Ridiculous survery admin fee

MarkyMarkD

Thanks, cajef. You wrote what I was thinking.

LillyJ You asked Halifax how much it was for a full valuation; they said £490; they charged you £490. End of story.

What it cost them is irrelevant.

You might as well say "I asked Halifax for a mortgage. They want to charge me 5.35%. But now I've found out the money they are lending me only costs them 5.3%."

So what?

They are in business to make money. They don't tell you their cost of funds; they don't need to tell you how much a valuation costs them. Nor is it slightly relevant to you.

LillyJ

airhostess wrote: »

Hi LillyJ,

If it's any consolation I think it is unreasonable. Charging admin fees on top of the valuation is not very fair, in my opninion, as you don't use that as a comparison when choosing a mortgage. The £100 should really have been included in the mortgage application fee for clarity, if it was a Halifax fee and not an outside independent survey company fee. I guess it's another question to ask lenders vwhen asking about fees, was it clear on the Key Facts Illustration? If not, see your broker, or approach Halifax direct.

I guess it just sums up lenders attitudes at present. They aren't bending backwards to get customers, or fighting off the competition, in fact, quite the opposite, it's as if they don't want the business! When I took out a mortgage in 2004, the survey was £100, it was a special offer they were doing. I suppose this just goes to illustrate the state of the economy at this moment!

This is exactly what I meant. No it was not in KFI and not explained to me at any point.

I had a broker, but then went direct as he was incommunicado for 3 weeks, at which point I got fed up and went to Halifax myself (using product he reccomended).

I understand that the fees are £500, and I know I have to pay for valuation separately, however I did NOT know that they charged an EXTRA £100 admin fee for the CUMPULSORY valuation.

In all other aspects they seemed to want our business, did not even need to show any proof of income or any thing else, just ID. (they have said they will not even ask for it as we are low risk apparently)

I just feel that there is no reason why they could not make the fees £600 rather than £500 to cover this, and then customers would know what they are paying for, and could compare lenders more easily.

LillyJ

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

Thanks, cajef. You wrote what I was thinking.

LillyJ You asked Halifax how much it was for a full valuation; they said £490; they charged you £490. End of story.

What it cost them is irrelevant.

You might as well say "I asked Halifax for a mortgage. They want to charge me 5.35%. But now I've found out the money they are lending me only costs them 5.3%."

So what?

They are in business to make money. They don't tell you their cost of funds; they don't need to tell you how much a valuation costs them. Nor is it slightly relevant to you.

It is relevant. If I had known I may have been able to get a better deal elsewhere.

Sorry if £100 is not alot to you but it would pay for a fridge or something else essential like that for the new house, and if we could have saved it by going elsewhere then I would have done.
This is after all a moneysaving website.

cajef

Suggest you read post #3 in this thread again.

With any company if you want a mortgage you have to pay their fees, not some third party fees which are cheaper.

LillyJ

I suggest you read all my posts again.

This was not a fee that was made clear. I was not aware of it. What I want to know is why is this not added to the fees??????????????????

cajef

Because it never is, end of story, there is no point in reading all your posts again as you obviously do not want to believe what the majority of people are telling you.

If you want a mortgage pay the fees whether you think it is right or wrong will make no difference.

Final post, can't be bothered waisting my time.:rolleyes:

LillyJ

Well don't waste your time then.

I HAVE PAID THE FEES, I HAVE TAKEN THE MORTGAGE.

I still think it is wrong, and you are entitled to your opinion. However, for me to not agree with your opinion makes me wrong?

I am not aware that it is the case that all companies charge this extra fee that is not in the KFI, I am sorry if you know different however we haven't all bought houses before. I have done my research well, however knowhere at any stage did I hear about this fee.

I have paid it and accepted it, and I know I won't get it back. I do think, however Halifax should make this more clear. I am sorry if you think this is wrong and that there should be hidden fees everywhere.

airhostess

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

Thanks, cajef. You wrote what I was thinking.

LillyJ You asked Halifax how much it was for a full valuation; they said £490; they charged you £490. End of story.

What it cost them is irrelevant.

You might as well say "I asked Halifax for a mortgage. They want to charge me 5.35%. But now I've found out the money they are lending me only costs them 5.3%."

So what?

They are in business to make money. They don't tell you their cost of funds; they don't need to tell you how much a valuation costs them. Nor is it slightly relevant to you.

True. If Halifax, wants to borrow money at 5.3% then lend to LillyJ at 5.35%, it is not for her to complain as that is what is expected of a mortgage company. It is well known that is how a mortgage company's money is made, and that their business is lending money.

So it comes as a surprise to find that obviously they aren't making enough money from their business of lending money, and are so hard up that they apparently need to force third party company's products to their new customers, pocketing themselves £100 in the process!

Quite scarily, they could branch out to all sorts of new money making avenues. Whatever next? Use our recommended rip off rubbish solicitors else we won't give you a mortgage??? Only use XX removal company?

Lilly, does it say in the KFI that the standard valuation is £390, with an option to get the homebuyer's for £490? If not, and you only found out from the surveyor, you need to complain to Halifax. The KFI is designed so that fees and terms are transparent. This includes the valuation fee.

MarkyMarkD

I don't agree with Lilly or airhostess.

The basic valuation fee is included in the KFI. The fact that it may (or may not) include £100 administration fee is irrelevant - the fee is what the fee is. The valuation fee is called exactly that - it's not called "recharge of the exact cost the valuer charges us". It doesn't have to bear any resemblance to its cost.

And Lilly asked to upgrade to the higher specification valuation, and was told and charged the relevant fee. Once again, it's irrelevant what that upgraded valuation cost Halifax - their fee is their fee.

It's all very well to say that you could have got an alternative valuation - indeed, you could. But you didn't. You accepted the price of £490.

airhostess if you believe that the only way mortgage lenders make money is out of the interest margin, then you are extremely naive. For a long time, (especially prior to the credit crunch) many mortgage interest margins have actually been negative and it's only the profit on fees that makes the lenders any money at all.

Mortgage lenders will only accepted valuations from their approved valuers. That's their entitlement - they are lending the money based on that valuation, and they don't have to accept valuations from firms that don't meet their criteria.


Lilly and airhostess - do you go into Tesco and ask them to tell you the actual cost of every item you buy, so that you can quantify their item-by-item profit? No, because that would be stupid. Just like it's stupid to expect that a mortgage lender should have to do the same.

Just as a matter of fact, Northern Rock's valuation adminstration fee was/is way higher than every other lender's - by about £100 over and above the amount Halifax charge. So Halifax are scarcely the worst in this regard.

LillyJ

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

It's all very well to say that you could have got an alternative valuation - indeed, you could. But you didn't. You accepted the price of £490.

.

errrr no I couldn't, I had to take their valuation.