How long to wait for financial advisor to get a mortgage in principle?

[Meadwaymumof4]

I am thinking of moving and have seen a FA in a chain of estate agents.

I’m not sure if he’s all that on the ball. My dh had booked a morning off to see him but FA cancelled the meeting with less than 24 hours as he was going to be out the office all day. Said he tried to call but there was no answer phone message so I thought it was poor form to cancel so late when he must have known he couldn’t make it.

Anyway I met the FA at a later date with no dh, explained what we was after and he said he would get us a agreement in principle within a week. It’s been just over week now but I didn’t get a reply of receipt of my paperwork. I chased to make sure he recieved it yesterday but no reply.

So... if I give him till the end of the week to reply, how long do you think I need to wait to see someone else about a mortgage in principle application? The FA said if it’s declined it will only be on my record for a month. But as he’s not getting back to me I have no idea if he’s in the process or about to start the process or just a bad organised person that it’s going to go ahead.

I wish I hadn’t used him after he first came across as disorganised now. Even if he gets the paperwork in I don’t think I could use him to arrange it, it’s feels to unprofessional not acknowledging receipt of such sensitive financial documents.

Ours got us our mortgage in principle whilst we were sat in front of him, I can't imagine why it would take him a week!

Depending on the product they sometimes have to go through a mortgage packager who have to do the decision in principle for him, also lenders can take a few days to agree to the mortgage in principle whilst others do it instantaneously. So there could be a couple of reasons why but yeah he should let you know why at least

Thanks, I haven’t applied for a mortgage for a while but it doesn’t feel right. If he doesn’t reply tomorrow I will contact another eastate agent and ask how long they will take ( hopefully they can get it done in a week!).
In fact I’m going to email now to see how long it would take.

Why arm you going through the estate agents financial advisor? They are not open to the best deals around. Find an independent. They may cost more but they will not dick you around, that's for sure!

We had an agreement in principle the same day.

Agree with fromtheshires, go to a mortgage broker rather than via the estate agent, you'll probably get better service and almost certainly a better deal.

It’s eight days since I sent the paperwork with no acknowledgment so far.
I used a independent FA the last time I bought a house, but thought I could do the mortgage in principle easier this time going to the high street. Obviously not so.
It doesn’t look like he’s put the paperwork into the lenders does it? If it went in last week surely it wouldn’t take this long?
I don’t fancy booking a face to face meeting just to ask what’s going on.

If you know who the lenders are then maybe try to call them directly - if he's contacted them they should have a case raised and may be able to tell you more.

I used a broker and got the decision there and then - takes about 15mins

Ring L&C. They're independent, no fee and can give you a rough idea over the phone before making a more definite offer.

It’s been two weeks now and the FA isn’t returning my emails. I have approached two other FA but again, heard nothing back.

Anyone recommend a good online company? I might try L&C

Also will I be able to see on Experian or clear score if the FA has made a enquiry for me?

You'd be better off using an online broker like trussle. If you have access to a scanner, you can forward documents that way. We used them after a few of dh's colleagues had a good experience with them and they were brilliant.

(Avoid online conveyancing if you value your sanity, mind!)

Thanks I am looking at Trussle now. I’m so annoyed with the FA. He’s completely wasted my time.

We gave up on the idea of hanging on for the EA advisor when he said he wouldn't be available for 2 weeks.

We just remortgaged to a new provider and completed in just over 2 weeks. Personally I wouldn't use an online broker but someone recommended

The FA that was recommended to us by family has just been binned off by us after 6-8 weeks of being useless. Halifax however got us our mortgage in principal within hours!!

I have put my details onto Trussle and they said 48 hours so that sounds better than two weeks plus...

I’m not sure what I will do when I’m applying for real, I will see how smooth this is.

Your bank can give you an AIP online. Appreciate you wanna check more than one provider for the best deal but an AIP from your bank will give you a good idea of what you can lend and should be sufficient to show any vendors in order for them to remove a property from the market

I work for a lending company and we provide Agreement in Principles on the same day as the broker asks for them (providing the deal isn't too tricky or the borrower isn't in any financial troubles etc.). I also found that using a bank direct, such as Halifax, are almost instantaneous in proving their AIPs, plus they don't tend to leave a mark on your credit report as it's more of a soft search.