelmir

zesh90x wrote: »

Aha, this thread needs to be pinned at this stage lol!

I was shockingly surprised how the quality of. Brokers can vary so much, its heinz beans vs tescos everyday beans in some cases!

In any walk of life it's down to people themselves. Finding good people can take time.