Right apologies for the lengthy post…

My partner and I have had an offer accepted on a property last week for £210k. We have a deposit LTV of 27%.

We have been dealing with L&C up until now, who gave us a decision in principle, however, the mortgages that have been suggested are not especially competitive. Their suggestion is fixing with Halifax for 3 years. I’m wondering if we would be better off with a tracker for this term. We would prefer fixing for 5 years, which they do not offer without considerable arrangement fee (1.5k+)

We have seen a Yorkshire Building Society offer for 5 yr fixed, 3.69% with 1k arrangement, £780pcm which would suit us. Combined take home is 2.9k per month. No loans. £3k CC.

However, the spanner in the works is that we have a couple of later payments for CC dating back to 2010-2009. No missed payments. Our equifax/experian reports are good/good for me good/fair for my partner.

We are a bit nervous about going direct to YBS in case we don’t get the best impartial advice about our chances. It might be a bit late to see a mortgage advisor as the vendor wants to move quickly and the EA is on our case to be taking action.

So, any thoughts and advice? Anyone have any experience of how Halifax compare to YBS?

A crystal ball would be nice right about now. Cheers!

I had my initial mortgage arranged through L&C plus my remortage and I was very happy. When it came to look at it again they pressed me very hard to accept a new fixed rate mortgage rather than to drop back onto the standard variable rate that my existing lender was offering when the fixed rate finished. It was clear that rates were dropping and likely to stay low for the foreseeable future. I would think I saved at least £10k by not going with their recommendation.

I’m not sure what my point is really other than not to trust anyone who works for commission!

It’s definitely useful to get your experience with L&C RH. In hindsight as a FTB I would have gone to see a decent Independent MA, but L&C have generally come highly recommended.

Concerns have formed over the last week similar to what you have experienced and I’ve not found the advisor’s advice that insightful. The range of mortgages he had available compared to what is on the market seems quite restricted. Although to his credit he was helpful. I guess it’s a bit of a lottery as to who you end up dealing with as a contact to some extent.

We have now got an agreement in principle with YBS and are going to see where that takes us. Application going in Monday. Fingers crossed everything will be ok, it’s out of our hands so need to keep reminding myself that there’s no point in worrying about it.