NE Tracker Portability Mortgage application delays

[sparkles]

Having a frustrating time with our lender applying for this product.
We live in an apartment, went to lender when this product was announced last year and came away with an idea of what we had to do to apply. We are both 44 years old and want to move to a family home.

Got approval in principal in August to buy for €520k based on selling our place for €310k.
We owe €387,000 on mortgage, on Tracker rate of 1.55% with PTSB.
We sale agreed our place for €340k so NE is approx €48k.
We pay €2,289 p/m on mortgage incl insurance. Term left on mortgage is 17 years.

Bank have following details:
3 years accounts for husband's ltd co business (paid as PAYE worker), average earnings over last 3 years is €100,000 per annum
2 years accounts for my sole trader business (paid tax on earnings in year 1 of €34k, year 2 €57k)
CU, 2 x bank savings accounts, bank statements for current accounts etc.
Proof of €30k in savings, and €20k gift from parents declaration and letter.

From overpaying mortgage for years, we have been using €30k credit to pay mortgage each month and save €2,600 instead since March this year and until Feb 2016 as advised by the bank to boost deposit.

Save a further €500 in CU, €332 in bank account, statements provided.
No car loan, no credit card bills (reduced limit on my CC to €500), no other borrowings.
Pay €2,300 management fee for this year.

I'm on career break from grade 7 permanent & pensionable state job, due back June 2017, have given proof of return to work date, contract and salary scale which got over the bank's policy breach for not having 3 years accounts for my company. Have also furnished tax returns to show I've prepaid tax (pay €1,500 per month to Revenue).
2 children in primary school, no childcare costs other than after school activities.

We wanted to bid on a house, and kept the bank manager informed of every bid on it, credit department kept coming back with more questions about our finances, and others such as how would we fund works in the new house, etc. Bank manager said we were well within stress test range, affordability not an option for mortgage of €450k based on our earnings, credit dept said that because they couldn't find a comparable house price for the one we wanted, we couldn't bid on it, refused approval for €450k, monthly breakdown on €450k would be €2721 broken down as €2,346 for the porting tracker portion @2.55% over 17 years and €375 for the additional lend @4.36% over 26 years.

We get the feeling that the credit department is making up reasons not to give us approval for a mortgage, and that the €520k approval in principal is bogus but they won't admit it. Get the impression that they don't know how to actually process this particular product. Or maybe they want us to come out of NE first? In which case the NE Tracker Portability product spec and ads are misleading. We are very stressed as we feel this is the optimal time to buy a family home, and with the tracker portability rate, we'll only do this once in our lifetime so the house has to be right. Where do we go to from here? Complaints process? Seek a meeting with an actual decision maker?
Any advice appreciated.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

It's a large mortgage.
Your self employed income followed by return to a salaried job is complicating.
You seem to be buying a one off house, so it would be difficult to value, though to be fair, I have not heard this argument to refuse a loan before. People buy one off houses all the time.
The house seems to need work.

To be fair to ptsb, they are right to be careful.

Why don't you bid on a standard house in an estate which does not require work and see what happens.

Brendan

 

[sparkles]

Hi Brendan, thanks for the reply. We live in D8 and want to stay here (for school, work, friends, transport, proximity to city centre and M50 etc.). The house was one on a terrace, all with gardens, all other homes in the area are cottages, city houses or ex corpo with little or no gardens. We gave comparisons to those type of house sale, based on per metre sale price, and one similar, nearby but with no garden, which sold last year for €65k more. Also gave purchase price for the house we wanted from 11 years ago, and sale price last week would indicate a 30% drop, in line with the market. They didn't accept them, and it was too late to get an independent evaluation done.

We service a large mortgage anyway. Add management fee on to that and the new mortgage would only be €200 more per month. They didn't mind lending us €533k at 5.5% interest rate in 2007 for an apartment, when we had childcare costs of €2k per month! We also have a small inheritance on the way which would pay off some of the mortgage or pay for any house works.
Standard estate houses in the area don't have decent gardens (for play, bikes etc.), and any we've seen would definitely need work - we work from home and require more space for that and spare room for parent visiting from country.
We don't have clarity on what they'd lend us yet, despite the last 3 months of working with them.
Yes PTSB are being careful, and of course you never know what's around the corner that can affect your income, but we've proven that we're good for it, and work hard, and we represent a low risk. Would you not think the risk to the bank on an apartment is higher than the risk on a family home? We have 10% deposit and LTV ratio of 100%, this NE tracker product says 125% and minimum 10% is what is required. Just wondering if there is anything else at play here in refusing to give approval?
Thanks.