Mortgage broker - ask me anything

JellyphantCastle

K_S said:

@JellyphantCastle The NatWest tracker works ok if everything goes exactly as planned, there's nothing non-standard in the case or documentation, there are no queries and finally the person updating the tracker cares enough to click the right/appropriate buttons (where they exist).

In most other cases, it can be utter sh*te, so I wouldn't worry too much about what it shows. I had a PAYE case recently where the tracker was showing that they're waiting for proof of self-employed income (for a P60 related query) and the client was (understandably) upset and worried unnecessarily.

Changing sol details post-offer is super straightforward and you should have the reissued offer in a couple of days.

Thanks as always - you’re so helpful and patient! It seems like all wording on the tracker is from a pre-defined list so I fully get what you’re saying about cases that aren’t 100% straightforward. It’s horrible when you’re a customer and feel like everything is in hyper time when actually it’s only a few working days!

Tailender_Investor

Is it worth paying off my student loan early? 

I have around £9k outstanding balance which I could pay off out of my savings. As then I’d effectively have a 9% pay increase as I’d have no deductions would that mean I could borrow more? 

Not really sure how student loans are treated with mortgages as it’s not like your typical loan. 

K_S

Tailender_Investor said:

Is it worth paying off my student loan early? 

I have around £9k outstanding balance which I could pay off out of my savings. As then I’d effectively have a 9% pay increase as I’d have no deductions would that mean I could borrow more? 

Not really sure how student loans are treated with mortgages as it’s not like your typical loan. 

@Tailender_Investor It's largely based on the monthly deduction shown on your payslip, the amount is immaterial. Paying it off may or may not make a difference depending on the details and how large the deduction is compared to your income.

I would suggest trying a couple of lender affordability calculators (taking term up to 70 years of age) with and without the student loan monthly outgoing so you'll get an idea of whether there's any impact or not.

https://online.accordmortgages.com/public/mortgages/quick_enquiry.do
https://www.nationwide-intermediary.co.uk/calculators/affordability-calculator

tab99uk

my broker is charging me 1% for a 250k mortgage is this  reasonable he charged me half the fee upfront  and rest after the mortgage is approved.

K_S

tab99uk said:

my broker is charging me 1% for a 250k mortgage is this  reasonable he charged me half the fee upfront  and rest after the mortgage is approved.

@tab99uk Very generally speaking, that's a very high broker fee. For residential mortgages, that level of fees is usually only charged by brokers dealing with very heavy-adverse clients.

But there's no regulation as such saying what is reasonable or not - as long as the broker has been upfront about the fees (and the payment schedule) and the client has agreed to it.

Tailender_Investor

Thanks K_S.  My deductions are circa £300 a month and from plugging some rough numbers in it seems it could be worthwhile paying the loan off.

Kimonos88

What are the valuations like for new builds? Are there many cases where they get down valued? 

K_S

Kimonos88 said:

What are the valuations like for new builds? Are there many cases where they get down valued? 

@kimonos88 Personally, I haven't recently had any new build clients who had down-vals. I don't do a lot of new-builds (primarily because many new build estate agents/builders can be  very aggressive on pushing buyers to use their brokers) so my experience might not be representative.

The pricing for new-builds is largely set by house sales in the local market so in theory at least should be no more likely to be down-valued than existing stock. In fact I would think it might be less likely to be down-valued.

40yearoldgraduate

Hello. Thanks for this amazing thread. I’ve made it up to page 204 so far! 

Haven’t seen this asked yet - 

Does anyone know how the timeline for Scottish Widows mortgage applications work? 

I’ve learned from this thread that some lenders do the property valuations as the final check and others do it at the start - so before the deep dive. 

Just wondering how close to the finish line a property valuation being arranged by SW is. 

Thanks again for this epic thread! 

K_S

40yearoldgraduate said:

Hello. Thanks for this amazing thread. I’ve made it up to page 204 so far! 

Haven’t seen this asked yet - 

Does anyone know how the timeline for Scottish Widows mortgage applications work? 

I’ve learned from this thread that some lenders do the property valuations as the final check and others do it at the start - so before the deep dive. 

Just wondering how close to the finish line a property valuation being arranged by SW is. 

Thanks again for this epic thread! 

@40yearoldgraduateOff of the top of my head, SW instruct the valuation when they confirm that a fully packaged application has been submitted. Underwriting (if required, as not all applications will require full-underwriting) is the next stage and will happen in parallel with the valuation.