Optima Legal - hopeless on my remortgage

mustang1 · 4 July 2011 at 10:12PM

I received my first mortgage offer from Woolwich on 5 May. A couple of weeks ago, I changed to a reduced rate and received my revised offer on 27 June.

I have always been working towards a completion date for my remortgage of 1 July. Optima Legal wrote to me a couple of weeks ago to say that everything was fine and they were ready to go ahead. I called them last week to check they had received my revised offer letter and they said they had and it was all good to go.

I called on Friday to confirm if it had been completed and they said there was an error on mortgage offer because it says my address is Flat X and on the Land Registry title it says "First Floor Flat" so there isn't a match. They said they now need a new offer letter and Woolwich will have to go back to the surveyor to get this checked :mad:

They say it's going to take a couple of extra weeks to get this sorted and it's costing me about £8 a day whilst I'm stuck on Natwest's SVR. I know it's not loads but it's still money.

Can I make a complaint against them? Has anyone had any experience about this? Just so mad that they tell me everything is fine and then at the last minute they raise something they should have noticed 2 months ago!

And breathe....

Thrugelmir · 4 July 2011 at 11:22PM

mustang1 wrote: »

I received my first mortgage offer from Woolwich on 5 May. A couple of weeks ago, I changed to a reduced rate and received my revised offer on 27 June.

I have always been working towards a completion date for my remortgage of 1 July. Optima Legal wrote to me a couple of weeks ago to say that everything was fine and they were ready to go ahead. I called them last week to check they had received my revised offer letter and they said they had and it was all good to go.

I called on Friday to confirm if it had been completed and they said there was an error on mortgage offer because it says my address is Flat X and on the Land Registry title it says "First Floor Flat" so there isn't a match. They said they now need a new offer letter and Woolwich will have to go back to the surveyor to get this checked :mad:

They say it's going to take a couple of extra weeks to get this sorted and it's costing me about £8 a day whilst I'm stuck on Natwest's SVR. I know it's not loads but it's still money.

Can I make a complaint against them? Has anyone had any experience about this? Just so mad that they tell me everything is fine and then at the last minute they raise something they should have noticed 2 months ago!

And breathe....

Maybe they would have. But you changed your mortgage deal. If the paperwork wasn't received until the 27th June by all parties concerned. Then 1st July was to short a time frame to revise.

Crazycreative · 16 November 2012 at 1:49PM

Hi,

I would like to back up your findings in that:

OPTIMA LEGAL ARE PATHETIC WITH RE-MORTGAGING

this also stands for the HALIFAX, who use this den of ineptitude.

Together, Halifax and Optima Legal managed to screw up so I would have to pay a shortfall if I wanted to accept the re-mortgage deal!

Optima failed to ascertain the exact balance of the loan and instead expect me to pay the difference for their failure. :mad:

AVOID!

kingstreet · 16 November 2012 at 2:01PM

I disagree here, to a certain extent.

It's the borrower's responsibility to check the redemption amount of their existing mortgage and to make a remortgage application with sufficient funds to repay the existing mortgage, which could be upto a month's interest higher because of the target completion date.

Assuming that happens, the solicitor then obtains a settlement figure for the existing mortgage, comparing it with the amount offered on the new mortgage. If the new amount is insufficient, the borrower should request an increased amount from their new lender, or make up any shortfall from their own resources.

Want to tell us what actually happened?

Crazycreative · 16 November 2012 at 3:16PM

Hi,
when I filled in the online form I put the figure to the nearest £1,000, as I had not received a redemption figure.
I then called the current lender and got a figure the very next day. When i spoke to a Halifax representative the next day I relayed that figure.

I am not a mortgage expert. If I was I would be working in the mortgage industry! When I asked about the advance I was told that a redemption figure would be sought.
And this is exactly what happened for my car loan; I asked for a redemption figure, received it and paid it off.

So when I received a letter from Optima Legal stating that they require me to pay the shortfall (around £400) and the loan amount is exactly to the nearest £1000, clearly they have not received a redemption figure.

At no time during my form filling, or from communicating with the Halifax did they say that the value wasn't exact, wrong or that I should find out the exact amount required to pay the loan.

Optima and Halifax ARE in the wrong, no matter what your response.

kingstreet · 16 November 2012 at 3:35PM

Halifax doesn't obtain a redemption figure. It takes what you say as the amount needed to repay your mortgage and that you will have asked to borrow sufficient funds to do that.

The solicitor requests a redemption figure from the current lender and at the stage you were made aware of the amount required, you could have asked Halifax for an increase to your mortgage offer.

Optima was probably only asked to handle your case once Halifax issued your mortgage offer, so the time it had to obtain the redemption figure may have been limited.

No-one is suggesting you need to be a mortgage expert and often posts are written with future readers in mind, which I should have said in my reply. Your issue is completed, unfortunately, and you can't benefit further from this information. It is however a pity that neither of the organisations you were dealing with actually took the time and effort to tell you how the process works.

Crazycreative · 16 November 2012 at 3:50PM

sorry KS, I am very angry.

I take what you say on board, but both companies could have / should have explained this to me BEFORE going to Optima.

I queried the value on the documents, but was told their legal body would confirm the actual figure BEFORE completion.

kingstreet · 16 November 2012 at 4:13PM

FWIW I'd get crucified if I did a remortgage without obtaining written evidence of the redemption figure BEFORE I did the mortgage application.

It is on the back of every mortgage statement these days, so it's not as hard to get as it used to be. It still needs an up to date version though, as the figure changes during the month, as mentioned earlier.

Lenders offering "free legals" muddies the waters a bit too. These solicitor firms (glorified call centres really) sometimes forget they are there to serve the customer, as well as their lender paymaster.

Crazycreative · 16 November 2012 at 4:17PM

I just hope that visitors to this site are for-warned before going down this path. And they avoid the pitfalls of poor service and ineptitude.

CC

eilidh_s · 16 November 2012 at 9:46PM

I just remortgaged with Halifax and whilst all the redemption figures were correct at the start, Optima Legal managed to investigate my neighbours house, not mine! It lead to a two month delay in getting my mortgage but when it finally went through, the redemption figure was a lot less so I got to do a nice healthy overpayment with the balance that they put straight into my bank account.

debra71 · 3 December 2013 at 3:52PM

mustang1 wrote: »

I received my first mortgage offer from Woolwich on 5 May. A couple of weeks ago, I changed to a reduced rate and received my revised offer on 27 June.

I have always been working towards a completion date for my remortgage of 1 July. Optima Legal wrote to me a couple of weeks ago to say that everything was fine and they were ready to go ahead. I called them last week to check they had received my revised offer letter and they said they had and it was all good to go.

I called on Friday to confirm if it had been completed and they said there was an error on mortgage offer because it says my address is Flat X and on the Land Registry title it says "First Floor Flat" so there isn't a match. They said they now need a new offer letter and Woolwich will have to go back to the surveyor to get this checked :mad:

They say it's going to take a couple of extra weeks to get this sorted and it's costing me about £8 a day whilst I'm stuck on Natwest's SVR. I know it's not loads but it's still money.

Can I make a complaint against them? Has anyone had any experience about this? Just so mad that they tell me everything is fine and then at the last minute they raise something they should have noticed 2 months ago!

And breathe....

they have lost paperwork - lied to me on the phone and been told things are going ok to them receive letters from them telling me its not ! they are useless and i am now way behind with my consent order thanks to them - my advice STAY AWAY FROM THEM !

Optima Legal - hopeless on my remortgage

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free