Mortgage broker - ask me anything

chreesh94

K_S said:

chreesh94 said:

My partner and I are first time buyers and have recently applied for a mortgage with Leeds building Society. 

We submitted our application through our mortgage advisor on Thursday afternoon, 28th April. We haven't heard anything back yet, surely they should have done a hard credit search by now ? 

I wouldn't worry too much about the specific dates for the soft/hard checks showing on the reports. They are often incorrect/delayed and some lenders will simply mark the DIP soft-check as a hard-check once a full application is submitted. Leeds instruct the valuation on day 1, so assuming your broker submitted a fully packaged app on Thursday, a valuation should already have been instructed.

Great thanks. Think I've probably read to many things online, as most people have said Leeds have done a credit search on them within two days of submitting their application but I guess it could just be delayed in showing in my reports.  

K_S

working_classy said:

After some re-mortgage advice if possible, please. I'm trying to see if I will be better off getting a new 5yr deal early and paying the clause as I’m worried interest rates could be much higher than they are now come the end of my current deal next year.

Figures:

House value £450,000, by end of current mortgage deal there will be £220,000 outstanding.

I have some savings, was going to pay an extra £20,000 off come re-mortgage time.

15 months remaining on current mortgage, fixed rate of 1.92%, repayments of £940ish pcm.

Early buy out clause £3,900.

Have looked on Martin Lewis mortgage tool today and new 5yr deal with The Cumberland of 2.11% for 5yrs @ £1024pcm for the remaining £200,000.

Should I sit tight or jump early?

@working_classy I can't give any thoughts on whether or not to switch with a £3,900 ERC as there are quite a few unknowns which will decide whether it turns out to be a prudent step to take or not, and it could be construed as advice based on little to no information. Perhaps if you post it in the main forum, there will be others willing to comment or give their opinion. Good luck!

K_S

RyanT1992 said:

K_S said:

RyanT1992 said:

Hi all,

I just wondered - how often (if ever) do lenders physically call/contact an employer to verify employment, after a mortgage offer has been made? I've heard that sometimes they will check post-exchange of contracts, just to see if nothing has changed in circumstances.

HSBC in particular.

I only ask, as my partner's bosses will be on holiday for a while coming up soon, with little/no access to technology, so I don't want the post-mortgage offer stage to be dramatically slowed down by the fact the bank can't get hold of my partner's employers to check she still works there!

Thanks!

@ryant1992 With mainstream lenders - Almost never post-offer. Where employment verification checks are made, it's almost always during underwriting and normally only in cases where there's a specific reason for a check such as suspicion of fraud, inability to provide the income evidence requested, etc.

Where there are post-offer checks undertaken, they are usually limited to asking the broker to provide fresh payslips, etc.

Hi, 

Thanks very much for the reply - a welcome relief! As far as I'm aware, HSBC don't even have my partner's employer contact details anyway, as my partner is a private Nanny. We had one move fall through & we're trying to keep the same product for our new house, but we're borrowing less money & both still in same jobs 3 months after previous mortgage offer was sent, so I'm hoping it'll be a straightforward swap? We had the mortgage valuation last week, which I'm guessing is the last step before offer? And, I'm also guessing as I've not heard anything in a week, that's good news?

@ryant1992 As long as loan size and LTV isn't increasing, change of property should be fairly straightforward for HSBC post-offer while keeping the same initial product/rate. This is not the case for all lenders, for example Nationwide requires a new application (so you lose the old product/rate) to be submitted if the property changes. 

Coolbeans2010

Hi, so last time we spoke we were looking to do  let to buy a second home but that didn't work out well for us financially so we have now sold our home and had an offer accepted on a new home.

Our DIP for £450k is with Accord and based on paying off large some of debt  (38k) with the sale of the house.  We are putting £55k deposit down,  house price is £505k.  What happens now with our full application for the mortgage, is it fairly straight forward because we have the DIP?  Thanks.

sunmoon99

So I applied for mortgage (with Nationwide) through a broker at the end of April. I am paying the broker £500 for the service. 

Last I heard from the MB’s admin person was last week Thursday morning saying that the only thing outstanding is proof of deposit funds and Nationwide wanted to see statements for the full amount. I supplied these immediately by email. Since then I had no response or confirmation from the mortgage broker nor the admin person that they sent these through to the lender (I asked to confirm in my email). 

As I spoke to the MB 4 weeks ago, I called him for an update on Friday morning - no answer, so left a message. He has not returned my call, so sent a nice email this morning asking to have a chat on the progress as getting anxious. Called a few hours later (did not leave a message this time). 

Am I being unreasonable for wanting an update? Maybe my expectations are too high? As I am paying a lot of money for the service I would have thought they should have a courtesy to call/email me, but not sure if I should allow more time before chasing again. 

I am a FTB, so not sure of the process! 

Should I give my MB more time to respond as it’s normal practice or chase again??

K_S

Coolbeans2010 said:

Hi, so last time we spoke we were looking to do  let to buy a second home but that didn't work out well for us financially so we have now sold our home and had an offer accepted on a new home.

