alliance and leicester rates

payless

Fairdo wrote:

Payless, I think that shows the sway you have with them to be able to negotiate the waiver of additional transfer fees. Upholds one of the benefits of using a Mortgage Broker!

....
I'm afraid that when they wrote to me pre-Mortgage Day stating that "Unless I provided them with at least 1 case per month, then they would review whether they accepted introductions from me"

I could have quite comfortably provided them with one per month if on the merits of their rates and service, they desreved it. However, I have let my clients have the choice (obviously explaining what they are capable of) and have not used them since.

Maybe that may change in the future, but I will not be held to ransom by putting clients with a Lender purely to fulfill their set quotas!

BTW I am not implying that Payless would be pandering to this in any way shape or form. I wholly envisage you are dealing with them by their merits and an existing relationship you have with them. Just to make sure there is no confusion.

However, I do not have that relationship with them anymore and I would rather not !!!!! myself or my clients to get back in their favour.

Hopefully I have enough of a range elsewhere to ensure I can give good advice and service to my clients.

Rant over.

1. They were pre offer cases , don't know if that was why no fee or if I was lucky or being a broker ( I did ask nicely !)

2 . Fairdo - yes It a sticking point with me also

Back in the early - mid 90's I was a fairly big player and A&L used to get a fair % of my ( high quality) business ..... these days I don't do anywhere near the volumes ... and I refused to guarantee A&L a set level of business in either & or number terms .. had a row with them at a "roadshow" ... in fact even posted a thread about them on here about this exact point ...I actively tried to avoid them , especially given a few other negatitives ( that I will not go into here) BUT at times their rates were the best , and had some porting cases as well , so had to relent .. actually the service has been fairly good .. still I will not make any volume guarantees to anyone, but think they are backing down from that stance anyway

Fairdo_2

Good to hear Payless and would be in no doubt about your intentions anyway.

It's also good to hear that their service standards are pretty good at the moment and I get the feeling they are dropping their stance about business volumes guarantee aswell.

Amazed they opted for the blackmail option pre MDay anyway and amazed they haven't been hauled over the coals for it from the powers that be anyway!

Just need them to drop there 0870 numbers and their deliberate padding on these calls and they may start getting more business from me! (Especially as the rates can be done Online now)

payless

Get yourself an 02 mobile, 0870 calls included !

That said BDU never in to answer calls , and rarely rings back

The online team do call back - you can request a call online , so they are paying

Processing team.. yeah does drag on a bit ..

Volumes - blackmail, yeah ... I find it funny how they offer exclusives to certain brokers , wonder if they these are targetted to place a certain % ! Perhaps another one for the regulators to look at ?

Still not my favourite lender by a long way, but there's others well below them

KTF

I called my broker about the 4.24% offer and they said that it was for purchases only, not remortgages (which seems strange as it appears under the remortgage section of their website).

I am going to ask in the branch on Saturday anyway but can anyone here comfirm if this is the case or have I got my hopes up for nothing?

payless

KTF wrote:

I called my broker about the 4.24% offer and they said that it was for purchases only, not remortgages (which seems strange as it appears under the remortgage section of their website).

I am going to ask in the branch on Saturday anyway but can anyone here comfirm if this is the case or have I got my hopes up for nothing?

its available for purchases OR remortgages however if you are after a remortgage with assistance towards costs (ie free or refunded val, legal, arrangement fees) their rate is higher

( not to be taken as a recommendation for this lender, product or indeed an indication that any mortgage at all would be suitable)

KTF

payless wrote:

its available for purchases OR remortgages however if you are after a remortgage with assistance towards costs (ie free or refunded val, legal, arrangement fees) their rate is higher

( not to be taken as a recommendation for this lender, product or indeed an indication that any mortgage at all would be suitable)

Thanks. I am not after assistance and quite happy to pay the fee(s) upfront. I just wanted to see if I could actually get it.

Looks like I will be going direct rather than through my broker though.

MarkyMarkD

harryc wrote:

I know its bizzness and that a&l arent a charity and are in it to make money

however the practice of putting the onus on the client to ensure that the rate hasnet changed between the date of offer and signing the paperwork ,

in my case from speaking to them by phone on monday morning to nearly signing the paperwork yesterday morning..... is morally wrong inmho.

It sure puts paid to any bull that they are a friendly ...there to help you ...sort of company.

as for the point that when they make an offer they agree to honour at that rate so are committed to that money , I just wonder how often mortgage lenders are the actual losers when rates go up , call me a cynic but me thinks that the odds favour them , since they set the rates .

cheers

harryc

I don't get you there harry.

Mortgage offers are binding on the lender as soon as the offer is issued. The customer has a LONG time - typically 3 or 6 months - to complete at the rate committed and the cost of making the rate available for this extended period falls on the lender, not the borrower.

The only time there is a risk of the product being withdrawn is between it being advertised and the application being submitted - as referred to by payless - or on product switches where there is no offer as such.

payless wrote:

Most A&L fixed fees seem to be payable on completion

Arranged a couple of pre offer swaps without charge

ALL A&L product fees are charged on completion - which is quite a benefit against other lenders who charge some, or all, of them up front which means you lose them if you change your mind.

harryc_3

what dont you get markymarkd...

last week i get a letter telling me as my fix rate deal is about to end and as a valued customer here are the deals that are now on offer....

monday morning i phone telling them that Id like to go with the two year fixed deal as the letter stated 4.44% and £295 arrangement fee

great say they down the phone the paperwork will be sent out ...all i have to do is sign and return ....

paperwork arrives on wed morning ...im checking the wifes email at the time and decide to check a&l's website ....dont ask me why cause i dont know why i did but i am glad i did .....

while the wife is opening the mail i discover that a&l rate for the deal is now lower ..... me thinking that the paperwork would reflect this discovered it didnt so gets right on the phone to them .....

yes i can have the new rate says they but only because i phoned and new paperwork will be sent out...

your telling me that the didnt have a clue that a change was about to happen when i spoke to them on monday morning.....lets give them the benefit of the doubt ....

where they going to phone me and let me know that there was a change and would i like to reconsider before i signed the paperwork .....
nope they were not .......

next time you go to the shops dont bother checking that the items are correctly priced and that the best deal for beans that was adveretised in the papers that very day and was the reason for you going to that particular shop is actually being honoured ..

call me niave but if its really gotten to the stage that the small print is more important than honesty trust and loyality then its poor show.

yip i am a fool ...

harryc

KTF

Apparently the 4.24% deal has all sorts of extras such as legals, valuation, etc so it isnt just the 395 fee that they advertise on their website.

There does seem to be a 4.28% deal with no hidden extras and a £499 fee though:

http://www.purely.co.uk/tools/bestbuys.aspx

but I am not sure if every broker has access to it (mine certainly hadnt heard about it.)

payless

Believe thats an exclusive ( being an exclusive there is less info available on line for to us to compare features ) looks competitive BUT remember other fees need to be taken into account when comapring these against other lenders including differences in account closing fees , and in the link mentioned possibly broker fees

So a bit of number crunching and looks at what features you want would be a good start