Wrong loan amount & purchase price on Aldermore mortgage offer and valuation - help!

alexanderstuart

Hi there. Me and my partner recently had an offer accepted on a property for £145k, with a 10% deposit. Borrowing £130.5k.

We received our decision in principle form Aldermore before we made our offer (which was for £140k) but we were told by our broker that our affordability was fine (we have a combined income of £58k).

Aldermore's underwriting process took about two weeks, they needed P60s, bank statements, payslips and some proof of funds. Our valuation came back fine, and then we were given our formal mortgage offer verbally from our broker.

However, we received the mortgage acceptance package yesterday and there are some issues. The purchase price still states £140k, and the loan amount is £126k (4.5k less than we need) and the valuation of the property has been done to the value of £140k as well. 

Our broker has said he's already contacted them and they've received his request for an amendment and that we "should" hear back today. But our worries are - will this be as simple as changing some figures? Will we need to be checked again? Will the valuation have to be done again? The valuation came back glowing and that the property was in immaculate condition so I'm hoping 5k change won't make much difference.

Ultimately, all documents we have and have signed from our broker state the right purchase price and loan amount - so we think this may be an error on Aldermore's part.

Does anybody have any experience of this? My stomach is sick with nerves!

ACG

It will probably take a few days to sort out as it will need to go back to the surveyor. 
Assuming you pass affordability and the surveyor is ok with the new valuation you should be fine. 

alexanderstuart

Thanks, hoping we hear today but not confident - Aldermore told our broker the amendment had been received yesterday morning and we'd hear in 48 hours. I'd also like to know how this error happened and whether it was our broker or Aldermore themselves? Is it a common admin error?

ACG

If the figures are the same as the DIP, I would say broker error. 

It is something I have done before, but I pick up on it before the offer is issued. Basically you do the DIP. Then when you make the application it asks if anything on the DIP has changed and habit is just to tick no. Then you get through to the loan details page and you think "oh ......" - I normally just carry on and then email the underwriters to say I made a mistake, can you amend the figures. 

I have not done it with Aldermore, but there are about 5-10 lenders who use the same system as aldermore. 

It is human error, we all make mistakes. Brokers and lenders are snowed under at the minute and working really hard. Give them a bit of slack. 

MWT

I hope it works out for you, but you are asking the surveyor to value the property above the accepted offer price and in the current market I'm not so sure they are going to be happy doing that...

alexanderstuart

Thanks for the response - that's fine, I'm not here to play a blame game but just thought if it was an error on Aldermore's part it may be a quicker fix than them having to reevaluate the application.

Obviously it's just burst our balloon of the initial acceptance slightly - I'm hoping it can be sorted asap!

alexanderstuart

MWT said:

I hope it works out for you, but you are asking the surveyor to value the property above the accepted offer price and in the current market I'm not so sure they are going to be happy doing that...

But this is the issue - it wasn't the accepted offer price. The accepted offer price was £145k. Our broker has made this admin error - this is why we are panicking.

ACG

Dont worry. 
They will only ever value your property at the purchase price of lower. It does not mean they would have refused to value it at a higher amount. But if that does happen, you then have chance to go back to the agents and try to renegotiate based on the valuation. 

MWT

alexanderstuart said:

MWT said:

I hope it works out for you, but you are asking the surveyor to value the property above the accepted offer price and in the current market I'm not so sure they are going to be happy doing that...

But this is the issue - it wasn't the accepted offer price. The accepted offer price was £145k. Our broker has made this admin error - this is why we are panicking.

Sorry, got a little confused there, and yes, the lender has obviously got the purchase price wrong then, but the valuation could still have been right.

Let's hope the surveyor was incorrectly advised of the purchase price as well and will be happy to support the higher price once they are told.

alexanderstuart

Thanks to you both.
Spoke with our broker again he's saying it's a mix up on Aldermore's side and that they're flagging it every day, although likely to get a decision after the weekend. Not much more I can do but sit and wait -  so fingers crossed!

simk6

alexanderstuart said:

Thanks for the response - that's fine, I'm not here to play a blame game but just thought if it was an error on Aldermore's part it may be a quicker fix than them having to reevaluate the application.

Obviously it's just burst our balloon of the initial acceptance slightly - I'm hoping it can be sorted asap!

What was your time line from aldermore if you don't mind me asking?