First Active Mortgages > Reviews > First Active Mortgages

Author's product rating:   

Promptness of service
Efficiency of service
Competitiveness of charges/rates

Advantages:	Excellent Interest Rate
Disadvantages:	Poor correspondence

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I took out a mortgage with First Active in October 2005, I used an independant mortgage advisor and they returned the best results. The fees were £300 for a level 2 Property Inspection and £95 start-up fee. The interest rate is guaranteed for 2 years to be 0.05 above the base rate, obviously its a variable rate.

I would say the overall package offered by First Active was good on paper but they struggled to match this with their customer service. For example I haven't had a mortgage statement through atall since the start of the mortgage - this is a minor failing though. The largest source of concern came with them sending out their mortgage pack which you have to sign and return. They managed to waste just over a week by twice sending this pack to the wrong address. This is despite me calling them and checking the address with them on the phone. This potentially could lead to you losing the house as the seller of the house might be concerned over how long you are taking. Luckily for me this didn't happen but for someone on a tighter time-scale this could lead to a failed bid.

On a positive note the arrangement of the survey was fast and the mortgage pack was nicely laid out in a folder and easy to read.

The best advice I could give is that I recomment First Active but you should really keep on top of them by phoning them frequently to ensure they're doing everything they need to.