Mortgage sent to underwriters

[SolemnlySwear2010]

Hi,

We have had an offer accepted on a property and sent through the documents required for a full mortgage application (already had an agreement in principal).

Our mortgage broker has come back saying it has been referred to the underwriting team - is this a bad sign?

We have clear credit scores with no defaults / missed payments but do have a car on finance and also a loan (both come to £480 a month for repayments).

Just worried we are going to miss out in the house we love - can anyone shed some light?

No very normal

It has to be referred to the underwriting team!

Every mortgage is always sent to the underwriting team.

It means you passed all the initial checks and their insurers just need to check they haven't made a mistake and that they won't be liable if the lender has done their sums wrong.

It's basically gone to the mortgage lenders insurer who are now making sure they are covering their own backs.

Sometimes a mortgage will get referred up for a closer look by the underwriters - they all have to be underwritten but some will go to the head of underwriting if they're not sure about something.

Are you close to the affordability limit? Is there anything unusual in your outgoings (Klarna, bookies, lots of cash withdrawals or deposits)? Are your outgoings higher than average, even if it's all on something totally normal? Is the house extremely old, in a weird location, very close to businesses like takeaways? There are lots of reasons - it's not necessarily something to worry about!

Why would being close to takeaways be an insurance risk? Kitchen fires or something?

It's about it being noisy/smelly/there being antisocial behaviour I think - affecting potential resale value and the value of their security. Usually it's only if you're above a takeaway (like a flat) or next door to one though, I think!

Hi,

Thank you so much for all your very quick replies - to answer:

• no klarna/ bookies etc
• normal house, in normal neighbourhood
• no high withdrawals/ deposits
• affordability- our AiP was for around £220,000 and the property we have went for is £190,000 so less than we were looking for.

You have all eased my fears a little bit, we are first time buyers so new to the whole process

Thank you

Don't worry mine is currently with the underwriters. I am already with the lender but borrowing a bit more for my new purchase, they will not give me the full offer until the survey os back and they are happy with that. They have asked me a few extra questions as part of the process (about my uni aged kids), it is completely normal. Hope you hear soon.

I'm an Underwriter. I'd say approx 90% of all cases go to an Underwriter for sign off. The other 10% will be very low risk low loans which go through automation
It hasn't gone to the insurers as someone else suggested it will be with an Underwriter who works for the lender
All part of the process and from what you have said everything sounds fine. Hope you get your offer soon

Former mortgage underwriter here.

Every mortgage has to go to an underwriter (well it certainly used to, I don't know if the process is more automated now!) - they are the ones signing off that your income fits, you've got a good credit history, the property doesn't have any unusual risks like it's an unconventional construction or worth far less than you hoped, so that they can justify lending the money to you. Or if something doesn't fit the criteria, they sign off that they're prepared to take a punt on you. Perfectly normal.

Cross posted with Jmaho!

All mortgages have to be underwritten. Only usually takes about a week, then your formal offer is sent out.

Don’t worry! FTB here, mortgage offer went to underwriters and came through within 24 hours, it’s just routine.

FTB also, ours went to underwriters as standard because we only have 5% deposit. But offer came through after about 16 days of submitting application :)

Thank you everyone.

Our mortgage broker thinks it's because we have a 5% deposit. Hoping to hear back early next week so we can get everything else progressed.

How quickly does everything usually happen? We are in Scotland so already have the home report etc provided by the seller to highlight any issues with the property.

Update -

Mortgage broker emailed over today and the mortgage has all been approved with the first lender he went with.

Got a good interest rate and even got the £500 cashback incentive.

It is a complete weight off our mind - we can finally relax a bit knowing the house is going to be ours

Thanks again everyone for replying

Hi, @RubyDubie I wondered if you could help me, as you were an underwriter please? We are first time buyers and have gone with a mortgage broker. They’ve submitted our application to hsbc, we’ve got an agreement in principle and had a text confirming they’ve organising the property valuation. I’m assuming it’s with underwriting now or will be shortly. They’ve done soft searches on our credit reports but not a hard one yet. I check totally money.com for this! My huge concern is in the past 2 months I’ve made about 4 cash deposits into my bank account. Not large by any means, £280, £300, £100 & £80 at different weeks. The reason is, it’s been money that’s been in the house and I wanted to clear my credit card so when the banks check, they can see it’s cleared, it’s just literally being money saved in the house over time and one deposits was from selling a collectible item. I’ve done research and some say they only pick up on large cash deposits and wants proof where it came from, and some same they only pick up on cash deposits if it’s being used for the purchase. The money has been spent and I have no proof of where it came from but it hasn’t been used for the mortgage deposit, that’s in another account I’ve sent proof of. Will this affect my mortgage application do you think? I’m so worried they’re going to think I’m some kind of drug lord!

@Acacia90 it's a very long time since I was in the business, but amounts like that would not have worried me, especially if you explained it as you have. Fingers crossed for you!

No. Totally normal.

Mine is currently with the underwriters as well. :) Good luck to you!

Thanks everyone I hope it all goes through! 😊

Just wanted to ask a question. Our buyers have said it is ar second stage review. Does this sound normal? X

@Carlymc3107 It's a long time since I worked in mortgages, perhaps @Jmaho might be better placed to answer, as we didn't use that terminology in the Building Society I worked for. However, I would imagine the first check is the initial one, to make sure that everything the underwriter has been presented with looks ok, and then second stage presumably would be checking that all of that information has been evidenced eg payslips all ok, bank statements all ok etc? So yea, I'd say that's probably normal.