This one is a bit of quirky one in that we had 2 lots of customers going to the same lender at more or less the same time and both were EXTRMELY anxious. One application was all but a sure thing and the other was a little ropey.
This success story (or stories!) is more about how we will be open and honest with you. As we deal with a lot of adverse, we come across a lot of people who worry. Nobody ever believes us when we say their application will be fine. But I thought these 2 stories were a good example of how we treat applications differently.
The customers
Customer 1 – A couple who had picked up some minor adverse and wanted a 95% LTV mortgage.
Customer 2 – Some slightly more serious adverse, 60% LTV but affordability was extremely tight.
What we did
We went off as always and conducted the research. For customer one we had a reasonable idea of the options. Customer 2 however was a little more complicated – despite the LTV being so much lower.
Customer 1 – Due to anxiety levels, wanted to go to a lender who was more or less guaranteed to accept them. I thought there were cheaper lenders who “might” but they wanted no declines. I came back with a building society I had some history with, ran the case by them and they agreed the case looked like an ideal one for them.
Customer 2 – This was a different situation. I struggled to find lenders, not because of the adverse but because of the affordability. We could make it fit but only if some debt was cleared prior to completion. The customer agreed to this. We were also reliant on commission so I had to inform the customer that the loan amount was not guaranteed. But the loan amount was the minimum she needed so there was no real room for any changes.
I always believe in being completely open about our chances of success. If something goes wrong, the last thing I want is for the customer to think they were mislead. In this case, I told customer 1 we would be fine and I was confident. For customer 2 I told them that we would get a mortgage, the problem is that I dont know if the loan amount would be reduced by up to around £5,000 once the underwriter gets hold of it – they may not feel comfortable using all of the commission.
The application
The applications went in. Funnily enough although both sets of clients were anxious, it was customer 1 who was the most anxious. The reason I find that funny is that it was an application I had zero doubts about and no matter how much I conveyed that, they never believed me. We had all sorts of tears, sad tears, laughing tears but all clearly caused by the anxiety of how much they wanted the mortgage to go through.
It was similar with the second applicants, less tears but calls late in to the evening just wanting a bit of a reassurance. The second applicant had spoken to a couple of brokers before us. However they appreciated the honesty in terms of chances of success and for not judging them about the adverse and in fact if anything playing it down by saying that would not be the hardest part to overcome on the application.
The first application had a little bit of back and forth which did surprise me but only because the underwriter had a couple of questions about some transactions on the statement. This concerned the customer but after speaking to the underwriter, he was on the same page as me. He was 99% sure the mortgage would go to offer and just wanted the answers for his file, not because there was a concern.
The outcome
Both applications went in and took about 3-4 weeks to get through the underwriting and valuation stage. But both applications did go to offer and both for the full amount.
Application 2 was the latter application to go in, but despite being the more risky of the applications the offer came back sooner. That was purely down to the fact that the second application we had covered everything off on the notes, where as application 1 the underwriters picked up on some things we did not cover off.
Summary
These 2 applications reminded me of something I have always said about our job. Many people think a mortgage broker is there to find the cheapest product and I disagree with that. Thats a price comparison service, you do not need a broker for that. It does form part of the job, but as mentioned earlier its about what you want from your mortgage and in one of the examples above, the customers wanted a sure thing even if it cost them a little more.
Where I think a broker comes in to their own is to have that support. Things do not always go perfectly, you might have questions along the way, you might just want to have a good cry and unload everything and then feel a bit embarrassed after it… Thats fine and perfectly normal for what we see.
In an odd way, its actually nice when it happens as it means that you trust us and we have built up a good relationship… That doesnt mean you have to cry down the phone to us though haha.