London and Country Mortgage Brokers - Complaint to Financial Ombudsman

Thisisuz

Has anyone got anywhere with a complaint to the financial ombudsman?
L&C mis-applied for a mortgage on my behalf which I was not actually eligible for, and therefore was rejected.
Terrible service, it included a hard credit search by the lenders, which isn't great, but the worse thing is it lead to the below....

I was going through a divorce t this time and this mortgage rejection meant I was late removing my ex's name from the mortgage, by about 5 weeks.
If I missed the deadline, I was expected to put the house up for sale. (Court ordered FDR)
I kept my ex informed about the situation and delay and that it was London & Country's faulty, not mine, (I could always afford the mortgage) and as my ex was awarded other marital assets he did not actually gain from me selling or staying in the house.
My ex was still upset about me leaving him and then divorcing him because of unreasonable behaviour so my ex decided to try and go to court to enforce the sale of the house to try and punish me (I assume) even though the papers releasing him from the previous joint mortgage where available for him to sign at this point and that would be the end of it.
(Luckily) for me Covid hit and the courts closed, and therefore the case was dropped by my ex and he later signed the papers (I had a new mortgage through a wonderful IFA by then).

L&C have offer me £200 not to take the case to the financial ombudsman - my legal costs were aprox £1,500 due to missing the deadline.

I have written to L&C telling them about the ramifications of being mis-applied for a mortgage product I wasn't ever eligible for (I was in a good position for hundreds of different mortgage products, but no the particular one they chose to apply me for) and they offered the £200 as a recognition for the mis-application.

I would preferably like to have the £1,500 I directly spent (I have the invoices) compensated to me, but obviously don't want to waste my time and don't want to throw away the £200 that has been offered if there is no hope.
I understand firms have to pay £500 to the financial ombudsman if a complaint is made to then, so I'm a bit annoyed that L&C won't match that when I wrote to them explaining the above and how out of pocket I am due to their poor service.
Can anyone advise?

dunstonh

I have written to L&C telling them about the ramifications of being mis-applied for a mortgage product I wasn't ever eligible for (I was in a good position for hundreds of different mortgage products, but no the particular one they chose to apply me for) and they offered the £200 as a recognition for the mis-application.

If you were never eligible for the product in the first place then you have a stronger complaint reason.  If you were eligible but it failed on underwriting then the strength of your complaint drops signficantly.

I understand firms have to pay £500 to the financial ombudsman if a complaint is made to then, so I'm a bit annoyed that L&C won't match that when I wrote to them explaining the above and how out of pocket I am due to their poor service.

it is not necessarily £500.  Larger firms often have a quarterly fee based on expected numbers of complaints rather than actual numbers.  For those with smaller volumes,  there is also no charge for the first 25 complaints made.     

Thisisuz

Just to confirm, I was never eligible for the particular product L&C put me forward for.

I actually re-tried with the same lender using my IFA with the same bank for a larger amount (which I wanted for home improvements)and better interest rate with on chance in my circumstances and income - it was definitely L&Cs fault, they have admitted that to me in writing too.
My issue is the knock on effects of L&Cs actions lead me to direct costs of £1,500+
Is there anyway of getting compensation to help me re-pay those costs?

ACG

If you go to the ombudsman and they do not agree with you, they may still suggest L&C pay the £200. 
But if you can evidence that they directly cost you £1500 then I would just go back to them and tell them what you want to put it right and failing that, can you have a final response letter (assuming you have not had one yet) so you can go to the ombudsman. 

haras_n0sirrah

What was it about the application was wrong as you seem to suggest you went back to the same lender?

Thisisuz

haras_n0sirrah said:

What was it about the application was wrong as you seem to suggest you went back to the same lender?

The mortgage product that L&C applied for on my behalf needed 6 months worth of payslips from my 1st and 2nd job.
No problem for my 1st and main job, but for the 2nd smaller job I had only 3 months worth - But I had worked for the same company for over 8 years, every single week - bar holidays - but freelancing. I went on the payroll to qualify for a larger mortgage, and will stay on payroll. 

L&C were not able to 'rescue' the rejected application because it was an automatic decline from the lender as I did not fulfil the basic criteria (the 6 months payslips).

I provided L&C with a letter from my boss confirming my status in the company, but L&C washed their hands of me and my application saying that there was nothing they could do. I told them I could provide tax returns/bank statements to confirm my 8 years consistent freelancing with the same company (I was paid monthly & I declared the income, on a SA tax-return, it wasn't a tax-dodge). L&C were not interested in helping me salvage the situation.

To get myself a mortgage I turned to a recommended IFA who was able to confirm that I was in a stable position with my 2nd job based on my 8 years of free-lancing in the same role.
Therefore I could get a mortgage with the same lender (Natwest) - even though my credit file was damaged from the 1st mortgage rejection.
My IFA got me a larger amount and at a better interest rate too, which I was surprised about as I assumed L&C had got me the best deal they could.
My IFA explained to Natwest that L&C had messed up, not me. I wasn't able to sort the mess out myself as Natwest would only talk to L&C about the original application.

haras_n0sirrah

Ok - that is exactly the issue with L&C in a single post and why the brokers on here say that l&c and a small independent are not the same thing.
I have just rescued a case with Santander for a client. Offerred 330k (self employed so based on bank statements rather than tax returns) - instead of leaving it I got evidence, letters from the people he works for (he is a sub contractor) and evidence of work booked in and sent it back for appeal and they have now offered the 390k he wanted. Took about 3 weeks and a bit of arguing with the lender but got the result in the end.
A large corporation with l&c is chasing easy deals. They have thousands of clients calling them so can afford to be picky and as they are free they only want the easy stuff. Yours became too complicated and it was easier to bin you off than to fight the lender so that is what they did
A smaller broker will give you time and will fight your corner. That is what we are paid to do
I am glad your broker was able to sort you out. 

csgohan4

sadly not every mortgage broker is the same, L+C  are certainly something you get what you pay for

ACG

Something sounds wrong, Natwest (As far as I am aware) do not need 6 months in a job. 
But in any event, if one broker can rescue it, chances are 99% of others can. Obviously something has gone wrong, on the face of it, this sounds like a prime natwest type of application which makes me wonder how L&C managed to mess it up so badly. 

But you just need to go back to L&C explain what you want and why, let them accept or reject your request and then go to the ombudsman if they reject it. 

[Deleted User]

As an expert complainer myself 
set out their failures in chronological order and what they did wrong 
set out your losses needed to deal with their failures 
ask them for an offer to settle 
if its not enough just apply to financial ombudsman you have nothing to lose 

On a separate note - I bet you are glad your finances are all sorted as its unbelievably stressful isnt it ?! 

Thisisuz

Densol said:

As an expert complainer myself 
set out their failures in chronological order and what they did wrong 
set out your losses needed to deal with their failures 
ask them for an offer to settle 
if its not enough just apply to financial ombudsman you have nothing to lose 

On a separate note - I bet you are glad your finances are all sorted as its unbelievably stressful isnt it ?! 

Thanks Densol, I've never complained about a company before.

To the others on the thread that have said that L&C don't deal with anything that's not 100% straight-forward, L&C definitely didn't tell me that before/while I was a customer! Its not on their website or literature, so how was I to know? I assumed because they were such a large company and I know they used to have a good reputation 15 years ago that they were a decent firm. My case wasn't complicated, they made it complicated by putting forward for a mortgage where I didn't fulfil the criteria. I was never dis-honest or 'optimistic' about my financial picture, but I am a safe bet as I have a decent amount of equity in my home and a stable work history/credit file.