I saw an excellent fixed rate mortgage deal back in February with Britannia. Went through the application over the phone and then received a letter asking for all my documents. As my husband is self employed they wanted three years accounts. In the meantime, they have written to my employer to find out my income details and my OH's Accountant has provided them with the 3 years accounts etc. They lost my mortgage statement so I have had to pay for a duplicate.
The valuer came out to look at my property and due to his valuation figure, it has pushed us just above the 60% loan to value ratio and means that we now do not qualify for the rate for loans under 60%.
They have confirmed that our income is fine but now they are asking for SA302 forms from HMRC which you only get if you complete a paper tax return. The accountant does an online tax return. It even says this on the HMRC website. I have contacted HMRC and they have said they get this all the time with lenders and they will send out these forms but it can be anything up to 28 days before we receive them.
In the meantime, I have been doing my research and have put together three comparable properties, all of which have sold for about £50,000 more than mine, however, they are not as good a buy as mine would be as one is on a main road and has one bedroom less, one has no parking and one was constructed at the same time as mine but has not been extended. These comparables show the price the property was advertised for (from Zoopla), the sold price (from Nethouseprices) etc. All three properties sold quickly and achieved sales very close to the sale price.
I've looked on the valuer's website and it shows photos of the valuers that cover my area and the man that came to my house is not on there. I believe, due to Easter staff holidays, he was covering an area that he did not usually work in. There was a sale in 2011 for a very similar house to mine next door but one and it was bought by a builder, completely refurbished and then resold in December 2012 for £40,000 more. I think the valuer has used the value from 2011 and then added on amount for our extensions. I've sent off my evidence and Britannia are currently sitting on his reply (which they received last week but it's got to be looked at by an underwriter).
In the meantime, I saw another good deal with Halifax, slightly more, but cheaper than the product offered by Britannia for loans over 60%. I've been rejected by them on credit score and was told to look at Experian.
The last time I checked my credit rating it was showing "excellent" as the credit score, it is now "fair". There is a search from my current account provider in November 2012 which must have been for the annual overdraft review and then two searches from Britannia. One on the same day I applied over the phone and then another 2 weeks later. Then there is the search from Halifax. Everything else is spot on, I've never missed a payment on anything in my life, I've lived in the same house for 8 years and have never been rejected for finance.
I'm really annoyed with Britannia as they have messed up my credit rating, can't offer me the product that originally attracted my attention and I have been left in a situation where I cannot shop around. I'm going to have to wait 4-6 months before applying for any other finance. I'm now stuck with my expensive mortgage that is 3% higher than other products on the market.
I certainly don't feel like I have been treated fairly, their staff really don't seem to know what they are doing and I'm going to be making a complaint. Am I within my rights to get one of the credit searches removed from my credit file? At no time was I advised that I would be searched more than once. They have lost my mortgage statement which has cost me also.
After complaining to them, should I take it to the Financial Ombudsman?
The valuer came out to look at my property and due to his valuation figure, it has pushed us just above the 60% loan to value ratio and means that we now do not qualify for the rate for loans under 60%.
They have confirmed that our income is fine but now they are asking for SA302 forms from HMRC which you only get if you complete a paper tax return. The accountant does an online tax return. It even says this on the HMRC website. I have contacted HMRC and they have said they get this all the time with lenders and they will send out these forms but it can be anything up to 28 days before we receive them.
In the meantime, I have been doing my research and have put together three comparable properties, all of which have sold for about £50,000 more than mine, however, they are not as good a buy as mine would be as one is on a main road and has one bedroom less, one has no parking and one was constructed at the same time as mine but has not been extended. These comparables show the price the property was advertised for (from Zoopla), the sold price (from Nethouseprices) etc. All three properties sold quickly and achieved sales very close to the sale price.
I've looked on the valuer's website and it shows photos of the valuers that cover my area and the man that came to my house is not on there. I believe, due to Easter staff holidays, he was covering an area that he did not usually work in. There was a sale in 2011 for a very similar house to mine next door but one and it was bought by a builder, completely refurbished and then resold in December 2012 for £40,000 more. I think the valuer has used the value from 2011 and then added on amount for our extensions. I've sent off my evidence and Britannia are currently sitting on his reply (which they received last week but it's got to be looked at by an underwriter).
In the meantime, I saw another good deal with Halifax, slightly more, but cheaper than the product offered by Britannia for loans over 60%. I've been rejected by them on credit score and was told to look at Experian.
The last time I checked my credit rating it was showing "excellent" as the credit score, it is now "fair". There is a search from my current account provider in November 2012 which must have been for the annual overdraft review and then two searches from Britannia. One on the same day I applied over the phone and then another 2 weeks later. Then there is the search from Halifax. Everything else is spot on, I've never missed a payment on anything in my life, I've lived in the same house for 8 years and have never been rejected for finance.
I'm really annoyed with Britannia as they have messed up my credit rating, can't offer me the product that originally attracted my attention and I have been left in a situation where I cannot shop around. I'm going to have to wait 4-6 months before applying for any other finance. I'm now stuck with my expensive mortgage that is 3% higher than other products on the market.
I certainly don't feel like I have been treated fairly, their staff really don't seem to know what they are doing and I'm going to be making a complaint. Am I within my rights to get one of the credit searches removed from my credit file? At no time was I advised that I would be searched more than once. They have lost my mortgage statement which has cost me also.
After complaining to them, should I take it to the Financial Ombudsman?