AIB Mortgage approval - My experience

Karlitto

Hi folks,

I just wanted to voice my frustration with AIB right now,

Two weeks ago tomorrow I submitted a mortgage application. The person in the branch went through all of the regular stuff, wages etc. which was filled in on the application form.

We have everything in good order and there was no "additional" information needed by the bank. The person said it should only take 2-3 days to get back to us with an answer. I let the first few days go due to it being a bank holiday etc.

On the Tuesday (the day after the bank holiday) I contacted the person who told me it is with the home mortgages department (who I assume are the underwritters) and there is no update.

It has been the exact same answer every single day from then until now.

Furthermore, every time I call the AIB MORTGAGES department I ALWAYS without fail get put through to someone on the "direct sales" line who tell me the same thing: "I am part of direct sales, hang on a moment and I will transfer you to someone on the mortgages team" I have spoken to someone from the mortgages team three times, and each time I ask if there is any update, they tell me I need to check with the mortgages person in the branch as they don't have visibility over it.

I have seen many posts on various forums about how appaling the waiting times for AIB are.

Here is the thing, I would have accepted two week waiting times if I was not with the bank I am applying to for approval, however, I have been with them for my whole life!

I am aware AIB were told to stop advertising that their doors are open for business for mortgages and loans etc, because they were turning away most people who applied, in fact, there was a period last year where they did not approve a single mortgage for an entire month.

AIB put out two publications between this and last year, 1 stating they were "softening" their criteria, and the other stating that they are aiming to double their mortgage approvals in 2013 in comparison to 2012.

I am getting extremely frustrated here as we have a house in mind which we really like, but fear it will be gone soon.

Has anyone any advise?

I am being told by the branch people that it is with the underwritters and there is no update, and from the mortgage department I am being told to contact the branch person.

I would love some help please

Thanks!

/Karl

Scortho

Karlitto wrote: »

Hi folks,

I just wanted to voice my frustration with AIB right now,

Two weeks ago tomorrow I submitted a mortgage application. The person in the branch went through all of the regular stuff, wages etc. which was filled in on the application form.

We have everything in good order and there was no "additional" information needed by the bank. The person said it should only take 2-3 days to get back to us with an answer. I let the first few days go due to it being a bank holiday etc.

On the Tuesday (the day after the bank holiday) I contacted the person who told me it is with the home mortgages department (who I assume are the underwritters) and there is no update.

It has been the exact same answer every single day from then until now.

Furthermore, every time I call the AIB MORTGAGES department I ALWAYS without fail get put through to someone on the "direct sales" line who tell me the same thing: "I am part of direct sales, hang on a moment and I will transfer you to someone on the mortgages team" I have spoken to someone from the mortgages team three times, and each time I ask if there is any update, they tell me I need to check with the mortgages person in the branch as they don't have visibility over it.

I have seen many posts on various forums about how appaling the waiting times for AIB are.

Here is the thing, I would have accepted two week waiting times if I was not with the bank I am applying to for approval, however, I have been with them for my whole life!

I am aware AIB were told to stop advertising that their doors are open for business for mortgages and loans etc, because they were turning away most people who applied, in fact, there was a period last year where they did not approve a single mortgage for an entire month.

AIB put out two publications between this and last year, 1 stating they were "softening" their criteria, and the other stating that they are aiming to double their mortgage approvals in 2013 in comparison to 2012.

I am getting extremely frustrated here as we have a house in mind which we really like, but fear it will be gone soon.

Has anyone any advise?

I am being told by the branch people that it is with the underwritters and there is no update, and from the mortgage department I am being told to contact the branch person.

I would love some help please

Thanks!

/Karl

Have you Applied to all of the banks?

Countless cases where aib have refused and boi have approved and vica versa.
There's nothing really you can do to speed up aib's decision. It's with their mortgage department and they'll take their time.

If you haven't applied to all of the banks that offer mortgages get onto it. Then the bank that gives you the best rate and the money you require go with them.
Like insurance there's no such thing as loyalty when it comes to a bank. You go for the one that gives you the best deal, not the one you've been with all your life (unless its the best deal.)

