Optima Legal - hopeless on my remortgage

Ardheb · 26 April 2014 at 10:32AM

I am still going through my remortgage 88 days on!
If it's not complete next week, I'm going elsewhere.

I am going through a 'simple' remortgage with Lloyd's who use this bunch of muppets.

I have returned all paperwork the day after receiving it so this inordinate amount of time is entirely down to Lloyd's and Optima.

After being told 2 weeks ago by Optima that completion would the week before Easter I received a text message from them at 1530hrs on the Thu before Easter Friday telling me that I had filled out the deed form incorrectly (the witnesses had not put addresses).

First of all - to be told this on the day that I was expecting to complete is utterly unacceptable.
Secondly, why hadn't they checked the form at any stage in the 58 days prior (when I originally sent it).

This remortgage is worth a difference of nearly £500 a month to me.
I can reastically expect 1 month to go through the process but at nearly 3 months their combined ineptitude is costing me!

I have 5 mortgages in total and have remortgaged many times over the years but have never experienced this level of inconvenience.
I genuinely feel that they do not have my interests in consideration at all.

It's the last time that I use Lloyd's and Optima for a mortgage. Lloyd's have been a good bank to me but their mortgage service is shocking.

Next time I'm going to stick to blue moon mortgages (broker) they have always delivered for me.

roast · 26 April 2014 at 3:00PM

They are awful
Had to use them for a remortgage with the Halifax, I could never get to speak to the actual solicitor, just their call centre staff who had no clue. They added a further 8 weeks onto the process.

kingstreet · 26 April 2014 at 3:08PM

When choosing a remortgage product, if you have the option of "free legals," or a cashback to defray your won solicitor's costs, choose the latter.

It may cost you £200 more, but the hassle reduction will be more than worth it...

The conveyancing warehouses lenders use for cost reasons are never going to top the service charts.

tommo1966 · 29 May 2014 at 10:39AM

currently remortgaging with nat west and optima legal are terrible to deal with, they lost my paperwork and blamed royal mail costing me £6.40 to resend by special delivery,they took a week to acknowledge a email and its a waste of time trying to call them when they do answer they dont know the answers. i am currently 7 weeks into a simple remortgage and to be honest if it wasnt for the £250 cancellation clause i would walk away.in summary they are a useless company who i would never use by choice

Lfc1969 · 29 May 2014 at 9:21PM

Completely agree. Just been through this recently with Optima (TSB remortgage) and their service was awful, lots of lost documents, never answered emails and took ages to get through on the phone. Also gave us three completion dates because they kept missing the deadline.

dingling68 · 29 May 2014 at 11:25PM

Truly shocking service received from this bunch of time wasters. Simple re-mortgage took weeks and three attempts to complete as First Direct`s redemption figure was only valid for that day and Optima missed the deadline twice! Their services were used in my case by Clysdale.

amnblog · 30 May 2014 at 11:06AM

These mainstream lenders offer free legals on remortgage.

They deal with thousands of cases and therefore screw the legal teams to the ground on price.

You are therefore merely getting what has been 'paid for' in terms of service.

You can of course pay around £400 for your own solicitor to do the work. For some reason borrowers do not seem to like that option.

fluffymovie · 4 June 2014 at 3:10PM

Just wanted to add my 2 penneth worth about Optima Legal - we just remortgaged with RBS from Santander and the whole process took over 12 weeks!

The delays were due to Optima Legal turn around times and their processes.

I sent a complaint on 13 May by e-mail and on 22 May, received a letter dated 19 May stating they had it and I would get a response within 7 working days. 16 working days on and 2 chaser e-mails from me, I got a complaint response but they even put the lender as Nat West when it isn't and didn't address 2 of my 5 complaints - it's a total joke

Add to that, we remortgage to release funds for an extension as we have a baby due next week and they say they sent the cheques out last week - no sign yet and yep, they have sent 2 for some reason - acknowledged this is another error on their part

Absolute disgrace

amnblog · 4 June 2014 at 4:08PM

You didn't pay for the service though?

What is the view folks. Would you prefer to pay or be patient?

sglilley · 27 June 2014 at 3:18PM

I can't believe the banks are still using this firm of complete Muppets,they are an absolute joke. Similar thread, they had my mortgage deeds signed 58days later, the day before so called completion, they decide to tell me its completedincorrectly, my witness has the same surname (my mother), why o why couldn’t theyhave said that when they first received it.

Optima Legal - hopeless on my remortgage

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