Ulster Banks rate rise

angryInch

Looking for some advice.

I am currently in the final steps before drawing down an Investment Mortgage with Ulster Bank. The problem is that the rate goes up by a whopping 1.8% if it doesn't get drawn down before close of business on Friday.
Everything they require is in and the delay at the moment is that their legal department are taking an age to get to qualification sorted (the last time my solicitor was contacted for information was last Wednesday, so they have everything they need).
Every time I ring I get a different story about how long its going to take (everything from 2 to 10 days!), and at this stage I really think they are stalling so as not to give me the lower rate that was initially negotiated.

Does anyone have any idea how I could approach this so as to get the mortgage drawn-down process started by close of business this Friday.
I seam to be meeting an unhelpful and impenetrable wall every time I talk to either the branch or the mortgage team in Dublin. It seams the legal department is an entirely different entity and they cannot speed up the process (or at least thats what they are telling me).

If anyone with a knowledge of Ulster Bank procedure or even my rights in this situation could give me some advise I would be extremely grateful.

From,
One very frustrated bank customer.

unclebill98

Ok, that dept is a total mess tbh.

Best to explain it to the branch manager and get them to understand the problem here. Ask them to log this issue as a concern and ask for a concern reference number. A concern is UB way of following problems that a customer brings up. At least that way you can explain that you have everything in place and that its them that are causing this delay. At least with this done its on a system that can not be argued against.

There not doing it just to get you on the higher rate. Its simple down to a very poor mortgage process that has been trying to get itself sorted for almost 2 years.

Calling the mortgage centre is pointless. You'll never talk to the same person twice. Read the other tread here about call centres... its the same thing. Plus they'll never put you through to the legal dept, you'll be left on hold for ages while they go off to talk to them. Its a very badly run place!

Is the rate your going onto a fixed rate?

Basically your waiting on completions to finish your file. This should only take about 2 hours per file. They just make sure everything is in order before releasing the funds to your solicitor.

Like i said get the concern logged and keep the pressure on. Ask the branch manager to contact the Area Manager, they always seem to get stuff moving.

Of course, you might be missing something and its not UB's fault at all, so I'll assume your correct in saying everything is in.

angryInch

Thanks very much for that detailed reply. That's really what I was looking for, the opinion of someone who obviously knows this industry well.

I have heard the same thing from a girl I know who works with Bank of Ireland mortgage group. She said that Ulster Banks mortgage centre is well know in the industry for its incompetence.

No, the rate I will be on is a tracker rate (0.75 above ECB), which will be neigh on impossible to match in this current climate.

That's consoling to hear that you reckon they are not intentionally delaying it.

I will be talking to the branch today and I will mention that I want to log a concern. It would be good to have formally made a complaint if it goes past Friday before they close out on this.

Yes, you are correct, I am just waiting for completions to put the final stamp on this once legal comes back with the approved qualification.
I definitely have everything in, I have been on to them multiple times reconfirming this with both my branch and Dublin.

Anyway, I'll talk to them again around 11:30 today and I might be back to you with some more questions.

Thanks again.

stepbar

angryInch wrote: »

Thanks very much for that detailed reply. That's really what I was looking for, the opinion of someone who obviously knows this industry well.

I have heard the same thing from a girl I know who works with Bank of Ireland mortgage group. She said that Ulster Banks mortgage centre is well know in the industry for its incompetence.

No, the rate I will be on is a tracker rate (0.75 above ECB), which will be neigh on impossible to match in this current climate.

That's consoling to hear that you reckon they are not intentionally delaying it.

I will be talking to the branch today and I will mention that I want to log a concern. It would be good to have formally made a complaint if it goes past Friday before they close out on this.

Yes, you are correct, I am just waiting for completions to put the final stamp on this once legal comes back with the approved qualification.
I definitely have everything in, I have been on to them multiple times reconfirming this with both my branch and Dublin.

Anyway, I'll talk to them again around 11:30 today and I might be back to you with some more questions.

