Halifax Mortgages

...I was confident that the Halifax would give me the best mortgage deal.

At the next appointment, an application of £30,000 was run through the system as an example. More and more details were being put on file. It seemed my application would be approved, and once the business advisor had later passed my application the mortgage advisor went to a lot of trouble to let me know about it, ringing me at 8pm from her home after she’d ...
...time!

The Halifax has lots of mortgages available, and the one that caught my eye was the 5 year fixed interest mortgage, with the interest fixed at about 1% higher than the Bank of England's current interest rates. So for the five years of my course, I would be paying a fixed monthly sum and it would only start to vary with the current interest rate when I had started working. This would equate to paying rent, as that’s a fixed ... more

As my profile says, I am a student counting my pennies, and it wasn’t until the beginning of last year I realised how much of my precious student loan I was using on rent. I live in a very popular, bustling area of Sheffield called Crookes, very popular with students as well as professionals such as teachers and doctors, where we all live peacefully. This area is about as close as you are going to get to the university, but the privilege of living within a 15 minute walk costs you dearly. My basic rent is £200 a month without bills. Last year I changed my course and met an entrepreneurial lass who, at 24, owned 6 houses she let to students. I also met a whole bunch of (considerably richer) people who were going to buy houses for themselves for the next year. Until I met these people, I had always considered buying a house whilst at university a luxury for the students with considerably richer parents. But now my eyes were opened, and I realised that I too could own my very own home! After all I have 5 years left at university! I soon caught onto the idea that a house with rooms meant a chance to make money.

But to buy a house, I would need a mortgage. Who would give me, a student at the wrong end of the financial assessment system, a mortgage? I had no ideas about prices of houses, of what costs would be involved in buying a house or anything like that. However I am not one to back down easily. The only way you get on in this life is to get out there and do it, so I decided to enquire. My entrepreneurial friend was full of advice and encouragement.
A few lenders do student mortgages, such as the Bank of Scotland. The idea is to use a guarantor, normally your parents, and their income details in order to calculate your risk factors and, if you pass their criteria, how much you can borrow. However, the conditions of these lenders are probably the ones who created the image of buying a house being for the privileged. Your parents need to earn more than £15,000 and a 20% deposit is required up front, to be paid by your parents and no one else. Other lenders I rang said they couldn’t help, including Lloyds Bank mortgage suppliers, Cheltenham and Gloucester. By the time I rang the Halifax, I was ready to give up and expected a rejection. I struck it lucky!

In fact, the very friendly helpful telephone advisor told me that a lot of students buy houses through them. They operate on the guarantor system as well, but there are no bold minimum salaries or hefty deposits to be paid. Instead, the guarantor is sent the forms to fill in enquiring about their financial income and employment status, and these details are passed on to a business advisor of sorts, who determines whether the applicant can be given a mortgage and how much roughly it can be. When my father reluctantly agreed to being held as guarantor (much to my surprise), he had the option of giving the details over the phone. Knowing my dad better though, my request to have the forms mailed to him so he could fill them out himself was taken up without any problems, and according to my dad the forms weren’t laboriously complex or time consuming.

So there I was, on the telephone to the bank. It was a local rate number that operates as a filtering system, directing different banking queries to the relevant departments and, where possible, dealing with them at that level. I was told that the next step would be to make an appointment to see a mortgage advisor, and this was done through the switchboard system using a type of networked diary for all the mortgage advisors. This, I thought, was very efficient, as they let me choose which branch I could have the appointment at and what days would be best for me before suggesting times. A letter of confirmation was sent out. However, a day after the appointment was made the mortgage advisor rang me to tell me that the computer had double-booked her, which was somewhat inconvenient, and I apologised that I couldn’t rebook for that week. She said she could see me anyway but the appointment wouldn’t be long.

At the appointment I was treated very well, seated in a private office and offered drinks. The mortgage advisor then talked me through my options, showing me the huge range of different mortgages available. She talked me through the costs of setting up the mortgage and gave me lots of leaflets and information, before running through a preliminary application. The guarantor forms were sent out, and I made another appointment to see her a week or so later. By the end of the appointment, I was much more informed about what was involved in the process of buying a property and what my options were, and I was confident that the Halifax would give me the best mortgage deal.