Katniss everMean

This doesn't sound good at all. I'm hopping to apply next with with AIB. We plan to go in and talk to the mortgage adviser thinking it help ensure everything go smoothly. Seems it doesn't though.. Keep us posted!

crazy_kenny

Use a broker. I applied to AIB directly for a mortgage of 160k. They offered 130k. Went to a broker and got 160k approval in less than a week from AIB.

Karlitto

Indeed, I have been advised to go through a broker before, but thought that, you know, I have been with AIB for many many years, every single account I have is with them, so thought it would be quicker..... sadly not.

We are in good credit, have more than enough to cover the deposit for what amount AIB quoted to give us, no loans or anything like that, save a lot regularly and had all of our documents ready when we went to apply, no information was "missing". So I really cannot see why there is such a delay.

However, I have heard from a friend that AIB did this a couple years ago and basically were not approving mortgages but were advertising their doors were open for business, but were told by the government to stop advertising this as they were not giving out mortgages. And that AIB are trying to hang on to their assets due to a trioce (don't know how to spell it) assessment is coming up, so hence not giving out mortgages or high loans, which is what the money is for :<

I will update here as soon as I hear back, but I am appalled.

Tomorrow I am going to go to bank of Ireland, apply for a mortgage, if it comes back approved before AIB, myself and my partner are going to be taking every single penny out of AIB and move all of our accounts to bank of Ireland.....

Scortho

Karlitto wrote: »

Indeed, I have been advised to go through a broker before, but thought that, you know, I have been with AIB for many many years, every single account I have is with them, so thought it would be quicker..... sadly not.

We are in good credit, have more than enough to cover the deposit for what amount AIB quoted to give us, no loans or anything like that, save a lot regularly and had all of our documents ready when we went to apply, no information was "missing". So I really cannot see why there is such a delay.

However, I have heard from a friend that AIB did this a couple years ago and basically were not approving mortgages but were advertising their doors were open for business, but were told by the government to stop advertising this as they were not giving out mortgages. And that AIB are trying to hang on to their assets due to a trioce (don't know how to spell it) assessment is coming up, so hence not giving out mortgages or high loans, which is what the money is for :<

I will update here as soon as I hear back, but I am appalled.

Tomorrow I am going to go to bank of Ireland, apply for a mortgage, if it comes back approved before AIB, myself and my partner are going to be taking every single penny out of AIB and move all of our accounts to bank of Ireland.....

I wouldn't restrict it to just boi or aib. I'd be applying to every single bank that offers mortgages in this country.
Neither would I be waiting until tomorrow, I'd be doing it today.

Karlitto

Scortho wrote: »

I wouldn't restrict it to just boi or aib. I'd be applying to every single bank that offers mortgages in this country.
Neither would I be waiting until tomorrow, I'd be doing it today.

I intend to apply for several banks, but the reason I need to wait till tomorrow is the fact I have quite important meetings in work today and I have a job interview later in the day, so pretty much my whole day is "booked up"

dcr22B

Karlitto wrote: »

I intend to apply for several banks, but the reason I need to wait till tomorrow is the fact I have quite important meetings in work today and I have a job interview later in the day, so pretty much my whole day is "booked up"

Do the bank know that you are considering changing jobs as that may have a bearing on your chances of getting the mortgage approval?

Tow

Karlitto wrote: »

I have a job interview later in the day,

If you change jobs you can forget about getting a mortgage for at least six months. Even if you are approved and then change jobs and apply for the actual mortgage they will not give one until you probationary period is finished.

Solair

AIB are impossible to get through to most of the time.

It seems all calls are routed to 'direct sales'. It doesn't matter if you call a branch or business banking etc it all ends up in a call centre.

I find it pretty infuriating that you can't speak to your own branch anymore without all this confusing rigmarole !

(Not a mortgage customer but also find them a bit head wrecking !)

Karlitto

Hey again,

So to answer your question, no, the bank are not aware of me looking at changing jobs.

Secondly, I know that if I were to change jobs I would need to wait until my probation is finished, however, the acquisition process is 2 months from the face to face interview if successful, so, basically, if I got the job, I would be starting in about 2 months from today.

