Any one else in the process of applying for mortgage?

[GatheringRequirements]

After four months of searching we found a property we liked and our offer was accepted.I have started contracting year and half ago so decided to use Contractor Financials as our broker and my problems started, it took a month from submitting the application to get the survey done and we still haven't had a mortgage offer,the brokers were so slow in responding.After calling up Halifax myself to check the progress I came to know that they need some documentation.I'm about to send them that now.I'm wondering is the mortgage approval process generally slow (because of MMR) or its because of the broker or Halifax themselves.
All in all its stressful, as the house is empty and I'm worried we might loose it.

[MillyMollyMama]

Our experience is that it can be very slow. One month without anything happening is not unusual. Also the surveyors might be really busy. My advice is to keep hassling them for action. We even had problems with the money not turning up on completion day. They can be very inefficient and it really adds to the stress. You might be under pressure from cash buyers for this house so do keep up the pressure.

[voiceofgodot]

Hi Gathering - I don't have much to offer in terms of advice but wanted to say that I have used Contractor Financials twice in the past 10 years for mortgages and found them to be very good. Which makes me wonder whether this is more about the impact of MMR. I have also found each time that I buy a property that the mortgage company takes forever, much longer than anticipated. I was being hassled daily by the vendor's EA last time and it was driving me mad with frustration. The only advice I can offer is to keep communicating with everybody so nobody is in the dark about what is happening.

[voiceofgodot]

IIRC I also put the vendor's EA in touch with my mortgage broker so that the vendor could be assured that we weren't hiding anything regarding the reason for a delay.

[titchypumpkin]

I sympathise. We offered on a house at Easter, the survey was done within a week of us paying the fee, but it then took 6 weeks for our mortgage offer to come through, they seemed to gather all the paperwork together, a week would pass then they'd say oh can you provide this or that, so we would, then another week would pass and they'd say oh can we now have this or that, so frustrating and like you we were getiting worried, but eventually our offer did come through so hang in there and keep chasing.

[Madmog]

Keep chasing them. I know every organization is different, but the buyers at the bottom of our chain were refused a mortgage under the new regulations around 20 May. They tried somewhere else, who did survey and then asked to see further pay slips, but luckily they were approved this time - we heard on 11 June and have exchanged contracts. Even though they'd had problems getting a mortgage so they circumstances may be a bit tight, another lender was able to grant them a mortgage within three weeks.

[dottyaboutstripes]

I'm worried now! Our application went in on Tuesday but our mortgage advisor reckoned the provider was generally coming back with an answer after just one week. So fingers crossed here...

[whereisshe]

We're in the process of applying for a mortgage - we had an approval subject to survey within a week and survey booked for the following week. But our (independent) mortgage broker is very good. And it remains to be seen if the mortgage offer is quick once the survey is done! It's not Halifax though.

[RumAppleGinger]

Our application will have gone in this morning. Everything else has been far too straighforward for something that is usually very stressful so I've convinced myself this is where the problems will being and it'll all fall to shit.

Our neighbour and good friend is acting as our mortgage advisor so hoping he manages to hurry things along and my husband is acting as our solicitor so I know if things are slow it won't be for any reason on our part! Our neighbour did advise that having everything necessary at the very beginning was really important (ID, bank statements, etc), it's when they start having to revert for documents that were missed at the beginning that things slow right down. That said we were told that six weeks is pretty much the minimum for getting a mortgage finalised.

[CrapBag]

We were in the process (but have pulled out) and we were having to jump through hoops for the sodding mortgage process. It has been such a pain. 3 times they asked for more documents after previously telling us they had everything.

This new lending rules have made everything ridiculous.

[GatheringRequirements]

They said they had everything,now they want more documentation.This happened few times,partly the broker (Contractor Financials)isn't proactive and doesn't inform about anything.I only found out Halifax needed documentation by calling up Halifax myself, it feels horrible.

[noddyholder]

Get everything in order before you apply and look at all your outgoings in detail. Our buyer just got turned down and he had a big deposit and him and his partner are in high salary stable jobs no kids so no childcare etc and they still got told no on affordability tests even though their agreement in principle was for way more than they actually needed to buy our place! Estate agent said we were the 3rd this week

[juneybean]

I'm about to submit an application. Got credit check back last week for 5x salary and I really need the full amount. I'm also self employed but they haven't taken that into account. Absolutely crapping myself I'm going to be refused :( I know I can afford it and am hoping if I send accounts plus first quarter for this year the underwriter will take pity on me...!

[noddyholder]

I thought they were capping at 3.5 x ? Maybe not yet. Our buyers were with halifax

[NovemberRainbow]

Ours is just about finished, has taken 8 weeks.

