Santander mortgages - your experiences please!

[ImMrsBrightside]

Hi.

Had a mortgage in principle from Santander. Formal application submitted this morning and received a text to confirm. We are using a broker so he is managing it all.

Am feeling really nervous about this (for a number of reasons) and wanted to get people's feedback - how long they tend to take, did they get asked for more info, how long to/from valuation etc?

Were with Santander no probs at all

Hi Everyone,

Just called our MA and she said the underwriters have looked at the application and agreed on the application and we should receive a mortgage offer shortly.

She said it could take up to 48 hours.

It that it or could there be any more hurdles. the valuation is all done and it came back at the purchase price.

Thanks

That should be it, it was for us! Enjoy your weekend!

No more hurdles after that point. It is just a short wait for the offer to be issued. Santander are normally very speedy but are running a bit slower than normal due to volume of business. A good lender to choose though!

According to the ladies in the office at our new build development our valuation was done last week. Not heard a thing yet. No idea if they did a proper valuation or desktop even.

Thanks Everyone Just received the email and text from Santander confirming the offer.
@MovingThisyearhopefully it took us an exact week to get the offer today after knowing that valuation was done last friday.

Good luck with it .speak to your broker they would have daily updates.

Hi raoac. I got the impression ours was done early last week so its definitely taking longer than yours. We are buying a new build & the figures were tight so perhaps thats why its taking longer? DH has just left a message for our mortgage advisor. Hopefully he gets back to us with some update later.

Ours is a new build too.
I was told by our broker last friday that the valuation was fine and the file has gone to underwriters and she said according to current timelines it would be this Friday.
And she was bang on.
Did they ask you any more documents?? If they did I heard that your file would join the back of the queue again.

So not sure if thatvis the case. Your broker should be able to give you a good idea thou.

We haven't been asked for anything else. According to the Santander intermediaries site the current average time is 13.4 days for residential & even if they'd done the valuation Monday last week we would still be only on working day 10 this coming Monday so still within timescale. They must be busy I guess!

DH just heard from our broker. He is expecting our offer to be out next week.

So you are talking about this Monday and not last monday ???
If that is the case then you would hear monday.
When you said last monday I was thinking last monday as in 3rd Sep..

Yeah, around 3rd Sept it would be, so 2 weeks this coming Monday. Mortgage advisor seems positive that our offer will be with us next week. Heres hoping.

I would wait by what your adviser said.
They are bang on with timelines as they get daily updates.
I know its hard and nerve racking but unfortunately it is a wait.
Is your case straightforward?? By which I mean is
Both of us are employed
Affordability is comfortable
Credit history is good.
P60s provided for both along with pay slips and bank statements

Is your criteria the same or any of you are self employed etc??

Regards

I'm not too worried tbh. I'm a carer & disabled myself so only going on DH's salary (not self-employed) despite currently getting Carers allowance, child maintenance & PIP for myself, we didn't use it in calculations. We all know how DWP works, ill probably be miraculously cured at renewal lol. Everything requested has been provided. We probably are close to the limit with only DH salary, but not right up there & affordability is fine.

Never had any credit problems or defaults ever & had mortgages personally on & off for 20 years apart from before I moved here & was mortgage free. DH hasn't got bad credit history either & no problem getting the mortgage for current place!

I'm not concerned about us, its the value of the new build if anything that would be the stumbling block, but hopefully all will be well!

The value of the new build I think wont be a problem as far as I know (But can't guarantee) as this is our first property.
Our home is not even built yet. It will be completed in December.
So they only Do a desktop valuation and ours came back at full price.

Just forgot to mention that we had to go with builders own recommended mortgage brokers and solicitors.

Was reluctant but they have been fantastic so far(a little slow in communication thou)

Not sure if that plays any part.

Dont worry think you will be fine.
If your broker is good they should know the exact timelines anyway. So don't worry!

You broke a golden rule there raoac of never using builders recommended people. They are not on your side. Hopefully it is working out ok though. It was suggested to us, but we had our own people. Which developer are you buying through?

Our house is, fingers crossed due to be complete in December too. We have gone down every week since we put down our deposit to look at whats been done & take new pics. We are currently at first fix. We also stop off at the site office to have a chat with the ladies & get an update & update them. Its very exciting isn't it? I pinch myself that I am actually buying a brand new home, something I never thought I would ever do!

Ours was apparently not a desktop valuation btw. The lady in the office said it was one of the "nice" valuers who tell them if the value is an issue, so she is sure the value will not be a problem. Thats a relief!

It's been good so far @hopefullymovingthisyear

We had to use them because the builder refused the incentives if we didn't go with their brokers.
It's Taylor Wimpey.

We are going to the site tomorrow 2nd time so we have a real feel.
From now on we may go every week as you suggested to see how the completion is being done.

But with both of us working and a 4 year old its getting harder to find time off work to go to the site.

Open for any advices you can give regarding asking anything to the site manager or the people in office as you have already been doing this.
Thanks

Very sneaky of TW. We got incentives but didn't use the developers people. You hear bad stuff about so many of the developers. There is a TW unhappy customers group on Facebook, but its probably best avoided. I haven't heard anything bad about them on our site, its Charles Church that gets slated massively.

We're buying with Crest & some guy on our development messaged me earlier to complain about his house but was unable to come up with anything that was actually wrong. We also know a guy from DH's work who bought a Crest house & he's happy. You get good & bad on all sites & can always expect some degree of snagging on a new build.

Its not so much the issues but how they're dealt with that counts & how you broach complaints with customer care. Thats why it pays to make friends with the people in the office & site staff. We live fairly close by so come down every weekend if possible & have a look & check on progress. We almost reserved a few weeks before we actually did, but ended up with the person who offered changing their minds so the office ladies were rooting for us to find a new buyer.

We haven't met the site manager yet. Not sure at what stage that happens. Our current build status is first fix & estimated completion Dec/Jan. I suppose coming up with a list of questions to ask him would be beneficial & getting him to like you. I am lucky that DH is a very memorable friendly person that people just seem to like. It makes up for the fact that I am not lol. I'll just let him do the talking!

Apparently Santander are running behind so our case is currently with the underwriters & our offer won't be released until early next week at best. The valuation was done on 31st August for a new build. They are taking a time, but thankfully we're in no rush!

I’m remortgaging to Santander at the moment and they are being very slow. The broker who is dealing with it for me says they have high volumes at the moment, which isn’t surprising given how much better their rates were than I could get elsewhere. Hope it’s sorted in time otherwise I’ll have to pay October’s mortgage payment on SVR with my old lender which would be a bit annoying.

After being told our offer would be out next week it ended up materialising yesterday. Woo!

Congractulations...enjoy the rest of the week

I would do raoac, if our buyer hadn't decided to spring a full structural survey on us, which we have to get up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to prepare for. If they're looking to find something & reduce us further it could be game over again. I'm really worried now!

Oh Moving that's rubbish, when will these bloody sagas ever end hey?

My predictions are coming true, we're about 98% ready to go now, our buyer has very good intentions but has done hardly anything. Why are people so slow?!?!?!