HSBC online mortgage FTB problem - anyone else?

Competsoph

@AnxiousFTB I can not tell you how similar we were approximately 3 weeks ago. I was merrily going about making offers under the premise that Halifax were offering my mortgage. Contacted my advisor, nothing. In fact, still nothing over 2 months later (very poor customer service in my opinion alas this is not Halifax bashing). I finally contacted them directly and was told sorry we can’t give you a mortgage on 90%. LTV I freaked out! I’d just had an offer accepted.

People said use a broker, I didn’t want to because I knew the product I wanted with HSBC. I got a broker reluctantly in the end, recommended by a friend, and oh my goodness he is worth his weight in gold and more!! He’s done everything for me, kept me updated, rings me regularly. Tells me what I need to do and don’t do, he directly chases the solicitors. He’s unbelievably fantastic and I’m actually enjoying the experience.

I was so reluctant when I just couldn’t see what else they could provide me with, I felt like I knew it all, but I really didn’t. I couldn’t imagine having to got though all that application process alone, without advice or wait for the application appointment which I was told would be over 2 weeks wait.. Please use a broker, you’ve already had enough stress. Take the help, it will be so worth it!

heston2014

We had similar issues with the HSBC online mortgage application - ended up submitting two applications on the same day which resulted in two hard searches on our credit file. The first application had a fatal error and when I rang Customer Services was advised to submit a new application.  Although two hard searches were carried out, advisor said it won't be an issue as it's searched by HSBC.  We submitted the second application, 48 hours later received an email to upload links.  We did call Customer Services a couple of times in that period just to make sure that our application was active on the system.
On another thread, brokers are currently limited to a very tight window to submit applications to HSBC, apparently, between 7:50am and 8am for broker applications and there's a quota for the day.  So there are a lot of applicants going directly and experiencing the same issues with the online application system.  We call almost on a daily basis just to try to keep things moving on our application, currently, the status of our application is "under review" but we haven't heard anything as yet.  It's only been 4 days since we submitted our application including upload of documentation.  Hoping we will get an update by end of this week.
Based on other posters here who have applied to HSBC, timeline from application to offer seems to be anything between 8 days to 2.5 weeks.  Customer Services did mention that we should hear back within 10 days.  The wait is killing us, we are applying for 80% LTV on a second home, affordability and credit files stack up, but as it's a second home, no doubt will be more scrutiny on our income and expenditure.  Days are dragging this week but all we can do is wait and be patient, it's hard though! 

AnxiousFTB

Hi all thanks for all the replies. So I rang the Broker this morning, really professional and said he won't use HSBC due to the rubbish service. He could offer two other 90% products but they are much higher interest rates. Also confirmed about the small window for applications Brokers get and many other lenders are doing the same. I rang HSBC again and spoke to someone really helpful, it's the third time I've had to request the document upload link and she sorted it - even though my email was correct it just wasn't sending. I will sit it out for now and try not to worry too much! 
When the first application corrupted I was told the hard credit search hadn't yet been conducted so I really hope that's true! 

haras_n0sirrah

AnxiousFTB said:

Hi all thanks for all the replies. So I rang the Broker this morning, really professional and said he won't use HSBC due to the rubbish service. He could offer two other 90% products but they are much higher interest rates. Also confirmed about the small window for applications Brokers get and many other lenders are doing the same. I rang HSBC again and spoke to someone really helpful, it's the third time I've had to request the document upload link and she sorted it - even though my email was correct it just wasn't sending. I will sit it out for now and try not to worry too much! 
When the first application corrupted I was told the hard credit search hadn't yet been conducted so I really hope that's true! 

That suprises me - it isn't that bad. I have managed to get aip and full application in 2-3 days (you can't do both in the same day). Yes it isn't like it used to be but it isn't bad enough to avoid. Just got an offer from them in 10 days which is the same as most other lenders at the moment. Brokers are paid to work for their clients and if that means being online at 7:45 a few days a week then that is just what you have to do

junglist_matty

AnxiousFTB said:

So I rang the Broker this morning, really professional and said he won't use HSBC due to the rubbish service. He could offer two other 90% products but they are much higher interest rates.

How does one sound professional? Because that doesn't sound very professional to me. Discarding one of the biggest banks because they're a pain to deal with just sounds like laziness!

haras_n0sirrah

junglist_matty said:

AnxiousFTB said:

So I rang the Broker this morning, really professional and said he won't use HSBC due to the rubbish service. He could offer two other 90% products but they are much higher interest rates.

How does one sound professional? Because that doesn't sound very professional to me. Discarding one of the biggest banks because they're a pain to deal with just sounds like laziness!

Agree with you. At the moment we are having to say lender a is the cheapest however as they are busy it is taking 10 working days to look at documents or lender b is x more however they are able to look at docs in 3 working days. Which option would you prefer. That way the expectation has been set the client is aware that the journey is likely to be long at the offset but the cheaper mortgage is worth it. I wouldn't refuse to use a lender because it is difficult to book a rate 

heston2014

junglist_matty said:

AnxiousFTB said:

So I rang the Broker this morning, really professional and said he won't use HSBC due to the rubbish service. He could offer two other 90% products but they are much higher interest rates.

How does one sound professional? Because that doesn't sound very professional to me. Discarding one of the biggest banks because they're a pain to deal with just sounds like laziness!

Sounds like the broker wants his fee sooner than later! So the quicker the offer, the sooner he gets his fee.  Unless you have a very tight timeline to exchange, cheaper rate is better in the long run.  We rang HSBC underwriter number this morning, got through after an hour but it didn't sound like we were speaking to an underwriter.  Apparently, our application is in the underwriter's queue awaiting review, apparently 2-3 days wait time.  We're only 5 days into the process, so with any luck, should have an update early next week.  We are trying our hardest to be patient.

mallets10

Our timeline with HSBC so far has been:
23 June - App submitted
26 June - husband confirmed details
26 June - uploaded docs
1 July - underwriter looked at app and asked a couple more questions
currently - referred for underwriter est. 2-3 days
we have been calling every day to chase 

heston2014

mallets10 said:

Our timeline with HSBC so far has been:
23 June - App submitted
26 June - husband confirmed details
26 June - uploaded docs
1 July - underwriter looked at app and asked a couple more questions
currently - referred for underwriter est. 2-3 days
we have been calling every day to chase 

We uploaded our docs on Monday but our application hasn’t been looked at yet. 

26/06 - full application submitted
27/06 - husband confirmed details
29/06 - documents uploaded
02/07 - application in underwriters queue

We rang yesterday and they said 2-3 days for the underwriter to review, will ring again today for an update.  We are aware that the process can take up to 10 days or in some cases, longer than that. But our worry is no one looks at our application and when they do, there’s something missing and then you’re back in the queue again.  Next week cannot come any sooner! 😂
I am constantly checking my phone in case I get a text from HSBC underwriter, nothing as yet. 😬

JOHNSONMILES

Also going through the application process for HSBC. At the moment they've only asked for payslips. What other documentation will they require? 90% LTV application btw