Juney, we have managed to get 5X salary no problem.

[GatheringRequirements]

juneybean - for the exact same reason I didn't go to the banks myself as they don't really understand contracting .I would advise you to go through a contractor specialist broker , the one I'm using is a specialist but they are not charging and are crap but after my experience I looked around and found Freelance Financials and Martin@ASFinancials to be good but they charge £500 as fee ,had I not been stuck with Contractor Financials I would have chosen Martin,in fact if the current one falls through I will go with him or Freelance Financials. These companies approach contractor friendly lenders and have contacts with underwriters who understand contracting

[juneybean]

I've had three brokers tell me Halifax accept applications from those self-employed with only 1 year accounts, but the credit check came back only using my employed figures :( I'm putting 15% deposit down already, might be able to stretch to 20%.

I'm already using a broker who did the credit check for me, so I'm hesitant to go to a new one, who will do another credit check with halifax again, wouldn't that show up on my credit file?

It's all very confusing, I'm a FTB to add to the mix!

[SnowBells]

It took about 7 weeks - from the day we spoke to the advisor to the day we finally got the mortgage offer. I think that's standard.

[NovemberRainbow]

Juney, I think you could asked the broker to do a 'soft credit search' I don't think these show up on a credit report.

Experian credit do a 30 day free trial, if you would like to see your credit report. We found that quite helpful and used it to boost our scores.

[MissMysticFalls]

Sounds horrible. We've got our Agreement In Principle (Santander via a broker). Our broker told us Santander was one of v few that took the latest year of income for self employed applicants. Our application went off today I think. I've found getting the paperwork proving our source of funds (for the solicitor) more hassle. Time will tell.

Our broker reckons it will take 2 to 3 weeks to get a decision including the lender's valuation survey. We've organised our own building survey which has already been done. Maybe if you need a homebuyer survey organised through your lender.

[Contractoruk]

I also had a dreadful experience with Contractor Financials. Some moron recommend them on Contractor UK and said they didn't charge a fee. He forgot to say that they never get back to you after the initial call. I also got the same excuses MMR, new compliance, blamed the lender, etc etc...
They blamed everyone but themselves. I waited 4 weeks to get a decision in principle and then found out that they didn't even submit my application after calling Halifax directly. I contacted a guy called Ben from Power Mortgages who was very helpful, but then got contacted via the contractor UK forum by Freelancer Financials. Their contact details were given to me by one of the other members that had used them. Freelancer Financials got me a mortgage in principle after 48 hours, remarkable. Even though they normally charge a broker fee they discounted it so they could proved that they could take me to the same lender without any difficulties.

Anyone looking for a mortgage who's a contractor should either contact Freelancer Financials or Ben from Power Financials.

[Stumbleine]

We have an agreement in principle through contractor financials with Halifax. So far so good with their service, but I guess the proof will be in the pudding now that we've actually found a house we want to offer on and will be applying. I have heard Halifax are generally one of the quickest.

[Stumbleine]

I wasn't particularly impressed with the guy I initially spoke to with freelancer financials (hence me going with cf) I found contractor mortgages made easy very helpful but they were very expensive at 899!

[nanoel]

As the rest of the people here stated, Contractor Financials are ok in the first part when advising, but as soon as you pay them to start the full application, they are very bad handling the cases, loosing documents, taking a lot of days to do simple things, they ignore you, you literally have to chase them to get updates because if you don't, they won't update you and the mortgage will take months to be finished. I raised a complaint and they came back saying it will take 8 weeks to re view my case, which I will probably have to chase as well.

[Doris09]

I've just had the worst experience with Contractor Financials. It started with poor communication which we let go as we thought it was just a minor blip to them putting us forward for a mortgage that we never even met the criteria for, this wasn't picked up by the mortgage company until 4 weeks into the application! We are now on the verge of losing the house we wanted to buy, so far they have refunded their fee (just under £900) and removed searches from our credit files, now we are just waiting to see if they are going to refund the valuation costs but have been told it can be up to 8 weeks until they have to respond to complaints. The only way we got our money back was contacting Mark Russell one of the directors to get across how upset we were.

[user1464372267]

After reading this post I also contacted a number of the brokers listed here. I was shocked at the fees some of these brokers are charging upfront! As much as £900, absolutely ridiculous. Don't these guys get a commission from the lender. I did pay a broker fee in the end but it was £599. I had no choice as most of the lenders I approached didn't like the fact that I had only been contracting through my own company for 3 months. The brokers I finally went with were Freelancer Financials, the broker was even available to talk to during weekends, which was convenient as I'm difficult to get hold of during the week. Overall I was very pleased with the service and the two year fixed rate was pretty competitive as well.