Halifax Mortgage - Timescale PLEASE!

Sootster2021

Hi everyone,

Has anyone recently been through a mortgage application with Halifax?  Just wondering what the timescales are like at the moment. 

Many thanks  

K_S

@sootster2021 Halifax are by far the quickest among the mainstream lenders at the moment.

They've always been quick but right now they're heads and shoulders above the abysmal service levels at the other high street lenders, notably Nationwide, Virgin and NatWest.

If it's a straightforward PAYE application, it rarely goes to full underwriting so can be ready to offer (subject to valuation) in 2-3 working days (for comparison, Nationwide are taking 14 working days for initial assessment).

Responses to queries are picked up within 1-2 days (again a lot quicker than the others), so even self-employed cases get underwritten much quicker than any other mainstream lender.

Sootster2021

@K_S that's really useful information thank you! Our broker submitted our application today so hopefully we will have an update on / around Tuesday...

To confirm, if you get an offer subject to valuation, does this mean you have passed all affordability checks and the valuation is the only outstanding thing?

Thank you

K_S

Sootster2021 said:

@K_S that's really useful information thank you! Our broker submitted our application today so hopefully we will have an update on / around Tuesday...

To confirm, if you get an offer subject to valuation, does this mean you have passed all affordability checks and the valuation is the only outstanding thing?

Thank you

@sootster2021 You won't get an offer but it'll be 'ready to offer', so soon as the valuation comes back as satisfactory, the offer will be issued.

trakky14

We are in a similar position, we submitted all out documents to Halifax on Tuesday via our broker and have already paid for the valuation.

I'm not sure how soon the valuation would be booked? He said they are pretty quick but not sure on how long...we are holding off booking our level 3 survey until we have the offer in case the house is significantly over valued (this happened to us last year in all the stamp duty madness, our sale eventually fell through). Partner is self employed so we expect that bit to take longer. 

K_S

trakky14 said:

We are in a similar position, we submitted all out documents to Halifax on Tuesday via our broker and have already paid for the valuation.

I'm not sure how soon the valuation would be booked? He said they are pretty quick but not sure on how long...we are holding off booking our level 3 survey until we have the offer in case the house is significantly over valued (this happened to us last year in all the stamp duty madness, our sale eventually fell through). Partner is self employed so we expect that bit to take longer. 

@trakky14 With my self-employed Halifax cases, the valuation is usually instructed once the case is okayed by the underwriter.

trakky14

K_S said:

trakky14 said:

We are in a similar position, we submitted all out documents to Halifax on Tuesday via our broker and have already paid for the valuation.

I'm not sure how soon the valuation would be booked? He said they are pretty quick but not sure on how long...we are holding off booking our level 3 survey until we have the offer in case the house is significantly over valued (this happened to us last year in all the stamp duty madness, our sale eventually fell through). Partner is self employed so we expect that bit to take longer. 

@trakky14 With my self-employed Halifax cases, the valuation is usually instructed once the case is okayed by the underwriter.

Ah ok I did wonder about that, thank you! 😊 

Sootster2021

@K_S Ah brilliant - it's really useful to know what to expect so thank you.

I wonder if you could explain what happens as part of the process please?  Just because I am curious.. 

When the application is submitted (we should be straightforward, two PAYE applicants, no debt, very limited commited outgoings etc), is the application just assessed by a computer, or does it always have to be assessed by a human?  You seem a font of knowledge so thank you for providing so much help to people on here!

K_S

Sootster2021 said:

@K_S Ah brilliant - it's really useful to know what to expect so thank you.

I wonder if you could explain what happens as part of the process please?  Just because I am curious.. 

When the application is submitted (we should be straightforward, two PAYE applicants, no debt, very limited commited outgoings etc), is the application just assessed by a computer, or does it always have to be assessed by a human?  You seem a font of knowledge so thank you for providing so much help to people on here!

@sootster2021 That's very kind but I can't claim to know the inner workings of Halifax.

At a very basic level, as I understand it, most basic-only PAYE applications are automatically decisioned. Someone sitting at Halifax's operations in India will verify the documents uploaded (usually just the latest payslip for PAYE apps) to the application data and if that's all good it's ready to go to offer.

rdchick

Well we are now on the Halifax journey! Application in, valuation booked and paid for .. now we wait!

trakky14

rdchick said:

Well we are now on the Halifax journey! Application in, valuation booked and paid for .. now we wait!

Did they book your valuation already? We've not been notified when ours is (we are using a broker). Hopefully soon!! We've been waiting since Wednesday with paperwork in though we paid the £100 over a week ago...feels like ages already 😂