Bluestone Mortgages

sammy32683

Hi,

Has anyone gone to bluestone for a remortgage? I am in the process and have found out today they are going to instruct the valuation however have asked for quotes for all the proposed work. 

I hadn't obtained written quotes yet as didn't want to do this as wasn't sure I would be accepted.

Has anyone remortgaged through bluestone for home improvements.

If so did they request quotes and after that what was the rest of the process for the remortgage?

Thanks

afreshstart86

Good Morning... after a bit of advice....We are 6 weeks into our application with Bluestone. Theyve requested numerous bits of info, the latest being 1 more bank statement and our marriage certificate. I have been told its taking them 4-5 working days to review these. Our developer is on our case to get the valuation booked so our MA has said we can pay bluestone £475.00 for our valuation at our own risk so it looks good to the developer but our documents still haven't been signed off. Would you wait until they are all signed off before paying for the valuation?

difficultime2022

sammy32683 said:

Hi,

Has anyone gone to bluestone for a remortgage? I am in the process and have found out today they are going to instruct the valuation however have asked for quotes for all the proposed work. 

I hadn't obtained written quotes yet as didn't want to do this as wasn't sure I would be accepted.

Has anyone remortgaged through bluestone for home improvements.

If so did they request quotes and after that what was the rest of the process for the remortgage?

Thanks

Hi 

we are in process of remortgage application but not for renovations, so cannot comment on your enquiry. Although would think you could get a quote from builder fairly swiftly 🤔

Not sure if others on here can share any experiences or advise ?

keep us posted, fingers crossed for you ! 

difficultime2022

afreshstart86 said:

Good Morning... after a bit of advice....We are 6 weeks into our application with Bluestone. Theyve requested numerous bits of info, the latest being 1 more bank statement and our marriage certificate. I have been told its taking them 4-5 working days to review these. Our developer is on our case to get the valuation booked so our MA has said we can pay bluestone £475.00 for our valuation at our own risk so it looks good to the developer but our documents still haven't been signed off. Would you wait until they are all signed off before paying for the valuation?

I completely understand why the developer is urging you to get it arranged and I sincerely hope it wouldn’t be an issue and is a balance of risk,  however the question I’d be asking myself is could I afford to lose £475 if there was an issue ?

I do tend to be risk adverse so my advice may not suit, ultimately it has to be your decision. Has your MA given you any idea on their thoughts of success with your application, of course it’s not binding but they would surely be best placed to advise you ?

sorry don’t think I’ve been much help 

rachiegrace

rachiegrace said:

Hi All!

New to the forum and this post has been a god send to read through whilst anxiously waiting at each stage of our application. 

We’re first time buyers using HTB equity loan and 75% LTV. 

We seem to hopefully be close to the finish line so thought I would share our time scale so far! 

Application submitted - Friday 10/06

Additional info requested - Wed 15/06

(I then had to wait for my bank to issue me an interim statement to cover last 3 months as only had annual statements available online.  This took 5 working days to get!)

Additional Documents submitted by us - Wed 22/06

Further info requested - Monday 27/06 and sent same day 

Further info requested - Tuesday 28/06 and sent same day 

Hard Search done - Wednesday 29/06

Valuation instructed - Friday 01/07 

Valuation completed - Tuesday 05/07

Just hopefully waiting on offer anytime. MA says they have been given an ETA for our offer of the 12th which would be a week after valuation. 

Fingers crossed for everyone else also going through the application. It’s not a simple process and has definitely caused me a fair amount of stress since submitting. It will all be worth it I’m sure  

We received our verbal offer today!

we would of had it Monday but at final underwriting after valuation they had some queries around our gifted deposits source of funds. 

My other half and his twin brother shared a car a few years ago. Car was purchased in his brother name and the finance was in his brothers name but they split the monthly payments. It was paid off in full middle of last year and sold end of last year and they split the money in half but his brother hadn’t yet transferred it to us and we were in no rush for the money. We then unexpectedly got accepted for a bluestone mortgage and needed the money as part of our deposit but we’re told he couldn’t no just transfer the money, instead it needed to be done as a gifted deposit. On the gifted deposit form we enter source of funds as ‘sale of a jointly owned car’ they didn’t like that so we had to jump through hoops getting documents to show the finance was solely in his brothers name and statements to show My other half had paid for half the car in the first place! At least we got there in the end. For anyone else looking at time lines, without this hiccup we would of had the offer on Monday 11th July , 4 working days after valuation was completed  

my mortgage advisor also advised that if we had just put ‘current account’ as the source of funds, it wouldn’t of even been questioned. Just thought that might be useful for others to know!! Could of saved us a bit of headache 

sammy32683

difficultime2022 said:

sammy32683 said:

Hi,

Has anyone gone to bluestone for a remortgage? I am in the process and have found out today they are going to instruct the valuation however have asked for quotes for all the proposed work. 

I hadn't obtained written quotes yet as didn't want to do this as wasn't sure I would be accepted.

Has anyone remortgaged through bluestone for home improvements.

If so did they request quotes and after that what was the rest of the process for the remortgage?

Thanks

Hi 

we are in process of remortgage application but not for renovations, so cannot comment on your enquiry. Although would think you could get a quote from builder fairly swiftly 🤔

Not sure if others on here can share any experiences or advise ?

keep us posted, fingers crossed for you ! 

