Mortgage help please! Do I go over broker's head?

[Banana0pancakes]

So our broker has sent us a copy of our mortgage application that they've sent to the lender.

It has 13 mistakes on, basic things like deposit amount and loan are wrong, various outgoings are incorrect. Just a nightmare. I've sent 3 emails over the last two weeks with it broken down so easily a 5 year old could understand it and it's still wrong.

I'm on the verge of pulling my hair out.

Is it a done thing to contact the lender directly? I really don't want to make it worse but don't think I could at this point..

That sounds awful, can you go direct?

It sounds unusual that the broker didn't get you to read over the application before it was sent. We always use a broker and he always asks us to double check and either confirm ok or let him know if we want something changed

Are they an independent?

They should have given you their disclosure documents which will detail what to do in the case of them not being able to resolve a dispute for you.

You could contact the lender, but as an individual you may not have access to the rate the broker has found for you.

I would call the broker in the first instance. Just to make sure your email hasn’t gone into the junk folder (I now check mine daily as some of the more interesting email addresses flag as junk)

Yes, this was after them asking us to check. We gave them the correct information twice and agreed for it to be submitted with those changes.
Today we received the copy they've submitted and it's terrible.

No they're a proper business, we're buying shared ownership and took the recommendation of the group who own the remainder of the house to get the mortgage through.

I've sent them a scathing email after trying to speak to them all afternoon and not getting past the admin assistant. I'll give them until tomorrow lunchtime and the ring the lender. I really don't want their incompetence to reflect badly on us!

Your lender probably won’t speak to you. They’ll probably tell you to go through your broker. It’s to do with giving advice or not - the rules are quite strict.

The admin assistant is probably the one you need to speak to, they do all this on the brokers behalf, some brokers are pretty poor at communicating the correct info to the admin team. I would raise it with them and say they have one last chance to fix it before you go elsewhere. Have you paid the broker? When does their fee become payable?

The last broker we used was bloody useless, I sort out the mortgage myself now. Much less hassle

“ No they're a proper business, we're buying shared ownership and took the recommendation of the group who own the remainder of the house to get the mortgage through.”

This is where you went wrong, we did the same when we bought shared ownership. It was problem after problem. Would have been better to find our own broker/mortgage!

Ring them tomorrow at 9am. Tell them they have one hour in which to return your call and explain why they've fucked things up and what they are going to do to put it right. If they do not call you by 10am with an explanation, then you will be removing your business and making alternative arrangements. Go to a different broker or go direct, if necessary withdraw the mortgage application and find another lender - it's not the end of the world.

OMG! That sounds shit. Get yourself down to HSBC tomorrow. They have loads of great super cheap mortgage deals and lots are fee free. P.s. I don't work for them.

Just say "thanks but no thanks, these documents are littered with errors and we don't want to go ahead".

We've paid them £400 for their services, I wish I'd followed my gut and just said no thanks at the beginning.

We just wanted to do everything in house to keep it simple. Apparently not.

£400!!!!!! Bloody hell

They've had you there. Do yourself a favour and write the £400 off - trust me, it's cheaper to do it now than stick with them and end up with multiple mistakes and shit service.

If you want to use a mortgage broker, then go to L&C - they are very good (I used them) and free for you to use as they get commission from the lender. They deal with loads of banks and building societies.

Ring the lender, you need to make sure things are right or it could cause all sorts of hassle further down the line

Oh and yes L&C are great, we used them and we're both qualified to give mortgage advice ourselves (although in regulation) - couldn't fault them.

A decent broker should be free. We’ve never paid a fee. They get paid by the lender. But I definitely wouldn’t take the recommendation of the shared ownership people, they’ll get a referral fee to so have no motivation to send you to someone reputable when they can send you to someone who could make them money.

Brokers don’t get paid on everything.

Some products don’t give a fee from the lender.

Hence the charging of a fee.

A small mortgage of say £100k might only pay £200, take off office, rates, paye, pension contributions etc and there’s not a lot left.

I know, I had read good things about L&C but because its shared ownership this broker was presented to us as being specialists.
Gah.
They called us this morning full of apologies, but it's not really good enough when it's such a huge thing to us.
I sent an email to the lender yesterday outlining the problem and asked them if it was possible to cross reference what they have on us. Even though the broker has said they've rectified it, I just don't believe them