Any one arranged a First Direct mortgage recently?

[NoseyHelen]

We've had an offer accepted on a house but buyer wants to complete in 1 month. Our mortgage provided is First Direct who are sticking to a mantra that the approval process will take 4-10 weeks. They refuse to be any clearer than that.

Has anyone had a mortgage approved by First Direct recently? I'm not sure how realistic our vendor's 1 month deadline is.

[AppleandMosesMummy]

Erm not very. It will take 4 weeks to get all the searches back, i'd agree smile and with buyer and then let the solicitors sort it all out, at least you have somebody chasing things up from their end, so it'll be about 8 weeks I'd say.

[jeanjeannie]

Not at all realistic! Gosh - not many solicitors get off their backsides and get everything into place within that time even if First Direct could get it done.

[NoseyHelen]

Our solicitor is certain she can work that quickly - having said that, 1 week in, she still doesn't even have the name of the vendor's solicitor!

[NorkyButNice]

I don't know about First Direct, but we just applied for a mortgage with HSBC - they said approval takes 4-6 weeks but ours was done in under a week. It helped that we had all the supporting documentation from our employers ready to go (proof of salary/payslips etc).

The rest depends on how on the ball your solicitor is - mine says the fastest she's done from offer being accepted to completion is 8 hours! So it can be done

[sweetfall]

Please note that your solicitor may well charge you money for reducing time from exchange to completion from their standard time.

They won't point it out beforehand of course, check your smallprint

About 9 years ago we were charged £5 per contract (ie sale and purchase) per day which mounted up quite quickly IIRC

[pippylongstockings]

Not sure about First Direct - we completed in just over 4 weeks a couple of years ago with IF as our mortgage providers

TBH it isn't the mortgage approval that takes the long part, it will be your solicitors getting all the land registry and local searches and survey's done etc.

Get a reccommended local solicitor - talk to them before hand, ask them if they can do it. Ring them nearly everyday and push everyone along - with property sales at an all time low they can't really be that busy!

[NoseyHelen]

Yes we'll be charged £95+VAT for her to complete in less that 10 working days after exchange. To be fair it is all up front.

[NoseyHelen]

Thanks Norkybut nice. First Direct already have all our info - we have our current mortgage with them and we recently had a mortgage agreed in principle so they know have proof of everything required.

Pippy - solicitor reckons it will be the bankthat holds things up but our solicitor has been so tardy with our sale I am not so sure. It's too late to change now though.

[Littlefish]

We have just arranged a mortgage with First Direct. It took aaaaaaages. We've been banking with them for years, but their administration over this mortgage was really rubbish. They asked us for the same pieces of information at least 3 times, even though we'd already sent it to them when they first asked.

I agree with the others that you should just go ahead, agree with the timescales and then stall the seller. They won't want to lose you.