Thanks again.

And a lot of other things (no offense to you unclebill). To say they're slow is an understatement. Out of interest (OP) why did you go ahead?

unclebill98

stepbar wrote: »

And a lot of other things (no offense to you unclebill). To say they're slow is an understatement. Out of interest (OP) why did you go ahead?

Well its hard to argue when its true :P

The BOI have stopped sending me notice of fee's... touche!!!

angryInch

stepbar wrote: »

And a lot of other things (no offense to you unclebill). To say they're slow is an understatement. Out of interest (OP) why did you go ahead?

Why did I go ahead with what? Ulster Bank? A mortgage? Buying a house?

stepbar

angryInch wrote: »

Why did I go ahead with what? Ulster Bank? A mortgage? Buying a house?

.

unclebill98

stepbar wrote: »

.

Classic.... Cut to the chase...

angryInch

stepbar wrote: »

.

Simply they had the cheapest rate.

stepbar

angryInch wrote: »

Simply they had the cheapest rate.

As the saying goes cheapest isn't always the best. How in ever it's a bit late to be telling you that. Good luck with it anyhow.

BobbyD10

stepbar wrote: »

As the saying goes cheapest isn't always the best.

I would have thought cheapest is the best, especially mortgage rates in the current economic climate. :eek:

dotsman

BobbyD10 wrote: »

I would have thought cheapest is the best, especially mortgage rates in the current economic climate. :eek:

Far from it! Customer service is pretty important, especially when dealing with something as complicated as a mortgage (which will be the most stressful/complex financial instrument that most people will ever deal with in their lives). Obviously, I'm not talking about a couple percent interest (translating to an extra 100 or so a month), more 0.1% or 0.2% etc of a difference. Especially, when the interest rates are constantly changing and whoever might be cheapest this month, might not be next month!)

BobbyD10

dotsman wrote: »

Far from it! Customer service is pretty important, especially when dealing with something as complicated as a mortgage (which will be the most stressful/complex financial instrument that most people will ever deal with in their lives). Obviously, I'm not talking about a couple percent interest (translating to an extra 100 or so a month), more 0.1% or 0.2% etc of a difference. Especially, when the interest rates are constantly changing and whoever might be cheapest this month, might not be next month!)

Fair point and I agree - very pertinent for FTB's.

In regards to the OP and his situation, if he achieves his +.75% rate and gets poor service then it will be worth it rather than +1.8% and good service. (Just me tho )

angryInch

BobbyD10 wrote: »

Fair point and I agree - very pertinent for FTB's.

In regards to the OP and his situation, if he achieves his +.75% rate and gets poor service then it will be worth it rather than +1.8% and good service. (Just me tho )

I agree completely. Yes, I have had a frustrating week or two, but its sorted now, got the +0.75% rate, which will save me a LOT of money over the lifetime of the mortgage.

I don't regret in the least going with Ulster Bank, to me its a cost-benefit thing, the cost of approximately 0.5% of a rate difference (that was jump to the next cheapest rate I could get when I was looking a few months ago) would not have been worth it just for good customer service. You only ever really encounter customer service when you are processing and drawing down the mortgage, after that I doubt I will have to deal with them again.

Absolutely, for a FTB who needs a lot of hand-holding during the process, they may find that any savings made by getting a low interest rate could be eroded by banks pushing their own insurance/payment protection/etc on them, a trait that goes hand-in-hand with bad customer service in my experience.

But in general, for anything more than 0.2% of a difference I would grin and bear the bad customer service as the savings over the lifetime of the mortgage are quite substantial (an extra 0.2% works out at 14k over the lifetime of a 300k, 30 year mortgage. Is good customer service worth an extra 14k? - even index linked it would be more than 5k).

Anyway, thanks for all the help on this one guys, at least it worked out OK in the end. Its a bit annoying that the only way I got things moving in this situation was to be a complete asshole on the phone to them....ah well, its done now.