Mortgage broker - ask me anything

silvercar

K_S said:

silvercar said:

K_S said:

silvercar said:

I posted previously about a Barclays mortgage offer that we had asked to extend and been told that they would only extend by 2 weeks. It is a 5 yr fix. Today a new offer comes through that is now a 4.5 yr fix but extended for another 6 months. We are slightly confused as to how this has happened as we didn’t apply for a new mortgage just an extension of the old one and certainly weren’t expecting another 6 months. The rate is the same. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but is there anything to be concerned about?

@silvercar I haven't myself come across this before but it perhaps might be similar to the error described in this thread here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6365591/help-needed-please-problem-with-mortgage-offer

Personally, I would look this gift horse in the mouth and get the broker to confirm that the new expiry date is indeed correct. What you don't want is for it to get close to completion and then for Barclays to say that the offer was already expired or the valuation is out of date, etc. 

Turns out it was an error in the covering letter and they won’t honour it.

@silvercar Sorry to hear that. Out of professional interest, can I ask, did you get the 2 week extension or not finally?

Yes we got the 2 week extension, without having had to exchange by the original date. 

I think all we are waiting for is for Barclays to approve the EWS1 A2 rating. I don’t know why they are taking so long to do this, given that they have signed up to agree to this in general. Our solicitor says they have to approve it specifically and she can’t get an answer from them, even though they are well aware of their own mortgage deadline. 

K_S

silvercar said:

K_S said:

silvercar said:

K_S said:

silvercar said:

I posted previously about a Barclays mortgage offer that we had asked to extend and been told that they would only extend by 2 weeks. It is a 5 yr fix. Today a new offer comes through that is now a 4.5 yr fix but extended for another 6 months. We are slightly confused as to how this has happened as we didn’t apply for a new mortgage just an extension of the old one and certainly weren’t expecting another 6 months. The rate is the same. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but is there anything to be concerned about?

@silvercar I haven't myself come across this before but it perhaps might be similar to the error described in this thread here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6365591/help-needed-please-problem-with-mortgage-offer

Personally, I would look this gift horse in the mouth and get the broker to confirm that the new expiry date is indeed correct. What you don't want is for it to get close to completion and then for Barclays to say that the offer was already expired or the valuation is out of date, etc. 

Turns out it was an error in the covering letter and they won’t honour it.

@silvercar Sorry to hear that. Out of professional interest, can I ask, did you get the 2 week extension or not finally?

Yes we got the 2 week extension, without having had to exchange by the original date. 

I think all we are waiting for is for Barclays to approve the EWS1 A2 rating. I don’t know why they are taking so long to do this, given that they have signed up to agree to this in general. Our solicitor says they have to approve it specifically and she can’t get an answer from them, even though they are well aware of their own mortgage deadline. 

@silvercar Glad to hear that you got the 2 weeks at least.

The delay with the EWS1 sign-off is probably because it has to go from Barclays to the valuer (a third party firm), sits in a queue there, the valuer then sends it back to Barclays, it again sits in a queue for someone to pick up and action, so the days can build up like that. 

silvercar

K_S said:

silvercar said:

K_S said:

silvercar said:

K_S said:

silvercar said:

I posted previously about a Barclays mortgage offer that we had asked to extend and been told that they would only extend by 2 weeks. It is a 5 yr fix. Today a new offer comes through that is now a 4.5 yr fix but extended for another 6 months. We are slightly confused as to how this has happened as we didn’t apply for a new mortgage just an extension of the old one and certainly weren’t expecting another 6 months. The rate is the same. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but is there anything to be concerned about?

@silvercar I haven't myself come across this before but it perhaps might be similar to the error described in this thread here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6365591/help-needed-please-problem-with-mortgage-offer

Personally, I would look this gift horse in the mouth and get the broker to confirm that the new expiry date is indeed correct. What you don't want is for it to get close to completion and then for Barclays to say that the offer was already expired or the valuation is out of date, etc. 

