L&C Mortgages

Lorenzo94

Good morning all, on May 7th I have applied through L&C for a shared ownership mortgage 15% LTV with Halifax. Long story short, I had to chase Halifax directly to book the evaluation and to check on updates as apparently my adviser could not get hold of them. Halifax carried out the evaluation this Wednesday, and yesterday they have confirmed with me that the mortgage has been approved and I should speak to my adviser in regards to the offer. I sent an email to my adviser yesterday and I still haven't received a reply.
Also, my tracker on L&C has been stuck on "Documents required from you" for ages, despite having sent all the requested documents weeks ago.
My question is, can anyone tell me their experience with them? Is this normal or should I get worried? I am getting very paranoid (this being my third time trying to buy since October).

jamielutz1987

They're a volume broker and there could be many reasons for the lack of updates - ranging from an overworked broker to your broker/admin going on leave / off sick without doing a proper handover.

From my experience, not getting a same day reply to an email is definitely very normal for L&C, Habito etc.

L&C are usually much better on the phone, try giving them a call and insisting on an update.

If that doesn't work, leave them a 1 star review on Trustpilot, you will have someone contact you.

Lorenzo94

jamielutz1987 said:

They're a volume broker and there could be many reasons for the lack of updates - ranging from an overworked broker to your broker/admin going on leave / off sick without doing a proper handover.

From my experience, not getting a same day reply to an email is definitely very normal for L&C, Habito etc.

L&C are usually much better on the phone, try giving them a call and insisting on an update.

If that doesn't work, leave them a 1 star review on Trustpilot, you will have someone contact you.

Just left them a 1 star review on Trustplot. But I am seriously thinking to ask Halifax to move my case directly with them rather than prolonging this excruciating wait!

[Deleted User]

Halifax have not had any broker phone lines open since lockdown (yes its ridiculous).  Brokers are not allowed to call the customer line as we are not customers.  They could have sent an email off but i did that on Monday last week and still havent had a response so probably pointless. 
They really shouldnt have used Halifax as there is no way of getting updates at the moment but if they were the best rate then i guess they thought they were giving the best option.   Personally I tell people to not use them at the moment due to this phone thing.  
Apart from not giving you the halifax mortgage, there would be very little else they could have done to change this outcome. 

Lorenzo94

I understand that. Unfortunately Halifax was the only option for a new build flat mortgage with 15% deposit. I will try again on Monday with Halifax and see what they say >.<.

jamielutz1987

Deleted_User said:

Halifax have not had any broker phone lines open since lockdown (yes its ridiculous).  Brokers are not allowed to call the customer line as we are not customers.  They could have sent an email off but i did that on Monday last week and still havent had a response so probably pointless. 
They really shouldnt have used Halifax as there is no way of getting updates at the moment but if they were the best rate then i guess they thought they were giving the best option.   Personally I tell people to not use them at the moment due to this phone thing.  
Apart from not giving you the halifax mortgage, there would be very little else they could have done to change this outcome. 

No phone lines even for brokers?! Wow that is extreme.

[Deleted User]

yeah its a joke isnt it?  Biggest lender in the industry and they cant even figure out how to get phone lines for people at home. 

[Deleted User]

Lorenzo94 said:

I understand that. Unfortunately Halifax was the only option for a new build flat mortgage with 15% deposit. I will try again on Monday with Halifax and see what they say >.<.

The broker should have explained this better but realistically your best option at the moment is to speak to Halifax yourself and then request the broker upload any documents required as they wont be able to take documents off you directly

haras_n0sirrah

I have heard on the grape vine that the broker line is reopening monday which will make my job a lot easier. Think my bdm is getting tired of my bi weekly update request (halifax have no online tracking system so we have no way of knowing what is going on unless we get an email) but I did get 3 halifax offers on thur which was nice. The situation with the lender isn't necessarily their fault however they should be managing your expectations better

haras_n0sirrah

looking at the recent l&c reviews it looks like people are reporting 2 weeks for call backs. Seems they are snowed under over there

csgohan4

personally wouldn't touch L+C with a barge pole, I've had a local free broker who is much better and personalised approach which is surprising given there wasn't a fee attached.

Free doesn't always mean Good, especially if their business model is volume over quality