Helpful Start Account - Family Springboard

Pineapple_Chlo

Hi, 

me and my partner have recently applied for a family springboard mortgage, in which my parents are very thoughtfully providing us with the 10% deposit, of which as part of the rules of a springboard - they will need to keep in ‘helpful start’ account for 5 years (which they then get back with interest). We have been approved and are now waiting for final offer papers to come through, following the property valuation survey. However there seems to be a bit of confusion around who and how we open the helpful start account - the application forms said this would be opened automatically by Barclays once they send us a formal offer, however our broker had said that Barclays told him we’d need to arrange for an in branch visit to open this up - however no one in branch could help and said this was something that was done in the ‘back end system’. We’ve spoken to several Barclays colleagues on the phone who have no idea what we’re even talking about ..... has anyone done one of these mortgages before and guide us on the process for the helpful start and how my parents submit the funds??!! It’s stressful to say the least..... 

kaMelo

From the T&C
1.4 We will open your Helpful Start Account after we have sent a written mortgage offer to the Borrower. If we are not able to make a mortgage offer to the Borrower, we will not open a Helpful Start Account.

Pineapple_Chlo

kaMelo said:

From the T&C
1.4 We will open your Helpful Start Account after we have sent a written mortgage offer to the Borrower. If we are not able to make a mortgage offer to the Borrower, we will not open a Helpful Start Account.

Thank you for this - yes that’s what we thought to, however Broker was advised something different from Barclays. They seem to be a nightmare to get hold off at the moment - so I guess we wait for a formal offer and see if they auto open! 

SandyMcJ

My wife and I took out one of these over 3 years ago to help my son and his partner get their mortgage. This was new at the time and local Barclays staff were pretty clueless about procedure. We had to make deposit and Barclays took a 'charge' on the money, so we had, as part of the agreement, to go to a solicitor to indicate that we had had legal advice regarding the implications of this 'charge'. Term then was 3 years rather than 5, so we should have had money and interest back in May, but Barclays basically failed to comply with agreed T&Cs and didn't contact us to arrange repayment. Spent 3 days on phone getting nowhere, filed a complaint asking for return of our money, but Barclays have so far failed to provide a satisfactory response and they still have our money! In principal this is a great way for young people to get on the housing ladder, but Barclays' downright incompetence has soured the experience for us.