Turns out it was an error in the covering letter and they won’t honour it.

@silvercar Sorry to hear that. Out of professional interest, can I ask, did you get the 2 week extension or not finally?

Yes we got the 2 week extension, without having had to exchange by the original date. 

I think all we are waiting for is for Barclays to approve the EWS1 A2 rating. I don’t know why they are taking so long to do this, given that they have signed up to agree to this in general. Our solicitor says they have to approve it specifically and she can’t get an answer from them, even though they are well aware of their own mortgage deadline. 

@silvercar Glad to hear that you got the 2 weeks at least.

The delay with the EWS1 sign-off is probably because it has to go from Barclays to the valuer (a third party firm), sits in a queue there, the valuer then sends it back to Barclays, it again sits in a queue for someone to pick up and action, so the days can build up like that. 

Valuation was done months ago and we have the offer, I’m not even sure why the solicitor felt she had to refer back to the lender, but she has. 

Johnb38

Hi, 

I am looking for some help please. My wife and I currently have a mortgage with Santander; the mortgage is split into 2 parts:

Part 1 - £100k loan balance, on a 5 year fixed rate of 1.79% until 2nd January 2023, ERC of £5k. 

Part 2 - £172k loan balance, on a 2 year fixed rate of 1.43% until 2nd July 2023, ERC of £5k. 

The remaining term on each is 32 years. Property value is between £430 - 450k) 

As the fixed rate in Part 1 of our mortgage ends in just over 4 months, Santander are offering us a 2 / 3 / 5 / 7 year fixed rate all at 3.54% with no product fee. They are also offering a 2-year tracker at 3.19%. 

We are kicking ourselves that we did not fix for longer when we moved into our new home in May last year. The main driver was that we knew our 5-year fix would be ending in Jan 23, so we thought we would opt for a 2-year fix on the new borrowing to coincide with the ending of our 5-year fix, with a view to combining both parts of the mortgage together. We know now we should have sought professional advice instead of managing the re-mortgage ourselves directly with Santander. 

We are tempted to renew Part 1 with the offer of the 2 year fixed at 3.54% (which would increase our mortgage payment from £900 to £993). We are worried about what the interest rates will be in March / April next year when we are able to look at switching the mortgage product on Part 2 of our mortgage, that it might increase our monthly payments by another few hundred pounds or more.

Does anyone have any advice as to whether we should tie into a new fixed rate and for how long? Should we stick with Santander or should we do nothing until around February time next year and look for another mortgage lender (knowing a mortgage offer would last 6 months), who we could potentially re-mortgage to in July next year. 

Many thanks in advance.

Rwd33

Hi There,

we are FTB 90% LTV via a broker applying with HSBC.

application submitted on 08/08, valuation is done and ok, all docs sent and received. 

Apparently we are now at HSBC step 4 Pre-Offer and in the queue for final checks?

from experience is this a positive thing? My case manager says there is nothing to worry about and everything looks good. They said it is around 5 days wait for this but is highly confident we should get our mortgage offer.

Does anyone clued up with HSBC intermediary process know if I should be happy, worried or would they have declined already?

thanks.

silvercar

K_S said:

silvercar said:

K_S said:

silvercar said:

K_S said:

silvercar said:

I posted previously about a Barclays mortgage offer that we had asked to extend and been told that they would only extend by 2 weeks. It is a 5 yr fix. Today a new offer comes through that is now a 4.5 yr fix but extended for another 6 months. We are slightly confused as to how this has happened as we didn’t apply for a new mortgage just an extension of the old one and certainly weren’t expecting another 6 months. The rate is the same. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but is there anything to be concerned about?

@silvercar I haven't myself come across this before but it perhaps might be similar to the error described in this thread here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6365591/help-needed-please-problem-with-mortgage-offer

Personally, I would look this gift horse in the mouth and get the broker to confirm that the new expiry date is indeed correct. What you don't want is for it to get close to completion and then for Barclays to say that the offer was already expired or the valuation is out of date, etc. 

