My financial advisor found Darlington for me after being turned down by mainstream lenders and I was delighted when they accepted my application in principle. The fun started after this point, when a contract turned up at my house weeks after the valuation took place that had not been sent via my FA. They also separated out the fee's that we had arranged to be added to the loan. When I finally spoke to someone at Darlington after WEEKS of trying them on the phone - I promise this is not an exaggeration, my FA also struggled to get through to them, I was informed that it would delay the process to add them to the loan now and given that i was up against a deadline with Help to Buy, I decided to pay them on top. Another month goes by, the local searches take place and everything seems fine. We received authority to exchange from Help to Buy, then out of NOWHERE Darlington withdraw their offer due to an issue with the land in front of the property. My solicitor appealed my case, there is no issue and another 4 flats in the building have been granted mortgages no problem. I subsequently ran out of time and had to pull out of the sale at the last minute. I can understand different lenders have different criteria and they are well within their rights to make decisions on who they lend to and on what property but it was the lack of communication that upset me the most and the confusion caused by their inconsistency - they would email my FA, then the next bit of info would go to my solicitor, then the next in a letter to me in the post! impossible to keep track of and ultimately cost me my first property purchase and thousands of pounds.
Reviewed on: 23rd February 2021
