Forced to make higher payments

Oliviajayne10_abc

We have been Santander mortgage customers for 9 years and not in arrears. We pay £1840 per month and sold our house before Christmas,  had an offer by Santander accepted, for it to then be rejected unbeknown to us. We wanted to downsize considerably to a smaller home which meant our mortgage payments come down £620 per month. We earn a good amount of money between us and are food customers. We have been refused to have this new mortgage because they are uncertain of our income stream even though we have explained ourselves many times. If we leave Santander we will have to pay nearly £11000 redemption fee , but if we do nothing we disappoint a chain of 4 families expecting to move just so that Santander can continue taking £1840 per month from us. Their mission statement contradicts in its entirety their actions and they ase forcing us to stay in a house paying much more money than we want to borrow .

Please help us with advise and this is now an issue we have taken up with the Ombudsman and also filing a complaint to he FCA.

SpiderLegs

What is your income stream?

dimbo61

" Mission Statement " 
They are running a businesses and they decide the lending criteria.
Have you used a whole of market mortgage broker to search the market.
They can also check your credit file and hopefully find a suitable lender. 
Vote with your feet if unhappy with Santander

Oliviajayne10_abc

Thanks for your replies. I am aware they are a business and we provided everything they required and more. I am self employed and my wife is employed. Both have savings and not in arrears. Our issue is that they are happy for us to pay £1840 per month yet not want to help us by accepting our porting mortgage application which doesn't take a rocket science to spot that we are making ourselves a less of a risk to the bank despite not being in arrears. 

Oliviajayne10_abc

PS we are putting down 25% loan to value against the new house so looking at borrowing 75%.

SpiderLegs

Oliviajayne10_abc said:

Thanks for your replies. I am aware they are a business and we provided everything they required and more. I am self employed and my wife is employed. Both have savings and not in arrears. Our issue is that they are happy for us to pay £1840 per month yet not want to help us by accepting our porting mortgage application which doesn't take a rocket science to spot that we are making ourselves a less of a risk to the bank despite not being in arrears. 

What incomes?
What property value?

Seashell517

Oliviajayne10_abc said:

We have been Santander mortgage customers for 9 years and not in arrears. We pay £1840 per month and sold our house before Christmas,  had an offer by Santander accepted, for it to then be rejected unbeknown to us. We wanted to downsize considerably to a smaller home which meant our mortgage payments come down £620 per month. We earn a good amount of money between us and are food customers. We have been refused to have this new mortgage because they are uncertain of our income stream even though we have explained ourselves many times. If we leave Santander we will have to pay nearly £11000 redemption fee , but if we do nothing we disappoint a chain of 4 families expecting to move just so that Santander can continue taking £1840 per month from us. Their mission statement contradicts in its entirety their actions and they ase forcing us to stay in a house paying much more money than we want to borrow .

Please help us with advise and this is now an issue we have taken up with the Ombudsman and also filing a complaint to he FCA.

Presumably you signed up to mortgage with an ERC? There is no requirement for a lender to approve a port of a mortgage, it is subject to their lending criteria at the time of the application, and they are not forcing you continue with your current mortgage. You are choosing to continue with your current mortgage to avoid the ERC.

K_S

@Oliviajayne10_abc I sympathize with your current situation but I don't see the lender doing anything out of the ordinary here. They have little/no discretion with regard to the porting, underwriting and ERC rules so they're handling it in the way that you'd expect them to. 

From what I can tell, it appears that you are not able to meet the affordability requirements as Santander's current criteria. However, that doesn't mean it's a complete no go, there might be other lenders who are willing to lend. I would recommend that you get in touch with a mortgage broker.

Unfortunately, based on the limited info in your post, I don't see a way out of paying the ERC if you want to move.

I hope it all works out in the end, good luck!

getmore4less

Numbers?
I can't see that sort of change in number without significant reduction in borrowing or increase in term.
eg £200k 2% 10years would have to go to over 35years

Any decrease in lending(with ERC)?
change  in term?
Any increase in LTV?
Does it meet the porting criteria?

Thrugelmir

Oliviajayne10_abc said:

 Their mission statement contradicts in its entirety their actions and they ase forcing us to stay in a house paying much more money than we want to borrow .

No they are not. Sell the house and pay off the mortgage including the ERC.  The fact that Santander aren't willing to consider a new mortgage application is a commercial decision. 

Your complaints aren't going to do you any favours. As you are tied into a legally binding contract. 

Find a cheaper property and borrow less. In order to port the mortgage. Though there'll still be an ERC on the amount redeemed.