Help needed

lizzyp_2

Hello

I'm in need of some advice and help please.

We (me and my husband) are in the process of buying a shared ownership property through the newbuild Homebuy scheme with out local housing association. We've gone through all of the first stages and have been offered the flat that we wanted.

I have bad credit and I am still paying off outstanding credit card debts so we have been advised to take out the mortgage in hubbys name only. The flat is £202,500 and we are buying a 30% share for £60,750.

The first mortgage application with West Brom was turned down two days after we applied as hubby failed the creidt check. He has one default that is 5 years and 10 months old. Other than that a few late payments but generally good.

We then proceeded (with the financial advisors advice) to apply to Woolwich as my hubby banks with Barclays and earlier this year they pre-approved him for a £100,000 mortgage. This application was made around the 3rd Nov.

We hadn't heard anything back from them by the time we needed to pay a deposit to secure the flat with the Housing Association, (around the 8th Nov) and the financial advisor told us if there had been any problems with the credit check we would have heard back sooner rather than later. So we went ahead and paid the non refundable £300 deposit.

A few days later hubby has a phonecall from the Woolwich advising that they couldn't process the payment for the mortgage fee on his electron card (details we had given them) and asked if they could take the £355 mortgage fee from his Barclays account instead. He said yes and this payment was taken. We then had to pay our solicitor £300 towards searches etc.

Time went by and we spoke to the FA who said we had nothing to worry about as Woolwich had a backlog at the moment and we should receive the offer soon.

Then last week we recieved details of the survey that Woolwich had done on the property we want to buy. We saw that as a good sign.

And then finally today we have had a letter from Woolwich asdivisng that hubby hasn't passed the credit check and they won't be offering us a mortgage. No mention of a refund on the £355 they took as a mortgage fee.

So, can they do this?
Why would they do the survey and then fail us on the credit check?
Do they have to refund us the £355 mortgage fee?

Just to note that the credit check was done on the the 6th November and it's taken them until the 28th Nov to tell us.

At the moment we are set to lose the flat we really wanted and a minimum of £600... Not a happy day.

grey_lady

The woolwich were equally rubbish with me only i'd paid them about £600 in fees and £300 towards the valuation, they also didnt get back to me for about 5 weeks and i was frantic thinking that not only would i lose my flat the person who i was buying from might lose her new place as well.

My mortgage broker complained formally to them - and eventually when the complaint was dealt with (they have about a 6 week backlog) i got my money back.

My broker then found me a better mortage deal with the Halifax and i got the mortgage without a problem :-) in fact the Halifax had it all sorted including a new survey within a week.

I wasnt buying a shared ownership property and my employment cirumstances were unusual, im not sure if the woolwich eventually turned me down due to the employment or due to some old late payments etc

What has your broker said?

cattie

I've never dealt with the Woolwich myself fortunately, but have sold to people in the past with Woowich mortgages & they have been dreadfully slow in organising things & making the mortgage offer.

In both cases the EA agreed that as lenders go they did drag their heels compared to others in the High Street, so I think they are well known for not being quite as efficient as they could be.

zappomatic

It doesn't sound right that Woolwich took money and carried out a valuation before doing a credit check.

Woolwich were slow with me too. Didn't take too long to get the survey arranged but waited almost a month between survey and offer!