Just a note, I have contacted my local TD to see if she is able to do anything, since after all, we are paying for the bank bail outs, so they should have a more positive to customers rather than treating us the way they are, and also the Joe Duffy show so I can discuss this on air and advise people not to go with AIB.

But as I said, I will be trying bank of Ireland tomorrow and other banks on Friday, if BOI come back with approval before AIB (and I will be saying this to AIB) I will be taking every single penny I have out of AIB and moving all savings and current accounts across....

chris85

Karlitto wrote: »

Hey again,

So to answer your question, no, the bank are not aware of me looking at changing jobs.

Secondly, I know that if I were to change jobs I would need to wait until my probation is finished, however, the acquisition process is 2 months from the face to face interview if successful, so, basically, if I got the job, I would be starting in about 2 months from today.

Just a note, I have contacted my local TD to see if she is able to do anything, since after all, we are paying for the bank bail outs, so they should have a more positive to customers rather than treating us the way they are, and also the Joe Duffy show so I can discuss this on air and advise people not to go with AIB.

But as I said, I will be trying bank of Ireland tomorrow and other banks on Friday, if BOI come back with approval before AIB (and I will be saying this to AIB) I will be taking every single penny I have out of AIB and moving all savings and current accounts across....

Overreaction much? Contacting a TD to sort out a mortgage application, Are you having a laugh?

The problem here is the way you have been bounced around. Grounds to make a complaint about how they have handled it but to go complaining and expecting a TD to intervene is like the baby throwing the rattle out of the pram. Maybe use the banks internal complaints procedure firstly. Joe Duffy also, brilliant. A couple of weeks to get mortgage approval is perfectly normal.

We bailed them out but even better reason to take their time with mortgage applications. No excuse for being bounced around everywhere, thats just poor structure in the bank for it.

killers1

Karlitto wrote: »

Hi folks,

I just wanted to voice my frustration with AIB right now,

Two weeks ago tomorrow I submitted a mortgage application. The person in the branch went through all of the regular stuff, wages etc. which was filled in on the application form.

We have everything in good order and there was no "additional" information needed by the bank. The person said it should only take 2-3 days to get back to us with an answer. I let the first few days go due to it being a bank holiday etc.

On the Tuesday (the day after the bank holiday) I contacted the person who told me it is with the home mortgages department (who I assume are the underwritters) and there is no update.

It has been the exact same answer every single day from then until now.

Furthermore, every time I call the AIB MORTGAGES department I ALWAYS without fail get put through to someone on the "direct sales" line who tell me the same thing: "I am part of direct sales, hang on a moment and I will transfer you to someone on the mortgages team" I have spoken to someone from the mortgages team three times, and each time I ask if there is any update, they tell me I need to check with the mortgages person in the branch as they don't have visibility over it.

I have seen many posts on various forums about how appaling the waiting times for AIB are.

Here is the thing, I would have accepted two week waiting times if I was not with the bank I am applying to for approval, however, I have been with them for my whole life!

I am aware AIB were told to stop advertising that their doors are open for business for mortgages and loans etc, because they were turning away most people who applied, in fact, there was a period last year where they did not approve a single mortgage for an entire month.

AIB put out two publications between this and last year, 1 stating they were "softening" their criteria, and the other stating that they are aiming to double their mortgage approvals in 2013 in comparison to 2012.

I am getting extremely frustrated here as we have a house in mind which we really like, but fear it will be gone soon.

Has anyone any advise?

I am being told by the branch people that it is with the underwritters and there is no update, and from the mortgage department I am being told to contact the branch person.

I would love some help please

Thanks!

/Karl

The problem here is that the bank didn't manage your expectations correctly. They were wrong to tell you that you would have an answer within 2-3 days. AIB's process for handling mortgage applications is that initially it goes through the assessment unit to be checked, assigned a reference number and if they are happy to recommend it for approval it gets passed to the lenders queue. It can take 5 working days to go through assessment and a further 5 working days to arrive on the lenders desk and a decision be made. With the bank holiday included you are only at around 10 working days now. You should have a response soon. There is no reason for you to 'lose' the house while you are waiting on approval to come through. You can still put an offer in to 'stay in the game'. The parts where you've mentioned about AIB not approving mortgages for a month last year etc are complete rubbish. AIB lent more mortgage monies than any other bank in 2012 as their interest rates were considerably cheaper.

