Letter of offer for mortgage

moondance

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I got my mortgage approval and all documents in the week before last so the bank said they will have my letter of offer out as soon as they can. Anyone know how long this usually takes? I'm getting so impatient!
 
Typical turnaround time should be a working week but service levels vary widely between lenders.
 
Unfortunately you will be waiting a while, there not the most efficient.
 
Well flip it anyway, that's what I was worried about! :mad:

I've been annoyig my broker loads, could I ask broker for a direct contact in the bank at this stage to get on their case or do I have to wait for this letter of offer?
 
Don't a lot of brokers wait until they have an 'economic' amount of mortgage requests to submit and therefore if the OP is the first in a 'new batch' they will be waiting a while - conversely, if they are e.g. applicant no. 20 they could expect a reasonably prompt response?
 
Don't a lot of brokers wait until they have an 'economic' amount of mortgage requests to submit and therefore if the OP is the first in a 'new batch' they will be waiting a while - conversely, if they are e.g. applicant no. 20 they could expect a reasonably prompt response?


I think you're spot on :)

If that is the case with your offer, they may think you're being a little unreasonable.

Moondance - give the broker a call and ask him to exert some pressure if you have a deadline.
 
Called the broker this morning and I've just been told she's on annual leave as of yesterday so now some other guy said he'd check it out and call me back. Hmmm, I have a feeling I'll be waiting! Nice of her to tell me she was going to be away. At this stage I have all the contracts with my solicitors, an apartment empty and ready to live in and this is holding me back. Luckily I know the developers personally so they've no date for contract signing set out but I just want to get moved in already! :(
 
Hi Moondance,
Do you mind me asking why it was left so late to get approval/docs to lender, if property ready to complete?
 
Hi Moondance,
Do you mind me asking why it was left so late to get approval/docs to lender, if property ready to complete?

Property was ready from when I first saw it. I decided I wanted it about 3-4 weeks ago, at that stage I had all my documents in with broker and had approval in principal for mortgage amount. So paid booking deposit. Then she (the broker) was waiting for banks to get back to her with best rates and 2 weeks ago I was going with Ulster Bank. But then at the beginning of last week she said she had got on to First Active again (they weren't keen on giving mortgage on 1 bed apt in first place) and they decided to give me mortgage anyway. They had better rate than UB for me so she said it could be anything between 5-10 working days for letter of offer to come out.
 
Broker's colleague has now told me that I'll have it tomorrow or Monday. I think he may possibly be just trying to keep me quiet until my broker gets back on Monday... Called FA and was told that as I had dealt with a broker they can't give me any information direct.
 
Just happened into this thread by accident and I'm taking some comfort fromthat fact that I am not the only person in this situation. Am also dealing with the same lender and they'd would wear you down with delays, mind you I have a sneaking suspicion the broker didn't send in the application for formal loan approval when he was supposed to so I'm sure that didn't help the situation. IThe joys of buying somewhere to live!
 
:rolleyes: Update on this - I'm told by my broker letter of offer now due to be issued today! I'll believe it when I see it! Not sure if it's thr broker or First Active or both that's completely useless!
 
As my above post Moondance, I'm pretty sure that this is what has happened.

For various reasons, brokers don't usually submit these in dribs and drabs and rather wait until they have a reasonable amount & then submit all at once - some of these could at this stage be weeks old!
 
Disclosure - I work for a Mortgage Broker.

With all respect to the above posters, the service levels with First Active are absolutely atrocious.

I personally know of a major Mortgage Broker in Dublin associated with an estate agency that have their clients sign a waiver, absolving the broker for any difficulties due to delays because the client chooses to proceed with First Active.

Now in fairness, it doesn't sound like you have had the best service to date from your current broker, with regard to cover over the holiday period, but First Active are not helping the matter.

The broker should be able to provide evidence of when they submitted the pack to First Active, should you need to dig any deeper
 
If I wasn't in such a hurry I would change to another bank now. I'm now assured they'll have letter out today (deja vu). Would it be a huge deal to switch as soon as possible to another bank once I've got the mortgage cheque or will it be very expensive?

Onelife - thanks for that. I really wonder why they recommended going with FA when they knew what they were like? I was actually going with Ulster Bank and then broker came back and said FA were .05% cheaper and I should go with them. Should they have told me there would be delays? She knew I was in a hurry.
 
Ulster Banks service isn't much better to be honest - they're both owned by RBS (royal bank of scotland) - and have a centralised processing centre in Sandyford. They have been having huge issues in implementing new IT systems and processes as part of the RBS group strategy etc etc.


If your broker knew you were in a hurry - they probably should have advised you on possible delays.

However - it sounds like they were acting in your best interest regarding the rates etc

You can remortgage away from First Active at your leisure, though you will have to pay legal fees etc
(unless you go with a lender who offers free legals - but you have to stay with them for 5 years or they will charge you for the legals)


As you have all your documentation and a valuation done, you could go to a lender today yourself and get a loan offer issued on Monday/Tuesday at best - if you get some good who knows how to walk an application through a lender.
 
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