Unfortunately we were looking at doing a loft conversion and garden landscape. The landscapers quoted no issues. I've phoned 7 local builders and more from trust a trader, all said they won't quote without drawings from an architect, they won't even provide a written estimate, I stated I understand its not binding but they won't without drawings. We are looking at around 1k for drawings, which I don't mind paying if we know the mortgage is going through but on the off chance it doesn't I don't want to have essentially paid that for nothing. 

I'll be sending the landscaper quotes back to my broker next week and say I can't get a builder quote and see what happens. 

The valuation is booked for the 26th so I really don't know. 

afreshstart86

difficultime2022 said:

afreshstart86 said:

Good Morning... after a bit of advice....We are 6 weeks into our application with Bluestone. Theyve requested numerous bits of info, the latest being 1 more bank statement and our marriage certificate. I have been told its taking them 4-5 working days to review these. Our developer is on our case to get the valuation booked so our MA has said we can pay bluestone £475.00 for our valuation at our own risk so it looks good to the developer but our documents still haven't been signed off. Would you wait until they are all signed off before paying for the valuation?

I completely understand why the developer is urging you to get it arranged and I sincerely hope it wouldn’t be an issue and is a balance of risk,  however the question I’d be asking myself is could I afford to lose £475 if there was an issue ?

I do tend to be risk adverse so my advice may not suit, ultimately it has to be your decision. Has your MA given you any idea on their thoughts of success with your application, of course it’s not binding but they would surely be best placed to advise you ?

sorry don’t think I’ve been much help 

Exactly that….I decided not to pay for now and see what is said next week!!

I have noticed they have done a “hard credit check” on my file so hopefully this means its progressing in the right direction 

SMHGAM

Update: absolutely ridiculous now. Valuation FINALLY booked and went ahead on the 12/07 by Connell’s, £325 I paid for that. 

It’s now over a week later and NOTHING, absolutely no update on anything at all, not what it was valued at or if we’re nearing an offer. An email every other day from the broker,
after I have emailed them to chase up, saying “we should have an update later today”, but an update never comes. 

I am close to telling them to just forget the whole thing, sick of having to chase it up all the time and I don’t even know who is at blame. It’s either the broker or bluestone! Brokers emails are short and simple, often one or two sentences long. 

No hard searches on either of our credit reports as I have been checking. I have no idea on what the monthly payments may be, interest rates… nothing, zilch. 

What on earth is going on?!

I am glad that I am purchasing off my parents, if this was a house from a vendor I didn’t know then I would be highly embarrassed right now and I’m sure they would have pulled out. 5 weeks today since I submitted the mortgage application! 

As I have to use a solicitor on Bluestone lending panel, the only one I had the answer of “yes they are on the panel” for is 200 miles away with terrible reviews so that going to be fun, if we ever get to that stage. 

Aahhhhhhhh, loosing the plot here!! 

OP Below for if you’re interested in what this rant is referring to 🙂


Hi 👋🏻 

We submitted our application to BS via our broker on 3/06. 

On and off emails from broker since then (CLS Money) requesting every document known to man, the latest they asked for were credit agreements for 2 accounts that were settled in full and closed over 6 months ago. Sent all that across on 23/06.. still waiting without any update or indication there will be an offer anytime soon. I honestly can’t think of what else they could possibly want. 

Not sure if it’s BS or the broker.. but I feel it’s taking forever! Does it sound like the broker is more the issue? It is a nightmare to get hold of the person I’m dealing with, I’m told she’s on the other line or in a meeting and will ring back (was 3 days once before I heard back from her) .. and no one else can talk to me or tell me anything. Frustrating considering they’ll be wanting the £1995 fee on getting us the mortgage offer! I’m constantly chasing the updates, if there is any.   

We’re purchasing the house we currently live in off my parents, it is owned outright by them. The house is valued at 190k and I’m purchasing it for 105k, so 85k equity is being gifted.. I feel like I’m asking to borrow a million pound the way this is carrying on. 

Does anyone know roughly how long BS take to get to a mortgage offer stage? 

Thanks 

MovingForwards

@SMHGAM your broker placed you with Bluestone for a reason and for many of us are a lender of last resort eg it's them or no-one. 

They're a specialist lender who manually review all the information and document, it's not done via a computer like mainstream lenders who only review the overview at the end. This means someone is looking at what your broker sends, spots something and wants documents or an explanation.

It's possible your broker hasn't quite been on the ball with asking you for various things in anticipation of knowing Bluestone will want it.

The interest rates are on their website, assuming your broker has said which banding you fall under and I would have hoped they told you at the start when getting the DIP. If you want an idea of how much the mortgage payment will be have a play with this

https://www.which.co.uk/money/mortgages-and-property/mortgage-calculators/mortgage-repayment-calculator-agbgh7r3bfhm

5 weeks isn't that long, some mainstream lenders are taking even longer.

Buying a home is never stress-free, you've the advantage of having an understanding seller who won't get stroppy. Forget the what ifs, they're not relevant to your circumstances.

difficultime2022

9 weeks post application and no progress - feeling utterly devastated.

It’s not a no yet, although I suspect it will be 😢😢😢