Karlitto

chris85 wrote: »

Overreaction much? Contacting a TD to sort out a mortgage application, Are you having a laugh?

The problem here is the way you have been bounced around. Grounds to make a complaint about how they have handled it but to go complaining and expecting a TD to intervene is like the baby throwing the rattle out of the pram. Maybe use the banks internal complaints procedure firstly. Joe Duffy also, brilliant. A couple of weeks to get mortgage approval is perfectly normal.

We bailed them out but even better reason to take their time with mortgage applications. No excuse for being bounced around everywhere, thats just poor structure in the bank for it.

Do a search on all of the different banks average approval time. Most of them are within 5 business days. When you search for aib you shall only find complaints about how long it took, some up to 6 months!

Either way. I was told 2-3 days. It has been 2 weeks.

chris85

Karlitto wrote: »

Do a search on all of the different banks average approval time. Most of them are within 5 business days. When you search for aib you shall only find complaints about how long it took, some up to 6 months!

Either way. I was told 2-3 days. It has been 2 weeks.

Expectation levels is all it is. Basically you were told 3 days and now its 10 days and you want to complain to your TD. Leave them to actually deal with problems in society.

Also you should have applied for mortgage well before house hunting. Generally you apply and get approval in principle and that is your confirmation of how much your budget will allow.

Rebel1977

Whats a TD going to do for you ? Bit of an over reaction.

BuffyBot

Yes, everyone's heard that line now. Let's not labour a point, folks.

Karlitto

The reason I contacted my TD is to seek advice, is that not what one of their tasks are?

Furthermore, I contacted my branch yesterday requesting to have a copy of the documents I submitted, the reason being, so I could go and apply with other banks. Later on yesterday I got a call (Oh the irony) from the bank saying the lenders came back with additional information requests, where did our savings come from, and a reason why I changed company last year (I didn't my company had a name change). AIB have all of our savings accounts so should be able to see where it came from...

Annnyyyyyway, the bottom line was the last comment from the mortgage coordinator saying "the lenders feel the amount you have applied for is outside your criteria", well, you need a minimum of 2050 disposable income after the mortgage is taken into account, we have 2300. She said if you read between the lines they are saying if you put more of your own savings against the house and accept a lower loan they would approve you, would you be willing to do this? Not a chance, I want to know why they feel it is outside our criteria range (especially because I applied for the maximum amount they would give us, I never mentioned a specific amount, so wonder where they are getting any figure in their heads)

joe316

Well without giving figures I don't think you are going to get the answer to you query regarding the amounts.

Just a couple of questions:

- You mention that the amount that you have left of disposable income works out at 2300, are you taking your mortgage amount at current interest rates or at the stress tested 6% levels? They obviously feel that you are not able to sustain what you think you can for a reason.

- You also say that you had a job interview this week, is this for yourself or are you interviewing people? If it is for yourself is that why you are rushing to get the mortgage approved before you start your new job and have to wait at least 6 months before you can get one on your new salary. I really wouldnt be rushing to try and get this sorted before then unless you can guarantee that you will have it all sorted (i.e. keys handed over) before you have to quit your current job, the bank are going to see that your current salary is different to your potential new one.

Gmol

No offence, but if the banks had taken their time previously we would in would be less of a mess. As the previous poster said they feel there is a sustainability issue

Karlitto

joe316 wrote: »

Well without giving figures I don't think you are going to get the answer to you query regarding the amounts.

Just a couple of questions:

- You mention that the amount that you have left of disposable income works out at 2300, are you taking your mortgage amount at current interest rates or at the stress tested 6% levels? They obviously feel that you are not able to sustain what you think you can for a reason.

