Barclays Mortgage Porting Struggle - Help!

jcwc1

Hello all,

I'm writing this to rant, to inform of my painful experience and lastly listen if anybody knows how to get around my mortgage problem. I've been a Barclay's customer for nearly 40 years starting as a young boy, used many different services growing up from their banking services, loans and mortgages (and with remortgages). 

However I'm now at my wits end when I'm trying to port my existing mortgage to a new address as i'm currently looking to move to a new property. Working with my mortgage broker, i'm trying to move my mortgage with no additional borrowing, its been extremely painful process. I thought porting was a simple process, the broken has ported many mortgages before so he didn't forsee this to be any problems, so when discussing to port with my broker i suggested i wanted to extend the terms to it but since making the porting application back in June (its now towards end of September), we're still at a stand-still without a final decision being made. 

There's been lots of requests been made by the underwriter, even though I've not requested for any additional money, more and more questions about my affordability. I've had to submit past 2 years of tax returns and 2 years of company accounts with 3 month bank statements of both my personal and business statements, plus a load of additional queries and the underwriter is still not satisfied with all this information. I had numerous requests and counter responses saying the documents aren't clear or aren't in the format etc... What's worse is that it seems no one at Barclays is prepared to speak to my mortgage broker, all these queries take between 3-5 working days to respond via email. The level of customer service is becoming totally unprofessional.

My broker has been trying to arrange someone i.e the underwriters to take a call with him so that they can resolve all concerns quickly and promptly so we can get a final decision but on numerous occasions, they've "coincidentally" can't get to him with the contact details provided. Raising this with his Business development manager and even escalating doesn't seem to make any differenc. There seems to be a lack of duty and customer care. 

It appears that they don't want to port this mortgage and its coming to a point where the whole chain is potentially going to collapse as all the queries are satisfied apart from this. I don't know what to do anymore apart from raising awareness, hoping that someone from Barclays take this problem seriously and help mine and any future porting's.

From a very frustrated Barclays customer 

Hoenir

Why not apply with an alternative mortgage lender?  Nothing is ever guaranteed with porting a mortgage. 

silvercar

Can you make a complaint to Barclays? Not of their decision but because it is taking so long.

I wonder if it is extending the term that is the issue? Porting never guaranteed, is the value of the new property lower (so higher LTV)?

jcwc1

I've made a complaint to Barclay's. It takes 5 working days to get back and is not guaranteed, so with the given timelines i've got, it could be too late. The value of the property is 5 times more than what. The loan to value is less than 20%. I've never missed a mortgage payment so im cant be considered high risk.  

Moving to another provider would mean i need to pay the early redemption charge and it also that would take another 4/8 weeks, so that means the chain would collapse as it would take too long. 

kingstreet

Porting is just a new mortgage application with all the usual checks, regardless of the loan being the same, higher or lower than now. There is no reduced status requirement or guarantee of acceptance.

If you are (or are deemed to be self-employed by virtue of ownership of a sizeable holding in a limited company) Barclays is a little more picky than others in requiring;-

Latest 2 years’ HMRC Tax Assessments (SA302) or Tax Calculations

AND

Latest 2 years’ tax year overviews (Most recent year can be replaced by trading accounts).

AND

Most recent year’s trading accounts produced by a qualified Accountant (dated within 18 months of the application start date). Underwriters can accept unsigned accounts by verifying the accounts through Companies House.

Note: Limited company shareholder directors with income taxed at source ONLY (PAYE), with not further tax to pay, are not required to provide tax calculations or tax year overviews, provided their annual earnings do not exceed £100,000. To validate the income, we require all of the following:

·3 months’ payslips

·Latest P60

·Most recent years’ trading accounts produced by qualified Accountant (dated within 18 months of the application start date).

It is not clear if you are having trouble providing the required evidence or if Barclays is requesting more for some reason. I'd expect your broker to deal with this without too much trouble. Barclays can be troublesome and they are often not the type of lender you can "leave to get on with it."

Brie

In your complaint have you stated that their lack of action means you have been "financially disadvantaged"?  That's a key phrase in their vocabulary.  

Hoenir

jcwc1 said:

I've made a complaint to Barclay's. It takes 5 working days to get back and is not guaranteed, so with the given timelines i've got, it could be too late. The value of the property is 5 times more than what. The loan to value is less than 20%. I've never missed a mortgage payment so im cant be considered high risk.  

Underwriters will take a very different view.  Mortgage lending is a low margin business. Where defaults cost lenders a considerable amount of money.