An adviser, who chose to remain anonymous, submitted an offer on 11 May but has yet to receive any response to the completion from the lender. The broker claimed Abbey had constantly kept promising a response would come but nothing had been delivered.
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Among the problems encountered, the criteria changed during the process, and for online applications under 85 per cent loan-to-value the service was enhanced so no declaration was needed – but the broker had already faxed it, working under the previous instruction.
Following this, the broker sent documents on the 30 May by fax, yet Abbey claimed that they were received a few days later and that the online application was received the day after they were sent.
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The application was for a simple remortgage with a change of rate, and the broker took advantage of Abbey’s remortgage service where they were offered free legal advice but opted for cash back instead.
The broker said: “What should have been an instant action of transferring the equity from one person to two took 10 working days and in that time I had to call to chase it up. A month ago I would have said that Abbey was one of the best lenders but after this I think that it is one of the worst.”
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An Abbey spokesman said: “Many factors have conspired against the broker including a the high demand for all our products. It is clear that the application time in this situation has been impacted by this, but without knowing the individual circumstances of the case it is difficult to respond accurately.”
