Who to believe - L&C or Woolwich?

luckyfool

Leon_W wrote: »

Don't talk about rush Dan !

I was notified this morning about rates being pulled by close on Friday. So that means any outstanding apps had to be signed up and posted today (no online for BTL !) So I've been out all afternoon, me fretting, clients fretting, collecting apps and got to the post office at 5.20 ! Only the bl00dy Woolwich !. Talk about treating customers unfairly, as one other I had outstanding has missed the boat through no fault of his own.

Thanks for posting L & C and clearing it up. As I suspected, you were in the know.

Regards

TCF? As the applications are Buy to let then surely TCF would not apply?

OTOH with the Woolwich I'm not convinced they have heard of TCF at all. It seems like its every 3 or 4 months they come out with a big "Mea Culpa" about how sorry they were that service went out the window last time, but they have fixed all the problems and can now handle volume and have brought out some great rates.
Reliably as clockwork 2 weeks later you get another e-mail apologising for their service having fallen apart.

Dan_Collins_2

LOL Woolwich and TCF on the same page!!

Merlot

I applied for a remortgage with L & C some months ago, and I have got to say they are fantastic, Lewis and Michelle were on the ball the whole time, Lewis contacted me two days after advising me which mortgage would better suit me and informed me that the Abbey were due to raise their rates the following morning, If I didn't get my application in by 5.00pm that evening, I wouldn't have been able to get the rate which was initally offered, I did apply and sure enough the next day I heard on the news that the Abbey had indeed increased their rates, L & C saved me money, and for that and the excellent service I received, I will use them again and I can't recommend them highly enough after using a IFA for many years (unfortunately he wasn't much use, took far to long sending paper, requesting ID etc).

dunstonh

Sorry to you IFA's but I wouldn't pay you a fee, why should I for a straight forward remortgage when I can get a great deal, excellent service which cost me nothing - very MSE!

Excuse me. I am the only IFA posting on this thread and my mortgage adviser doesnt charge any fees and very many mortgage advisers do not.

Merlot

dunstonh wrote: »

Excuse me. I am the only IFA posting on this thread and my mortgage adviser doesnt charge any fees and very many mortgage advisers do not.

I've removed that pargraph, I didn't mean to offend you dunstonh, it wasn't aimed at you personally, I didn't realise you were the only IFA on here.

dunstonh

Merlot wrote: »

I've removed that pargraph, I didn't mean to offend you dunstonh, it wasn't aimed at you personally, I didn't realise you were the only IFA on here.

No problem.

It actually highlights an issue that I have mentioned before (and irritated a couple of IFAs in the process).

There are three categories of authorisation and regulation in retail financial services. General insurance and protection, mortgages and investment.

The term IFA only exists for investment business. Mortgage advisers do mortgages and protection and general is a doddle and you don't often find dedicated general and protection advisers.

IFAs may do mortgages as well but when they do it they have their mortgage adviser hat on. Increasingly lots of IFAs are dropping mortgage business and sticking to investment business but employing mortgage advisers instead to do the mortgages.

Most of the IFAs I know don't do mortgage advise themselves. Although I know two that do mostly mortgages and are quite skilled in that area but their investment knowledge leaves a lot to be desired. They ought to drop IFA and become mortgage advisers. It would be cheaper for them as well.

I believe that when you want mortgage advice, you should get it from someone that spends most if not all of their time doing mortgages because an IFA that spends 90% on investments and 10% on mortgages just isn't going to have the immediate market knowledge that a dedicated mortgage adviser would have. Plus the reverse is true in that would you want investment advice from an IFA that spends 90% of their time on mortgages?

Do you want your advice from a specialist or a jack of all trades (master of none)? Thats what it comes down to in my opinion.