Turns out it was an error in the covering letter and they won’t honour it.

@silvercar Sorry to hear that. Out of professional interest, can I ask, did you get the 2 week extension or not finally?

Yes we got the 2 week extension, without having had to exchange by the original date. 

I think all we are waiting for is for Barclays to approve the EWS1 A2 rating. I don’t know why they are taking so long to do this, given that they have signed up to agree to this in general. Our solicitor says they have to approve it specifically and she can’t get an answer from them, even though they are well aware of their own mortgage deadline. 

@silvercar Glad to hear that you got the 2 weeks at least.

The delay with the EWS1 sign-off is probably because it has to go from Barclays to the valuer (a third party firm), sits in a queue there, the valuer then sends it back to Barclays, it again sits in a queue for someone to pick up and action, so the days can build up like that. 

Our solicitor has now made a complaint to Barclays. All very well sitting in a queue, but the deadline is of Barclays making so they need to move on it.

silvercar

silvercar said:

K_S said:

silvercar said:

K_S said:

silvercar said:

K_S said:

silvercar said:

I posted previously about a Barclays mortgage offer that we had asked to extend and been told that they would only extend by 2 weeks. It is a 5 yr fix. Today a new offer comes through that is now a 4.5 yr fix but extended for another 6 months. We are slightly confused as to how this has happened as we didn’t apply for a new mortgage just an extension of the old one and certainly weren’t expecting another 6 months. The rate is the same. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but is there anything to be concerned about?

@silvercar I haven't myself come across this before but it perhaps might be similar to the error described in this thread here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6365591/help-needed-please-problem-with-mortgage-offer

Personally, I would look this gift horse in the mouth and get the broker to confirm that the new expiry date is indeed correct. What you don't want is for it to get close to completion and then for Barclays to say that the offer was already expired or the valuation is out of date, etc. 

Turns out it was an error in the covering letter and they won’t honour it.

@silvercar Sorry to hear that. Out of professional interest, can I ask, did you get the 2 week extension or not finally?

Yes we got the 2 week extension, without having had to exchange by the original date. 

I think all we are waiting for is for Barclays to approve the EWS1 A2 rating. I don’t know why they are taking so long to do this, given that they have signed up to agree to this in general. Our solicitor says they have to approve it specifically and she can’t get an answer from them, even though they are well aware of their own mortgage deadline. 

@silvercar Glad to hear that you got the 2 weeks at least.

The delay with the EWS1 sign-off is probably because it has to go from Barclays to the valuer (a third party firm), sits in a queue there, the valuer then sends it back to Barclays, it again sits in a queue for someone to pick up and action, so the days can build up like that. 

Our solicitor has now made a complaint to Barclays. All very well sitting in a queue, but the deadline is of Barclays making so they need to move on it.

Barclays called us complaining that our solicitor is driving them bananas and saying it is all the solicitors fault for bringing up issues late in the day. My answer, "if you approve the mortgage this will all go away". within half an hour the mortgage was approved internally, sent to the valuer as a priority, approved by the valuer and will be with us today. 
I don't know why a 2 week extension on a mortgage requires a re-valuation - if it was good enough to lend a fortnight ago, why not today? Anyway we are over that hurdle.

K_S

silvercar said:

silvercar said:

K_S said:

silvercar said:

K_S said:

silvercar said:

K_S said:

silvercar said:

I posted previously about a Barclays mortgage offer that we had asked to extend and been told that they would only extend by 2 weeks. It is a 5 yr fix. Today a new offer comes through that is now a 4.5 yr fix but extended for another 6 months. We are slightly confused as to how this has happened as we didn’t apply for a new mortgage just an extension of the old one and certainly weren’t expecting another 6 months. The rate is the same. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but is there anything to be concerned about?

