Published 17 April 2012 · Last reviewed 1 August 2016 · Older article — see current rates
Have they said NO after giving you a Mortgage Decision in Principle. We really can help.
No large call centres here direct access to partners- Totally Independent not tied to banks or agents
- No Upfront fees. Pay only on completion
- Ethical in our approach and here for the long term
We deal with hundreds of mortgage enquires a month and I come across all sort of clients: the pushy client who thinks they know all the rates and criteria; the client who has trawled around dozens of lenders already before they reach me; the client who is also talking to multiple brokers and just wants to reassure themselves of who is the best; the client who has been with the same lender for their whole life and wants a change; people with adverse credit who can’t understand why they cant get finance; couples who I helped buy the first home who are sadly getting divorced; property developers who only look at 5 million plus property portfolios; and so on.
I would say seventy-five percent of my clients at some stage have approached a lender direct and have had a verbal or written approval from them or a broker.
So why are they still trawling around the internet or calling us to look at arranging finance?
When Is A Decision A Worthy One?
Well my point is that a ‘Decision in Principle’ from one lender might be quiet different in terms of surety of acceptance on full application to that of another. Some lenders just run the basic details though a computer to generate a score whereas others ask for supporting documents and physically look at the case. Some processes check affordability others do not. In short, having a Decision-In-Principle can give you a false sense of security and when the application is fully assessed a negative result will ensue. Often this ‘quick decision’ process is a thinly veiled sales ploy often used by estate agents and bank branch staff as they have limited mortgage product choice and need to hook the client in quickly.
For instance: obtaining a getting a decision from HSBC or Halifax is relatively instant, conversely, others ask for more questions and may require documents up front. The Decision-In-Principle certificate will basically say the same thing on all three but I know that most of the underwriting has been done at Decision-In-Principle stage therefore the decision is more reliable and the back-end mortgage application process will be shorter.
There are lenders that literally set their systems to accept nearly everything and when they get the application form, if they don’t like the look of it, they will ask for the impossible to be provided, leading to the case ultimately no where.
So where does that leave the client?
Well, as well as time lost, they might have agreed to paying valuation or booking fees, to get the estate agent off their backs, thinking that everything was going to be alright,
Don’t get me wrong all lenders are fully entitled to operate differently as it is a free market and the final mortgage Offer document is consistent across the industry in terms of its worth, it is just the run up to this document in the ‘Decision-in-Principle’ stage that there is great disparity and caution needs to be observed. Also, importantly the Offer is only available once a property has been decided on therefore does not allow you to shop around first.
Be particularly wary of instance decisions at the point of sale in an office or branch as it is likely to be a gimmick or well rehearsed sales pitch. We at Niche Advice will only make money on arranging your mortgage once the property sale has been fully completed. Furthermore, we are entirely independent so can access the lenders who provide full decisions to help you negotiate and search for properties that are affordable.
If you are looking for reliable mortgage advice and want us to get you a Decision in Principle from one of our lenders please call us on T: 020 7993 2044 or simply complete the enquiry form towards the top right hand side of this page.
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