First Mortgage Payment Before Completion?

ctb0503

Hi!

First time poster (and first time buyer!) and I'm just hoping someone might be able to help.

We are first time buyers (currently renting) and have, finally, agreed on a completion date which has been put back several times due to those further up the chain being unable to make previously suggested dates.

We now have a completion date which has just this morning been agreed as 16th June. We have also had a message from Halifax, our new mortgage providers, to say that the first mortgage payment will be taken on the 12th June, which is obviously prior to the agreed completion date. Is this normal, or should our mortgage payments only start after the agreed completion date (and if so, who would I need to contact to resolve this)?

Any advice much appreciated - my head is totally scrambled over the various date changes that we've had over the last few weeks, so just trying to get everything straight prior to our move!

Many thanks in advance.

saucer

Hi ya,
Welcome to the MSE forum! There is lots of great free information on here. And congratulations on the purchase of your new home, much better than renting :-). 
Regarding your question, I would think it was sensible to just give them a call to let them know you haven’t completed and when you think this will happen. 

Jonboy_1984

The first payment date is normally reliant on when your solicitor draws down the funds from the lender rather than the completion date.

Normally if they draw down the funds and then don't complete within 5 days they have to return them to the lender. Did they draw down (and return anything) as it is possibly interest on this period it was out of the banks possession.

saucer

Indeed, I had posted a link but deleted it for fear it was wrong but, as Jonboy says, it is the responsibility of the solicitors managing the conveyancing to kick start the transfer of funds after which you start repaying. Summarised here https://www.rightmove.co.uk/guides/buyer/once-offer-accepted/completion/

ctb0503

Ah, fantastic, thank you both for your advice.

At the risk of sounding thick, am I best off querying this first with Halifax, or with our solicitors? Or both?

The payment that is being taken is for more than our agreed mortgage (£826.84 as opposed to our ongoing monthly payments of £787.69) so it seems like it's a whole lot of interest since any funds were out of the bank's possession! 

Thank you again, and apologies for the daft questions!

CSI_Yorkshire

That sounds like they're working off old dates, and your first payment is a normal one plus a bit of extra interest (this is common to avoid a payment being too close to move in time)

Id ask your solicitor if they have drawn down the funds first, and if they say no then go to the mortgage people for clarification.

ctb0503

Fantastic - thank you very much; I'll do just that!