Mortgage timescale when self employed?

[Pogonogo]

We had our offer in principle back in November and we then thought it would be a formality to get the mortgage on the house we want to buy.

The survey has been done and approved, but 7 weeks on and we still don't have final approval.

Each week they ask for yet another piece of information that they have already had or say that no one has looked at the latest information yet.

We've been told this can happen when you are self employed. Has anyone else had the same experience or waited a long time?

This hasn’t been my experience. Dh is self employed and they did come back with a question and to request an additional document, but they moved quickly after that and we had our mortgage offer maybe 4 days later. I’d say maybe 2-3 weeks total from application. This was with HSBC. I would imagine it could be that who ever is working on it is a bit rubbish.

A few years ago with Halifax I had this. I kept thinking they had everything and then they'd ask for more documentation. It took about 8 weeks from AIP to mortgage offer.

Mine only took a few weeks. That was with NatWest.

Thanks, I'd previously had an offer from Halifax in a week, but that was 7 years ago now.

This is with Nationwide and they keep saying they haven't got round to checking the new documents yet and each one takes a week to review??

I've no idea what they are actually reviewing, because it's basically the same as the original in principle info!

Hmm, I bought in early 2021. The process from AIP To final offer was a matter of weeks. Possibly 3 weeks? And this was over Christmas and during covid. They did ask to see every document under the sun though - I had to provide 12 months of bank statements, 2 years worth of tax returns and contracts etc...
I'm not sure it's specifically being self employed which is causing the delay for you, rather than a backlog of work. Are you dealing with a broker or just nationwide direct?

We had this last year with HSBC we had a DIP and then offer was accepted in August and it took until October for the mortgage to be granted as they kept asking for different bits and pieces of paperwork from my DH who is self employed. They then kept fluctuating between the amount the where willing to lend us by £1500 which annoyed me as the monthly difference was about £2

Are you direct with Nationwide or with a broker? I think your file is just getting put to the bottom of a pile each week and not being prioritised…I’d start to put pressure on, ask for deadlines etc.

We are doing it via a broker and they keep telling us that Nationwide are being a nightmare and just say there is a backlog.
Supposedly they are causing every few days...

We've had to provide 3 years of everything and more! It's never been this complicated before.

*chasing

I work very closely with a mortgage broker (I do the life insurance, etc) and they were telling me last week Nationwide were a bloody nightmare at the moment to the point she was crying about it

That's good to know. Maybe I'll stop being paranoid for a little longer!

We are having this at work too, sometimes they come back and practically ask for the clients shoe size, provide it and they wont look at it for a week.. its so frustrating weve had tears in our office more than once when the client just doesn't believe you (and you can't blame them sometimes even though you really are doing your best).

Hang on in there OP