Difficulty with Mortgage Offer

I bought an apartment off the plans 14 months ago and received a mortgage offer from a bank through my mortgage broker. The apartment has been nearing completion over the last couple of months so have been in weekly contact with my broker to make sure that there are no delays when we get the go ahead to close. I specifically asked them to confirm that the loan offer was still in date because of the length of time between original offer and probable closing date. They came back to me and said that the bank had confirmed via email that the loan offer was still in date.

So yesterday I ring them and tell them that I want to close before this weekend (We're out of our rented accommodation tonight and so are kinda homeless at the moment.) but the mortgage broker tells me that the bank are now saying that the offer is out of date. I was fuming at this stage and told her that its not acceptable and that I want an explanation as to how the story can change totally in a couple of days but this wasnt forthcoming. Since then it's been a case of chasing my broker the whole time for updates and I'm getting increasingly frustrated. My main concern is that if this is the way the initial drawing down of the mortgage is carried out how incompetent will they prove themeselves to be over the life of the mortgage if I ever have a problem. They seem to be of the opinion that they are doing me a massive favour by lending me money but I am paying through the nose for it and I'm not happy with the service before the mortgage has even begun. I wanted to speak directly to someone in the bank but apparently " they dont like talking to customers" and so they will only deal with my broker or my solicitor.

Finally, my questions are a) is there anyone who I can contact to complain about the conduct of the bank? b) In theory if I were to go with another bank how quickly could I get loan approval/drawn down with them?

Thanks in advance.

Did you have to pay a deposit 14 months ago?
A similar thing happened to us, our house took longer and I was worried I would have to re-apply. (I think most offers only last 9 months) but it turns out that we just had to resubmit the information and it wasn't any hassle at all.
I do know of a guy though who lives near me who paid his 10% deposit and by the time the house was completed, the mortgage offer had run out. In the meantime he had changed jobs and when he had to reapply, the bank wouldn't give him the mortgage and he lost the house as well as his €24,000. Even though it was a better paying job, he hadn't been in it more than a year so he did not fit into their criteria. That was an expensive lesson.

The bank kind of are doing you a big favour giving you the money, but if you are not happy and haven't already entered into a mortgage with them then go elsewhere if you can.

What date was on the mortgage offer?
For how long was the offer said to last?

Interest rates have gone up quite a bit in the last 14 months, so it wouldn't surprise me if the banks were reevaluating old offers. AFAIR the "approval in principle" they give you actually has no standing at all. Only once you go to actually draw down the mortgage will they ensure the house valuation and repayment ability.

Loan offers are usually valid for 6 months. However, this in a way relates to approval only. Too many things can change between obtaining approval and drawdown such as hikes in interest rates, change in employment etc.

Lenders cover themselves for this in their terms and conditions on the initial offer.

As for changing lenders and you want to close this weekend its a very short timespan. Two days to apply, get underwritten, run bureau checks, get approval and drawdown is not giving any new lender a very realistic timeframe to work in.

If you're just looking for approval another lender will underwrite the application in the same way as the original lender did. The only thing which may delay things further is if the new lender requests additional requirements which you may have to go about getting including getting life cover/insurance assigned to the new lender etc.

I would be very surprised if the Bank confirmed to your broker that the 'Loan Offer' was still valid, working in the industry I do not think any lender would accept a loan offer in excess of six/eight months old especially with rates changing as often as they do. Perhaps they confirmed they were still in position to offer you a loan. I would ask Broker for a copy of email from Bank.

Even though the loan offer is out of date, fair enough after this length of time, will the bank reissue it if you provide up to date pay slips? This is assuming you have not changed jobs, if you have then much more complicated I would think. Presumeably that is all that would need to be re-confirmed as surely a new valuation will have to be done anyway to confirm the property is now complete to issue the money.

I was about to post this very question !

We are waiting for our house to be built and got mortgage approval last october. So now its 8 months later and the house doesn't even have a roof so I'm a bit worried now.

Surely there's a different between I actually entering into a contract to buy and house and just waiting for it to be built and simply not finding a house and letting the offer run out....
If you buy a 2nd hand house you move in within 8 weeks and therefore this isn't an issue. I don't see why you should be penalised where you happen to be buying a brand new house and are at the mercy of the builders...
(Surely the financial regulator should get on to this?)....

Anyway, the mortage broker did say initially that the bank may request up to date payslips which we don't mind, but if it goes beyond 9-12mths and they start asking for everything again, i'll go bananas ! I also noticed that the term of the mortgage is noted as 35 years not 30. I didn't want to go with 35 years and now I'm afriad if I say anything they will insist on re-assessing us, which would mean bank statements etc etc.
Does anyone reading this work in IIB bank who could comment?

We got married last year, and would definately say buying a new house is more stressful and worrying !