I've had a nightmare experience with Halifax. I had a valuation done on a property, which you have to pay £200 for, other lenders do it for free. The valuation report was never signed off, which means we couldn't get the mortgage. It took 3 months of going back-and-forth, trying to satisfy their valuation company with the documents they needed. Every single one was rejected and the same scripted speech was given as a response each time. It was like being in an episode of Little Britain, "Computer says nooo!". The concern was around cladding, on a concrete building. They couldn't tell us where the cladding was, just wanted the developer to say it was safe. They rejected the letter saying it was safe, which was signed off by someone with the qualifications listed in their requirements of the letter. That was the last straw, it was impossible to get this mortgage, so I went with another lender and got the mortgage almost instantly. They robbed me of £200 and are refusing to refund it. They told me to contact the Financial Ombudsman Service and escalate it further if I wanted to. They don't care about you, they just don't care. They don't care about having you run around in circles trying to please them. They offer nothing but scripted spiel and cannot, simply, deviate from that script and tell you exactly what was wrong with what you gave them, when you feel like you have satisfied that scripted spiel. Mindless drones!!!!
Reviewed on: 20th March 2020