Our DIP for £450k is with Accord and based on paying off large some of debt  (38k) with the sale of the house.  We are putting £55k deposit down,  house price is £505k.  What happens now with our full application for the mortgage, is it fairly straight forward because we have the DIP?  Thanks.

@coolbeans2020 Yes, assuming the DIP was keyed in accurately, it should be fairly straightforward here on. Due to it being a high-LTV app, the underwriter may ask about the reason for the size of background debt and any blemishes on the credit report but as long as they are adequately responded to, there's nothing to worry about. Accord are one of the better lenders out there with respect to common sense underwriting. Good luck!

K_S

sunmoon99 said:

So I applied for mortgage (with Nationwide) through a broker at the end of April. I am paying the broker £500 for the service. 

Last I heard from the MB’s admin person was last week Thursday morning saying that the only thing outstanding is proof of deposit funds and Nationwide wanted to see statements for the full amount. I supplied these immediately by email. Since then I had no response or confirmation from the mortgage broker nor the admin person that they sent these through to the lender (I asked to confirm in my email). 

As I spoke to the MB 4 weeks ago, I called him for an update on Friday morning - no answer, so left a message. He has not returned my call, so sent a nice email this morning asking to have a chat on the progress as getting anxious. Called a few hours later (did not leave a message this time). 

Am I being unreasonable for wanting an update? Maybe my expectations are too high? As I am paying a lot of money for the service I would have thought they should have a courtesy to call/email me, but not sure if I should allow more time before chasing again. 

I am a FTB, so not sure of the process! 

Should I give my MB more time to respond as it’s normal practice or chase again??

@sunmoon99 Customer service standards are individual to each mortgage broking business and most will have an aim to respond within 1-2 working days to customer queries. In larger firms, when you may have multiple people working on the case, it can often take longer if someone's on leave, off sick, etc.

As an illustration, we personally respond within 24 hours to all queries, 7 days a week. But we can do that because we're a small independent, work fully flexibly around client availability and it's our own business.

Whether the broker charges the applicant a fee or not should not impact the provision of a reasonable turnaround time for response to client queries. We used to charge a fee until recently but don't any more for non-adverse cases, but our service levels continue to be the same.

So to answer your question, if you have been waiting for more than 1-2 days for a response, you are not unreasonable in expecting a quicker turnaround.

sunmoon99

K_S said:

sunmoon99 said:

So I applied for mortgage (with Nationwide) through a broker at the end of April. I am paying the broker £500 for the service. 

Last I heard from the MB’s admin person was last week Thursday morning saying that the only thing outstanding is proof of deposit funds and Nationwide wanted to see statements for the full amount. I supplied these immediately by email. Since then I had no response or confirmation from the mortgage broker nor the admin person that they sent these through to the lender (I asked to confirm in my email). 

As I spoke to the MB 4 weeks ago, I called him for an update on Friday morning - no answer, so left a message. He has not returned my call, so sent a nice email this morning asking to have a chat on the progress as getting anxious. Called a few hours later (did not leave a message this time). 

Am I being unreasonable for wanting an update? Maybe my expectations are too high? As I am paying a lot of money for the service I would have thought they should have a courtesy to call/email me, but not sure if I should allow more time before chasing again. 

I am a FTB, so not sure of the process! 

Should I give my MB more time to respond as it’s normal practice or chase again??

@sunmoon99 Customer service standards are individual to each mortgage broking business and most will have an aim to respond within 1-2 working days to customer queries. In larger firms, when you may have multiple people working on the case, it can often take longer if someone's on leave, off sick, etc.

As an illustration, we personally respond within 24 hours to all queries, 7 days a week. But we can do that because we're a small independent, work fully flexibly around client availability and it's our own business.

Whether the broker charges the applicant a fee or not should not impact the provision of a reasonable turnaround time for response to client queries. We used to charge a fee until recently but don't any more for non-adverse cases, but our service levels continue to be the same.

So to answer your question, if you have been waiting for more than 1-2 days for a response, you are not unreasonable in expecting a quicker turnaround.

Thanks so much! I haven’t spoken to the MB since application over a month ago, just get weekly updates/requests for info from the admin person there. Which I think is slowing the process down, as if issues were dealt with quickly, my application may have been completed by now… 

brain123

Hi, please help with any information.

HSBC valuation was completed and approved a week ago. Then the broker said HSBC wanted me to call them. He received this message - Please ask the customer to contact HSBC directly to check their details and amend.

So I called and they asked for my address, email address, phone number, etc. (Strange I thought as my current mortgage is also with HSBC).

Still waiting - how long does it take from valuation to offer with HSBC? Thank you. 

K_S

brain123 said:

Hi, please help with any information.

HSBC valuation was completed and approved a week ago. Then the broker said HSBC wanted me to call them. He received this message - Please ask the customer to contact HSBC directly to check their details and amend.

So I called and they asked for my address, email address, phone number, etc. (Strange I thought as my current mortgage is also with HSBC).

Still waiting - how long does it take from valuation to offer with HSBC? Thank you. 

@brain123 If underwriting is already completed and the valuation has come back fine, the offer should come through in a couple of days normally.