Help to Buy not answering phone

sophiemalin

Rehaanmo said:

An update: 

I have just had a response from HTB on twitter asking for my details. Have provided this all to them so now again back to the waiting game! We have still on hold as not taking any chances, have to try all angles here.

Hopefully all gets sorted! I work for the telegraph so am speaking to a journalist and our investigations team who can get this out in the news! then maybe they will respond!

I spoke to someone on twitter friday and yesterday but still nothing, back on hold again. 

AliciaGilch

An update:

After ringing since 8am I finally managed to get through to someone who seemed shocked that they had missed the completion date. She was able to locate all the emails but couldn’t put it through because the completion date was yesterday. She has assured me that she will sort it and has requested that my solicitor resend the email with a new completion date of tomorrow and said she will ring me back in an hour. I am now frantically trying to get hold of my solicitor in the hopes that HTB do actually ring me back 

sunny_money

Oh my god! I just received a call directly from Homes England from Sarah Slack after calling the Dept for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities that overseas Homes England to complain, within minutes. She took all my help to buy details and assured me my account would be managed before my completion deadline. Please phone them on 0303 444 0000.

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities/about/complaints-procedure

She said no one has incurred financial loss that she is aware of (?!) and people will receive compensation if they have. 

She said they have put 30 more staff on and that they unfortunately have no control over the 1hr cut off. A public update on the situation via social media should be coming soon. 

AtWitsEnd_

Cs9ja17 said:

I was able to pay off the HTB equity loan yesterday (03/07).

I remortgaged and paid off the old mortgage and HTB loan. 

However, I started this process 3 months ago, rather than leaving to the last day. I was dealing with Target who always answered the phone within 5-10 mins of waiting, and then responded to emails within 2-3 days.

They even reissued a new redemption statement off their own accord, after my RICS valuation expired and did not expect me to provide a desktop valuation.

However, I did receive a strange arrears letter with my own bank details on it over the weekend, along with my direct debit being cancelled just last week, which certainly got me worried. Thankfully, my solicitor was able to complete yesterday. Something very wrong seems to have occurred last week.

I was able to get through last week on 0300 1234123 within 5-10 minutes. All very bizarre.

I have also received a strange email about arrears when I have a DD set up which I was informed had been transferred to the new administrators and I had nothing further to do. It also had my own bank details on it if I wanted to make a payment to clear the arrears!

I’m in the process of making a part repayment of my HTB loan. I had initially appointed a solicitor to assist with the legal conveyancing but was informed by Target I didn’t need one for a partial repayment using own funds so I ended the engagement. I rung up twice to confirm this information with Target before I disengaged with the solicitors. I have since been informed by a Lenvi advisor (after finally getting through last week for an update, after multiple times on hold) that I did need a solicitor after all! I wonder if the requirements have changed since, and if so surely there would be a hybrid system to accommodate people who have already started the process prior to the changeover? I have now been on hold over 5 hours with no end in sight.

catdad

sunny_money said:

Oh my god! I just received a call directly from Homes England from Sarah Slack after calling the Dept for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities that overseas Homes England to complain, within minutes. She took all my help to buy details and assured me my account would be managed before my completion deadline. Please phone them on 0303 444 0000.

She said no one has incurred financial loss that she is aware of (?!) and people will receive compensation if they have. 

She said they have put 30 more staff on and that they unfortunately have no control over the 1hr cut off. A public update on the situation via social media should be coming soon. 

Thanks so much for this! I've called and got the name of an actual human being to email, I feel closer to this being resolved than I have all week.

I just hope they manage to get it sorted quickly now. Obviously I let them know that we had and are losing money because of this.

Rehaanmo

Update: 

I have also been given a human's email to send my details to and have been told they are prioritizing those who are completing this week.

Has anyone else had any further luck? 

PS: we are still on hold.

