Intermediary News

Enhancements to our Application process from Offer to Completion

Last year we announced some changes to improve our application process which have had a positive impact on reducing the time for your customers to receive their offer of finance.

In addition to those enhancements, we are delighted to inform you of further changes which we have made to our offer to completion process:

Simplified Completions Checklist

Based on your feedback that our completion process was lengthy compared to conventional finance, we have worked with our solicitors and Legal Team to simplify our documentation requirements with a view to reduce the timescales to completion.

As a result, we will no longer provide you with the Solicitor Checklist document. Our solicitors will instead provide the Completions Team with a progress update indicating the percentage of conditions satisfied. In addition, our Completions Team will no longer be provided with the checklist unless it requires action from the Bank.

Dedicated Completions Team Contact

We have now restructured our completions team which means each application will now be assigned a dedicated contact in the Completions Team from offer to completion.

New Completions Introduction Call

You will now receive an introductory call from the Completions Administrator. The purpose of this call is for you to have a point of contact within the Completions Team and to check details provided on the application form regarding the customer’s solicitor details are still current. We will also discuss proposed completion dates.

Improved Conveyancer Handbook

In addition to simplifying our documentation requirements, we have taken the opportunity to update and simplify the existing Solicitor Guidance Handbook found here. This is provided to your customer’s solicitor and includes the new checklist format provided by our solicitors.

Completion Notification

As a reminder, the Banks’ requirement is to have 5 working days between the conditions being satisfied and the day of completion in order for us to complete our final checks. We are seeing an increasing number of last-minute completion requests which is unsustainable and puts the customer at risk of a failed completion. Therefore, we will now be enforcing this period to enable us to be more efficient and improve the customer experience.

Where there are exceptional circumstances meaning completion needs to happen within 5 working days, the customer’s solicitor will need to contact the Bank’s solicitor to discuss the circumstances.

Offer Validity Period

As a reminder our offers are valid for a maximum of 6 months. It is therefore essential that all applications are completed within the offer validity period. If the offer expires, a new application will need to be submitted based on the product range available at that time, new fees will be payable and up to date documentation required.

A reminder of where to find our ‘Home Finance Application Process’ summary flow chart can be found here.

If you have any queries or require further information our team remains available via phone and email, details of which can be found here.

Thank you for your continued support.

Tracey Bailey, Chief Operating Officer