Published 20 May 2019 · Last reviewed 9 October 2023 · Older article — see current rates
The truth about Mortgage Lenders turnaround times is often disguised to the public. If you look at the latest information below, it makes rosy reading but the devil is often in the detail.
It is also worth noting Barclays*, Halifax*, Metro*, NatWest* and TSB* do not publicise their turnaround times on their websites.
| Lender* | Ave. App to Offer | Ave. Document Review | Latest info available |
| Accord | 10 days | 93% in 2 working days | 20/5/19 |
| Coventry | 10 days | 1 working day | 20/5/19 |
| Leeds | 11 days | 4 working days | 17/5/19 |
| Nationwide | 9 days | 3 working days | 17/5/19 |
| Santander | Residential 11.7 days Buy-to-let 12.8 days | 1 working day | 20/5/19 |
| Skipton | 10.41 days | 1 working day | 17/5/19 |
| Virgin | 10 days | 3 working days | 17/5/19 |
* Intermediary division of the lender.
What can slow a Mortgage Application down
- Service standards. Find out whether the Mortgage Lender operates a queuing system. For instance, they might publicise five days to review your mortgage but if following that review, they ask for an additional supporting piece of paper – does this re-join the five day review time?
- Status. The complexity of your status. For instance to take just one area of mortgage underwriting, such as income: do you have a single employed job with just a basic salary or multiple variable income streams; are you in a full time position or zero hour contract; could you be on maternity leave or secondment etc? Ask yourself the question, could a computer decipher your income position or will it need an Underwriter to review matters?
- Documentation. Are you regimented in keeping your financial affairs in order and retain documents in an orderly fashion? For instance, if the Mortgage Lender asked you to evidence where you have lived by bills in each of the last three years, would you be able to do this at the drop of a hat?
- Valuation. If you are in an area with similar properties that are regularly sold, and you have a sizeable deposit, some Mortgage Lenders may use an automated valuation model which is effectively a computer desktop decision for an instant decision. Other Mortgage Lenders will instruct a surveyor to visit the property, either on a mortgage application or after your status is approved. As status approval could take a few weeks, this could slow matters considerably, particularly if their surveyor is booked up.
- Access to the Mortgage Lender. Often there is a considerable lead in time to see a Mortgage Advisor in the branch. The best mortgage products might not be available on the “high street” or from a regional building society in another part of the country. Your work pattern might not coincide with the Mortgage Lenders opening hours. One way around this would be to enlist the services of a professional Mortgage Broker.
- Packagers. Can you or your professional Mortgage Broker access the mortgage directly from the Mortgage Lender, or do they outsource a third party Packager to do their Admin. This extra cog in the process could add time, as the Packager is likely to act for more than one bank so may not be as attuned to the up-to-date requirements or have the exact systems in place.
- Legal process. It is common on remortgages for Mortgage Lenders to provide “free basic conveyancing”. The Mortgage Lenders tend to look for large National Firms who are able to work on a budget. These compromises can lead to a non-personal “factory-style” service that may not be efficient.
- Vendor. You need to find out the Sellers timescales. For instance they might not be in a rush preferring to hold back until their child’s new secondary school starts in September.
Niche Advice is a Mortgage Broker and can help you arrange your mortgage. We will offer information to help you make a decision on speed of the mortgage process. We will also question the reason for the quick turnaround, as it may be worth waiting an extra week if you end up with a far better mortgage product.