- You also say that you had a job interview this week, is this for yourself or are you interviewing people? If it is for yourself is that why you are rushing to get the mortgage approved before you start your new job and have to wait at least 6 months before you can get one on your new salary. I really wouldnt be rushing to try and get this sorted before then unless you can guarantee that you will have it all sorted (i.e. keys handed over) before you have to quit your current job, the bank are going to see that your current salary is different to your potential new one.

Heya,

First part was stressed at 6%, and even still, it is coming in at 250€ more than what the minimum is, I mean, we "could" go higher, but I would be comfortable with the repayments at what they are even stressed at 6%, in fact, it would still allow us to save quite a large chunk.

For the second part, It was rather out of the blue to be called back, I applied for the job about 3 months ago and randomly last week they contacted me. I am not "actively" looking for a job, but rather I would have a browse through jobs.ie and if I see something special, I will apply for it.

The acquisition process for this job takes 2 months from the date of interview, but having said that, nothing says I MUST accept it if I am offered.

I am aware that generally you won't get approved with less than a year with your current employer, but I can still look

Karlitto

Gmol wrote: »

No offence, but if the banks had taken their time previously we would in would be less of a mess. As the previous poster said they feel there is a sustainability issue

I am not really sure what is meant by sustainability. I mean, do they think I am going to miss/be late with repayments or something?

They have almost 15 years of bank statements from me and my partner, there is a huge amount in our savings accounts, which was put in regularly, rent is 800 (nearly 200 more than the mortgage we are applying for) never late, never missed.

My wages is exactly the same month in and month out with the exception of bonus month which only means it would be more.

The partner works full time, but on an hourly basis, her hours are guaranteed.

So yea, I am seriously missing something here.

Karlitto

Just a note by the way,

Thanks to most of you for your helpful posts.

And yes, I am open to questions, so feel free to ask me any questions you want and if I can answer I will, as buffy pointed out, less of the spam thanks!

El Chucko

I'm in the same situation as a few here, just about to start mortgage hunting - AIB would have been the first given that I don't want to go to my own bank - but now I'd say a broker will get my call. Anything for an easy life.

mbg

I am having similar problems with EBS (who are now owned by AIB). I also had everything in order and am debt free. I am only looking for 50 thousand for a council buyout but I have been waiting for 6 weeks and still just get told its with the underwriter. I have since applied to BOI who have been much faster and more professional to deal with. I to will be moving all of my banking to Boi when this is all done.

mel.b

El Chucko wrote: »

I'm in the same situation as a few here, just about to start mortgage hunting - AIB would have been the first given that I don't want to go to my own bank - but now I'd say a broker will get my call. Anything for an easy life.

Send Killers1 who posted in this thread a pm. He is a broker and has made my experience painless and has been a huge help with all aspects

El Chucko

mel.b wrote: »

Send Killers1 who posted in this thread a pm. He is a broker and has made my experience painless and has been a huge help with all aspects

Sent him a PM yesterday and got a response today. Thanks for the heads up.

Milly82

crazy_kenny wrote: »

Use a broker. I applied to AIB directly for a mortgage of 160k. They offered 130k. Went to a broker and got 160k approval in less than a week from AIB.

Do you mind telling me what broker you went with?

crazy_kenny

Milly82 wrote: »

Do you mind telling me what broker you went with?

Anita Cambie. She is based in Waterford. Very easy to deal with and keeps you updated regularly. WWW.anitacambie.ie/

ggg21

Hope you get what you want in the end and very best of luck, it seems to be hard to get approved at the moment even though they are saying they are lending. I have just applied for a mortgage with AIB yesterday and they told me it will take at least 10 days and not 2/3 days so it must vary what they say between branches. I have the below status:

Single application
60 grand a year permanent job (there 8 years)
8 grand credit union loan/ 3 grand in savings
25 grand savings for deposit
saving 1000 a month and paying 350 a month rent currently.
also saving 300 a month but use this account some months for things that come up

looking for 230 grand mortgage. What do you all think???Still worried what people are saying here so not getting my hopes up!!!

murphaph

mbg wrote: »

I to will be moving all of my banking to Boi when this is all done.

Why in god's name? By all means get your mortgage from them if you're happy with that product but put your savings where you get the best return and your current account where you pay the fewest fees. BoI don't fall in to either category.