Has anyone taken out a First Direct mortgage lately? How long did it take?

[MegBusset]

Our remortgage request has been provisionally accepted by First Direct (switching from Nationwide) -- we called them just before they withdrew all their mortgages to new customers and they have just called us back.

But they have said it will be 10-12 weeks before the mortgage can get approved, during which time our remortgage offer from the Nationwide (at a rate which they have now withdrawn) will run out. The FD rate is significantly lower so worth waiting for, but we're a bit worried in case FD refuse to lend at the last minute, and we're stuck having to reapply to Nationwide at a much higher rate. (The Nationwide rate expires in two months.)

So wondering if anyone has taken an FD mortgage (as a new customer recently) and how long it took to get sorted? Am hoping that they will actually get it sorted much quicker than 12 weeks...

we're in process.....its approaching the 12 week mark and they still haven't surveyed.

Oh dear... that doesn't sound very promising!

We have a First Direct mortgage (it is our second mortgage with them having gone back to them as IMO they really can not be beaten on their great rates, you can overpay & offset any savings, & they offer great customer service), luckily we took ours at the beginning of the year (when they were already saying they were very busy because of the great rates on offer & they were having to get the managers to help them answer calls) at which time they were advising 6-8 weeks but it only took about 4 weeks.

I think the delay is because they are sooooooo busy, please bear with them as again IMO they really do offer the very best service & also offer a really great mortgage so probably worth the wait.

As long as your finances are all ok I can not see them refusing to lend to you.

They certainly (even before all this credit crunch talk) are not the most generous lenders, in fact the only reason we left them for a brief period of time is because when we moved and doubled our mortgage I was on extended maternity leave & they would not lend us the money because of that.

Now I am back at work they are happy to lend to us & TBH I am glad to be back with them having secured a 5 year fixed rate with them at 4.99%.

Good luck!!!