question about First Active for FTB Mortgage

I am a FTB (on my own) and this is my first post to AAM. I hope I have placed this thread in the correct forum and that the title is ok.
I am currenly in the process of finalising motgage approval from either First active or RBOS.
My query is I have heard that first Active are not the easiest to deal with and that delays have been known to occur, I'm just hoping some one can shed some light on this for me.
Apologies if this question has already been asked I have tried searching old posts but have not located anything. Kind Regards

First Active can be difficult to deal with. They seem to misplace more documents than other lenders.
When you say RBOS, do you mean HBOS (Halifax Bank of Scotland).
HBOS, AIB and BOI have the best deals at the moment for First Time Buyers. I would approach these lenders over First Active.

southie said:

My query is I have heard that first Active are not the easiest to deal with and that delays have been known to occur, I'm just hoping some one can shed some light on this for me.

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That's not really a question!


What exactly are you trying to find out? Whether

• they'll hold up your purchase?
• they'll just take too long to decide on the mortgage?
• their customer service is so bad you should just not deal with them?
• ...something else entirely??

There are a couple of references to poor customer service from First Active on this thread
http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=99507
but they don't give details.

I have a savings account with them and have found them fine to date, but can't comment on their customer service on other products.

NorfBank would know more about it than I, so do pay attention to his advice.

Norfbank and Dreamerb thanks very much for the quick response it is HBOS I was referring to.
Dreamerb I was indeed enquiring about hold ups, delays with reverting with decisions and bad customer srvice, my apologies I should have explained myself better but thanks guys for the feedback.
I had contacted AIB and BOI (as I had heard and read about the FTB rates withthem) however HBOS and FA are the only 2 I have managed to secure full mortage of 90% with.

I found First Active very long-winded to deal with for a mortgage. Loads of hold ups and losing things, not being clear in what they requested in the first place. The process could be made a lot easier if they had a standard pack available detailing all of the documents that you need to provide them with.

A few tips:
- make copies of everthing you give them because it is likely that you will have to provide the same thing more than once.
- follow their conditions of loan to the letter and ask for clarification early on if anything is unclear.
- if you provide them with something follow it up with a call to make sure it is what they needed.
- get your life insurance sorted well in advance to avoid potential delays.
- keep calling them and your solicitor to make sure that things are moving and there is nothing outstanding that you don't know about.

Cheeus said:

A few tips:
- make copies of everthing you give them because it is likely that you will have to provide the same thing more than once.
- follow their conditions of loan to the letter and ask for clarification early on if anything is unclear.
- if you provide them with something follow it up with a call to make sure it is what they needed.
- get your life insurance sorted well in advance to avoid potential delays.
- keep calling them and your solicitor to make sure that things are moving and there is nothing outstanding that you don't know about.

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You've just described a fairly typical day for a broker Cheeus!

Thanks very much Cheeus .. being a FTB on my own it's great to be able to ask advice on this site

They have also transferred their completion process away from Dublin to the UK. It would be quicker saving up the money yourself to buy a house than waiting for First Active to issue a mortgage cheque.