At the next appointment, an application of £30,000 was run through the system as an example. More and more details were being put on file. It seemed my application would be approved, and once the business advisor had later passed my application the mortgage advisor went to a lot of trouble to let me know about it, ringing me at 8pm from her home after she’d rung the bank to find out the outcome on her day off! She gave me advice on how to start house hunting, wished my luck and gave me her direct line phone number to get in touch when I found a property.

However, one thing disturbed me. Once the application is approved, a Mortgage Promise is normally given to the applicant, a statement that guarantees you that the bank is going to give you a mortgage. My mortgage advisor didn’t give me one of these. So, when I inevitably lost her direct line phone number and tried to get in touch through the 0845 switchboard I had a bit of a job on my hands when they wanted details from this Promise. They did try to transfer my call to her when I explained I had not been given these details, and whenever I couldn’t get through I had any telephone messages I left returned pretty sharpish. However, recently found out you can’t get a Mortgage Promise until you actually make a full application for a specific property. Being told this rather than “I won’t give you a Mortgage Promise yet” would have made things a whole lot clearer in my mind, although I suppose I should have asked why at the time!

The Halifax has lots of mortgages available, and the one that caught my eye was the 5 year fixed interest mortgage, with the interest fixed at about 1% higher than the Bank of England's current interest rates. So for the five years of my course, I would be paying a fixed monthly sum and it would only start to vary with the current interest rate when I had started working. This would equate to paying rent, as that’s a fixed monthly sum too. The Halifax charges an arrangement fee of £180 to set up certain types of mortgage, although a few are exempt from this charge (normally with conditions). However, I was told that special mortgage deals are on offer at different times for different periods of time, some which included no arrangement fee or a free survey, and what’s on offer depends entirely on when you apply.
The deposit is around 3%, and needs paying up front. This was an improvement on the Bank of Scotland student mortgage deposit of 20%! The whole process was explained to me to be made as clear as crystal although I cannot recall them. The whole buying process takes 6 to 8 weeks. A solicitor is involved to search records to ensure the area is kosher, that it isn’t going to be made into a motorway in the next 5 or 10 years etc. They also draw up the sale contract. A conveyancer is involved to oversee the whole process, and you need to pay for a survey of the property on which the decision to give you the mortgage for that particular property is made. The solicitor costs around £500, and I do believe the conveyancer was free as they were associated with the Halifax. All costs involved in buying were calculated and made clear to me. As the deposit of 3% is lower than, I think, 10%, the Halifax charge an insurance of around £400, which is added to the mortgage. All other costs need paid up front, and they came to around £1800 for a £30,000 house. Monthly payments for a mortgage of £30,000 would come to £200 with an additional £20 covering buildings and contents insurance.

Since I had been assured I could have a mortgage with the Halifax, I have looked around at other mortgages as a means of comparison, and I have found that the Halifax offers a very competitive service and good range of mortgages. Their range included the more popular options, such as flexible mortgages, interest-only or repayment. In fact the number available overwhelmed me.

Since then, I think I have found a nice little place. The place is below the £30K mark (a professional builder/plumber/electrician had bought the house and completely done it out with new windows, rewiring, plastering, new units, carpets and a burglar alarm etc.) so my monthly payments would be lower than my current rent! One of my mates from college is going to occupy the other room so what I save on the mortgage can go towards any problems I may have with the house (where the builder guy can come in handy). And once I have finished studying, I can remortgage it under a letting mortgage, and hand it over to a letting firm. Sorted!
I contacted the Halifax the other day, contacting my mortgage advisor who told me when I was sure I wanted to go ahead with the purchase I should make an appointment to see her and she would tell me what t bring with me for the appointment, in which a full application would be made, the whole process taking about an hour and a half. I appreciate how friendly and full of help and advice the staff at the Halifax have been, particularly my mortgage advisor. I think, after receiving some very blunt rejections and unhelpful comments from other lenders with whom I originally enquired about getting a mortgage with them, I couldn’t get a better service anywhere else!
 

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