Santander mortgage timeline

FTBMish

SenseandSensibility said:

FTBMish said:

SenseandSensibility said:

Our application was submitted yesterday (FTB, 75% LTV with Help to Buy loan and both in full-time employment with the NHS), and we haven’t yet heard anything. We checked our credit files for indications of searches and couldn’t find any either, which surprised us, considering several people on here had searches undertaken the day after their application was submitted. 

Hard search was 3 days later for us. 
21st Sept-appt with mortgage broker, 22nd Sept- soft search on experian
25th Sept - hard search on experian
28th Sept- paid product fee and text from Santamder to say application received 
8th Oct- valuation completed amd received by Santander
13th Oct- questions from Santander via the broker.  Responded immediately. Some of the same questions again sent today via the broker. Called the woman from the mortgage brokers she hadn't scrolled down the length of the email to see we had already answered what was asked. 
And now we wait.......

Thanks, that's good to know. Did experien notify you when searches were undertaken? We use Credit Monitor, so not sure whether to expect the same. Our MB advised that Santander are currently one of the faster working lenders (she estimated a 3-4 week timeline), though reading some of the experiences on here, I'm now not so sure.

It showed up when we started the free trial to see our full reports. Our Mortgage Broker told us to expect long waits because of underwriters being so busy at the moment!
I don't really know what happens next.. we answered the questions, not sure if more will be asked or if thats it now.... not sure if valuation was OK... not sure if or when we should chase the mortgage broker lol. What I do know is this is quite stressful, I'm not good with waiting lol

newhomechris

FTBMish said:

SenseandSensibility said:

FTBMish said:

SenseandSensibility said:

Our application was submitted yesterday (FTB, 75% LTV with Help to Buy loan and both in full-time employment with the NHS), and we haven’t yet heard anything. We checked our credit files for indications of searches and couldn’t find any either, which surprised us, considering several people on here had searches undertaken the day after their application was submitted. 

Hard search was 3 days later for us. 
21st Sept-appt with mortgage broker, 22nd Sept- soft search on experian
25th Sept - hard search on experian
28th Sept- paid product fee and text from Santamder to say application received 
8th Oct- valuation completed amd received by Santander
13th Oct- questions from Santander via the broker.  Responded immediately. Some of the same questions again sent today via the broker. Called the woman from the mortgage brokers she hadn't scrolled down the length of the email to see we had already answered what was asked. 
And now we wait.......

Thanks, that's good to know. Did experien notify you when searches were undertaken? We use Credit Monitor, so not sure whether to expect the same. Our MB advised that Santander are currently one of the faster working lenders (she estimated a 3-4 week timeline), though reading some of the experiences on here, I'm now not so sure.

It showed up when we started the free trial to see our full reports. Our Mortgage Broker told us to expect long waits because of underwriters being so busy at the moment!
I don't really know what happens next.. we answered the questions, not sure if more will be asked or if thats it now.... not sure if valuation was OK... not sure if or when we should chase the mortgage broker lol. What I do know is this is quite stressful, I'm not good with waiting lol

I feel your pain - I’m afraid I waited 8 weeks for my offer.  Not a lot happened until week 6 really and then some questions back and forth. They didn’t even look at the valuation until after they had passed me for underwriting. My offer was issued in writing on the first day of the 8th week.
I have seen other people in this forum with an offer received within three weeks so there really is no rhyme or reason to it. In the end, my broker was mithering his Santander rep to escalate it. 

Sit tight and hold your nerve 😁🏡

SenseandSensibility

What sort of questions have Santander been asking? I’ve seen a few posts saying they are asking ‘questions’ which seems to delay the process by a further 2-3 working days. Surely all the information they require is provided when you submit the application? 

FTBMish

SenseandSensibility said:

What sort of questions have Santander been asking? I’ve seen a few posts saying they are asking ‘questions’ which seems to delay the process by a further 2-3 working days. Surely all the information they require is provided when you submit the application? 

I have been asked about how my job is coping with the pandemic, how I have been able to work and how I plan to work in future.  I started a new job just before lockdown but have been in the same industry for several years. The company I work for is in a strong position and hasn't been greatly affected. Noone was furloughed. I was an agile worker anyway and classed as a key worker. 
My partner has been asked the same thing, he has been in his job for years but he was furloughed from March until July so they wanted clarity on its stability going forward. They noted the company website was under construction so he jas to explain why.
I was asked about child benefit credits showing on my statement as counter credits and not bacs transfers  ( I had no idea,  every payment has been the same since my child was born, I sent proof of this). They asked why for 2 months my salary showed up under a different name on my statement (change of finance system, I sent proof of this).
That was it so far. 

TottieW

SenseandSensibility said:

What sort of questions have Santander been asking? I’ve seen a few posts saying they are asking ‘questions’ which seems to delay the process by a further 2-3 working days. Surely all the information they require is provided when you submit the application? 

