Should I be pestering?

MikeL93

I am a first time buyer and I had an offer accepted on a house on 13th June whilst I was on holiday. On 20th June I went into the estate agents to speak to their mortgage advisor, he found me different mortgage deals and I decided there and then what deal I would go for. I had all my paperwork ready such as proof of deposit, bank statements, ID etc to make sure the process wasn't slowed down. I was told by the mortgage advisor I would hear back about the mortgage in 10 working days to 3 weeks. It has now been over 6 weeks and I am still waiting for the mortgage underwriter to approve the mortgage. The survey on the property has been done but every time I speak to the people from the estate agents who are supposed to be assisting me all they keep saying is "the underwriters are busy." I have been very patient up to now but I am starting to get frustrated that it is taking this long. Should I now start pestering to get an answer? At the moment I have only got in contact every 1 or 2 weeks but now I am thinking I just need to be contacting them every day.

trakky14

Who is your contact? A broker or the lender directly...why is the estate agent managing your mortgage application? I've not heard of that personally... try this forum https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/mortgages-endowments there are various timescales depending on who your lender is

[Deleted User]

You'd be better off using a real mortgage broker or applying directly. You've chosen the slowest and worst value route by using the estate agents.

It will almost certainly be quicker to start again elsewhere.

MikeL93

trakky14 said:

Who is your contact? A broker or the lender directly...why is the estate agent managing your mortgage application? I've not heard of that personally... try this forum https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/mortgages-endowments there are various timescales depending on who your lender is

My contact is a broker that is attached to the estate agents. The estate agents have an in house broker who looks at mortgages and then passes it on to a company called Mortgageable who are dealing with Platform who I have applied for the mortgage with.

dimbo61

So why platform and not a high street lender ?
I am guessing your case is complex ? Self employed ? 
Flat ? 
What rate has the estate agents broker found you ? 
The Estate agent will get a commission from the broker who gets his commission from the lender.
Is this the best deal for you ?
Are you going to pay more in interest and fees !

london21

Do you have the broker's contact?

try calling and sending an email.

If you have the mortgage application refrence can contact the lender.

The risk with starting a new application now is that you will not get the same rates in June.

eddddy

MikeL93 said:

My contact is a broker that is attached to the estate agents. The estate agents have an in house broker who looks at mortgages and then passes it on to a company called Mortgageable who are dealing with Platform who I have applied for the mortgage with.

It suspect that the person at the estate agent isn't really a broker - they just pass your details to Mortgageable (who are brokers).

In return for passing on your details, Mortgageable will probably pay the estate agent a chunk of commission.

So it might make sense for you  to phone Mortgageable direct, to see if they can tell you more. They seem to have a phone number at the bottom of their website pages.   https://www.mortgageable.co.uk/



More generally, is there an upward chain with the property you're buying? If so, is the chain complete? If not, it might be some months before everyone is ready to move - so this delay might not make any difference.

Also, Platform are saying "Due to high demand, applications are currently taking longer to process." - but maybe not twice as long:  https://www.platform.co.uk/mortgage-intermediaries/index

woodpeckerx

Deleted_User said:

You'd be better off using a real mortgage broker or applying directly. You've chosen the slowest and worst value route by using the estate agents.

It will almost certainly be quicker to start again elsewhere.

Agree.

I've always gone direct to lender, I've never felt the need to use any third party to arrange things for me and I certainly wouldn't go with an EA advisor.

MikeL93

eddddy said:

MikeL93 said:

My contact is a broker that is attached to the estate agents. The estate agents have an in house broker who looks at mortgages and then passes it on to a company called Mortgageable who are dealing with Platform who I have applied for the mortgage with.

It suspect that the person at the estate agent isn't really a broker - they just pass your details to Mortgageable (who are brokers).

In return for passing on your details, Mortgageable will probably pay the estate agent a chunk of commission.

So it might make sense for you  to phone Mortgageable direct, to see if they can tell you more. They seem to have a phone number at the bottom of their website pages.   https://www.mortgageable.co.uk/



More generally, is there an upward chain with the property you're buying? If so, is the chain complete? If not, it might be some months before everyone is ready to move - so this delay might not make any difference.

Also, Platform are saying "Due to high demand, applications are currently taking longer to process." - but maybe not twice as long:  https://www.platform.co.uk/mortgage-intermediaries/index

I have phoned Mortgageable direct and all they keep saying is Platform are busy and they can't give me any more info. The house I am buying isn't in a chain so I thought things would have moved fairly swiftly. 

SensibleSarah

My first time house purchase was also chain-free and should have been simple and quick - it still took six months from offer accepted to me getting the keys. I experienced incompetence from pretty much everyone involved, from the mortgage lender (lost several bits of essential paperwork on multiple occasions) to the surveyor (who gave their report for the wrong property and then clearly fudged their second attempt) and the conveyancing solicitors (who didn't understand the difference between cavity wall ties and cavity wall insulation) and it was very stressful. The vendors also took weeks to get back to anything asked of them. Chain-free does not mean quick and hassle-free  

trakky14

You should consult a broker, it would be far quicker! Halifax for example are around 1-2 weeks max from instruction to offer. Take the estate agent out of the equation if I were you! Did you also use the solicitor they recommended?