Kind regards
Rehaan

AliciaGilch

Update: we finally have the statement 

If you do manage to actually get through to a human being on the phone they are beyond helpful, and even ring you back etc. The person I spoke to seemed shocked that they have missed the completion date and promised me she would get it sorted today. There was a slight issue that as the completion date had gone we needed a new signed authority from the solicitor, but my solicitor sent a new one and I have just had an email to say that the elusive statement has been received. Hopefully this is the end of this nightmare. I am not happy that I have been charged interest for this month when it is their error which led to the payment not being made. Also the flexible rate on the mortgage I have been forced to pay so will definitely be going to Homes England regarding my financial losses. I am really praying this means it’s over 

LittleBradders

Cannot believe how atrocious this service has been, I do not recall ever being give advance warning that the details for HTB would be changing and taken over by another firm.

We have been lucky enough to get our ATC today after a week of dead end calls and emails. 

I took the tip from one of the above posts which mentioned DMing over twitter, so I created a twitter account for this sole purpose. I messaged last night at 7pm and put all my details in straight away, HTB acc number, address, DOB, as much as i could and begged them to send us the ATC. Didn't wait for a reply before sending the info.

This morning I was on hold at 8am on the dot and continued to be before hanging up at 8:44am (I really do not understand how the phone lines are so terrible). I hung up as I received an email from HTB customer services with a document which turned out to be an indicative quote. After my solicitor initially thinking this was what we needed I was running around my landing with joy, only to slump back down when I was told they spoke too soon and it was not the ATC needed. 

I can only think that the document was sent because of the twitter DM? although it came through well before 10am - their supposed monitoring opening time for twitter. 
But the indicative quote contained arrears on our account which I can only attribute to Target not taking direct debit for the admin fees post 16th June. The arrears were a whole £2, by my calculations we've only missed one months (1st july) but I really dont think the extra £1 is worth fussing over, it would be riskier in fact!
Maybe something they are having to re-do to take these cancelled DD into account. 

Anyway, my solicitor said they were on the phone to Homes England (may have got the department wrong, could have been HTB Equity Loan) at the time, first time they had gotten through, and were able to speak with someone to escalate the ATC.

I really hope everyone else gets what they need, Lenvi sort their sh*t out and no one is too financially burdened by this mess. 

Arks_mo

AliciaGilch said:

Update: we finally have the statement 

If you do manage to actually get through to a human being on the phone they are beyond helpful, and even ring you back etc. The person I spoke to seemed shocked that they have missed the completion date and promised me she would get it sorted today. There was a slight issue that as the completion date had gone we needed a new signed authority from the solicitor, but my solicitor sent a new one and I have just had an email to say that the elusive statement has been received. Hopefully this is the end of this nightmare. I am not happy that I have been charged interest for this month when it is their error which led to the payment not being made. Also the flexible rate on the mortgage I have been forced to pay so will definitely be going to Homes England regarding my financial losses. I am really praying this means it’s over 

Omgosh that's very good very happy for you, this gives us hope that these hours going insane may be worth it...I'm still losing my mind to their hold music. On to the 7th hour now. Praying for someone to answer us too    What number did you call? And which number option did you click? 

sunny_money

sunny_money said:

Check out Lenvi’s replies to the trust pilot reviews. 

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/lenvi.com

They are misrepresenting their role making it sound like it’s all Home Englands fault. Which it ultimately is but Lenvi is clearly in self preservation mode. I have reported this to Homes England who seemed concerned by this. Maybe their contract will be terminated on a technicality haha 

They have just updated the TrustPilot Lenvi replies to something more appropriate so you may as well leave a review if you are still waiting for a resolution:

Now:

Reply from Lenvi

33 minutes ago

We are sorry that you have not had a great experience when attempting to contact us.

We are aware of the issues customers are facing in contacting Homes England on its helpline and we are working hard to ensure that all customers queries can be dealt with.

In order to expedite this matter a formal complaint has been raised with our Complaints team who will review your comments and contact you in due course. If you would like to contact them please email:

Complaints@myhelptobuyloan.co.uk

was previously:

Reply from Lenvi

4 days ago

We are aware of the issues customers are facing in contacting Homes England on its helpline. 

Homes England are experiencing a huge spike in customer call volume and we’re working closely with them, to resolve this as soon as possible. 

We are encouraging customers with urgent enquiries to call 0300 123 4123. For those with non-urgent enquiries, please email customerservices@myhelptobuyloan.co.uk.