They are being spectacularly cautious, and things are changing by the minute - which means what was sufficient when you submitted your application may not be by the time it gets to the underwriters. In my case, my partner has a secure job with a decent income. I'm self-employed in an industry that's not been too badly affected (though some of what was involved with my current project wasn't possible during lockdown, so it had to be paused). I earn quite a lot more than my partner annually, and I'll be down a little bit on that this year. In theory we're asking for half of what we ought to be eligible for, and there would be absolutely no problem for us to afford the mortgage. However I took both SEISS payments -- which they regard as a red flag. 
So, I am struggling to persuade them that my income is back to normal - and that's where the questions come in - although in my case, I wish they'd asked more. I have plenty of evidence I could send them!

Currently they've offered a mortgage based on a notional figure they've come up with for my annual income - resulting in a mortgage which is under what we need. I'm *already contracted* to earn almost double what they've estimated, and have plenty of enquiries for work after that. My accountant has supplied projected income information based on current contracts (twice now), but they are still sticking with the low estimate of my income. I'm on my second appeal and 6 weeks in since I applied. It is all pretty baffling -- but the default assumption seems to be that Covid has put my freelance earnings to nil and that I will be living off government support from now on.

It's massively frustrating! I wasn't prepared for them not believing me, or, apparently, my accountant. They won't even count the income from my second business, which has been pretty substantial this year. Not feeling optimistic at the moment. I've been coming here for moral support, but I seem to be in a particularly weird position.

SenseandSensibility

Thank you both for your replies. It’s surprising and somewhat unreasonable for them to ask you to predict the future stability of your job (I read a post a few pages back in which someone was asked to provide confirmation from their employer that they wouldn’t be made redundant!), no one can know in these times what may happen 6 months - a year down the line, and I can’t imagine many employers would willingly predict future circumstances. My husband and I are both employed in full-time permanent NHS jobs, so hopefully that will provide some evidence of stability. 

davetherave85

TottieW said:

SenseandSensibility said:

What sort of questions have Santander been asking? I’ve seen a few posts saying they are asking ‘questions’ which seems to delay the process by a further 2-3 working days. Surely all the information they require is provided when you submit the application? 

They are being spectacularly cautious, and things are changing by the minute - which means what was sufficient when you submitted your application may not be by the time it gets to the underwriters. In my case, my partner has a secure job with a decent income. I'm self-employed in an industry that's not been too badly affected (though some of what was involved with my current project wasn't possible during lockdown, so it had to be paused). I earn quite a lot more than my partner annually, and I'll be down a little bit on that this year. In theory we're asking for half of what we ought to be eligible for, and there would be absolutely no problem for us to afford the mortgage. However I took both SEISS payments -- which they regard as a red flag. 
So, I am struggling to persuade them that my income is back to normal - and that's where the questions come in - although in my case, I wish they'd asked more. I have plenty of evidence I could send them!

Currently they've offered a mortgage based on a notional figure they've come up with for my annual income - resulting in a mortgage which is under what we need. I'm *already contracted* to earn almost double what they've estimated, and have plenty of enquiries for work after that. My accountant has supplied projected income information based on current contracts (twice now), but they are still sticking with the low estimate of my income. I'm on my second appeal and 6 weeks in since I applied. It is all pretty baffling -- but the default assumption seems to be that Covid has put my freelance earnings to nil and that I will be living off government support from now on.

It's massively frustrating! I wasn't prepared for them not believing me, or, apparently, my accountant. They won't even count the income from my second business, which has been pretty substantial this year. Not feeling optimistic at the moment. I've been coming here for moral support, but I seem to be in a particularly weird position.

Out of interest what other documents did Santander ask for other than the accountants certificate for income and the projections for your contracts?

Also, how do they know if you took the grants or not as they do not have access to customers HMRC login to see? 

TottieW

SenseandSensibility said:

Thank you both for your replies. It’s surprising and somewhat unreasonable for them to ask you to predict the future stability of your job (I read a post a few pages back in which someone was asked to provide confirmation from their employer that they wouldn’t be made redundant!), no one can know in these times what may happen 6 months - a year down the line, and I can’t imagine many employers would willingly predict future circumstances. My husband and I are both employed in full-time permanent NHS jobs, so hopefully that will provide some evidence of stability. 

You may find that in your case you get a quicker answer, with no questions. Such cases must be bringing down the average time to offer - since anything that goes to the underwriters takes longer!

TottieW

Out of interest what other documents did Santander ask for other than the accountants certificate for income and the projections for your contracts?

Also, how do they know if you took the grants or not as they do not have access to customers HMRC login to see? 

I think the second one appeared on my bank statements. They've asked for nothing else other than the Accountat's certificate - though I'd happily supply contracts, remittance advice, more bank statements etc.

TottieW

Also, how do they know if you took the grants or not as they do not have access to customers HMRC login to see? 

That's actually really interesting. It means that the window in which I applied is penalising me as I'm hit by them being able to SEE my SEISS payments. If I put in an application in a month's time, I guess I wouldn't be having this problem.