@silvercar I haven't myself come across this before but it perhaps might be similar to the error described in this thread here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6365591/help-needed-please-problem-with-mortgage-offer

Personally, I would look this gift horse in the mouth and get the broker to confirm that the new expiry date is indeed correct. What you don't want is for it to get close to completion and then for Barclays to say that the offer was already expired or the valuation is out of date, etc. 

Turns out it was an error in the covering letter and they won’t honour it.

@silvercar Sorry to hear that. Out of professional interest, can I ask, did you get the 2 week extension or not finally?

Yes we got the 2 week extension, without having had to exchange by the original date. 

I think all we are waiting for is for Barclays to approve the EWS1 A2 rating. I don’t know why they are taking so long to do this, given that they have signed up to agree to this in general. Our solicitor says they have to approve it specifically and she can’t get an answer from them, even though they are well aware of their own mortgage deadline. 

@silvercar Glad to hear that you got the 2 weeks at least.

The delay with the EWS1 sign-off is probably because it has to go from Barclays to the valuer (a third party firm), sits in a queue there, the valuer then sends it back to Barclays, it again sits in a queue for someone to pick up and action, so the days can build up like that. 

Our solicitor has now made a complaint to Barclays. All very well sitting in a queue, but the deadline is of Barclays making so they need to move on it.

Barclays called us complaining that our solicitor is driving them bananas and saying it is all the solicitors fault for bringing up issues late in the day. My answer, "if you approve the mortgage this will all go away". within half an hour the mortgage was approved internally, sent to the valuer as a priority, approved by the valuer and will be with us today. 
I don't know why a 2 week extension on a mortgage requires a re-valuation - if it was good enough to lend a fortnight ago, why not today? Anyway we are over that hurdle.

@silvercar That's great news! The valuation issue is related to it expiring on the system after 6 months I think. So it needs to be 'refreshed' which is usually a desktop exercise.

BigBoss

K_S said:

@bigboss Generally speaking, I don't think a notice of correction will help in this scenario.

Your broker may be able to guide you on what needs to be corrected but with mainstream lenders they are unlikely to be able to do anything to override errors on the report. I hope that makes sense.

Update:

- After FINALLY managing to login to Experian (drawn out complaints process etc), I see that my score with them is 999/999. This should change things massively right? I know the 'score' is generally irrelevant, but it can't be *that* irrelevant surely?

- Our prospective broker (no money down yet) searched for deals with only Transunion and Equifax reports - and got us an AIP with a high street lender (we're not happy with the amount). Could the inclusion of our Experian report change things? (my partner and I are both 999/999)

- We were also told that we should probably not submit any further searches, despite the fact that this was only supposed to be a soft search. Is this just an attempt to keep their business? Why would an AIP with a soft search stop us from submitting with another broker?

K_S

BigBoss said:

K_S said:

@bigboss Generally speaking, I don't think a notice of correction will help in this scenario.

Your broker may be able to guide you on what needs to be corrected but with mainstream lenders they are unlikely to be able to do anything to override errors on the report. I hope that makes sense.

Update:

- After FINALLY managing to login to Experian (drawn out complaints process etc), I see that my score with them is 999/999. This should change things massively right? I know the 'score' is generally irrelevant, but it can't be *that* irrelevant surely?

- Our prospective broker (no money down yet) searched for deals with only Transunion and Equifax reports - and got us an AIP with a high street lender (we're not happy with the amount). Could the inclusion of our Experian report change things? (my partner and I are both 999/999)

- We were also told that we should probably not submit any further searches, despite the fact that this was only supposed to be a soft search. Is this just an attempt to keep their business? Why would an AIP with a soft search stop us from submitting with another broker?

@bigboss Ignore the score, just get a current copy of your Experian report and confirm that it's been corrected. 

If it has, then let your broker know and share a copy of the report with them.