Thank goodness we weren't tempted by more....... (Halifax)

Member Name: hypno06

Product:	Halifax
Date:	28/12/08 (128 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An honest and reliable mortgage provider in my experience.

Disadvantages: None

We have moved house a number of times, and have always gone either with the Nationwide or the Halifax for our mortgage - this is because they offered the right product, responsibly at the time, rather than for any loyalty to the Halifax as a company.

Taking the last time we moved, about 5 years ago, we searched the marketplace for a new mortgage. Granted, the credit crunch had not crunched at that time, and plenty of other providers were offering huge income multiples with next to no deposit, and Halifax, via their Intelligent Finance arm were offering up to 10 times earnings as a multiple.....but Halifax in branch, were very responsible in my experience.

We sat down with a mortgage provider before we started looking for our new house (we were in rented for a short time while we decided what to do) and he went through everything very thoroughly in connection with our finances before telling us exactly what our options would be, with all costs and details provided clearly. Because we had other debt at the time, this was all taken into consideration in order that we did not overcommit ourselves. It was made quite clear to us that just because they were ABLE to offer big multiples of income, they rarely did so.

Armed with our new "agreement in principle" we started looking at houses - we found one that was over our budget by just a few thousand pounds, and I called our Halifax mortgage guy to ask if they would extend the offer to allow us to buy this particular house, but he said No - he again said that he wasn't going to allow us to overcommit on this mortgage, and that if we were not happy, we could always look elsewhere.

Although at this point, I was disappointed with the fact I could not have a bigger mortgage at that time, the reality now, 5 years later is that I am very pleased we did not look elsewhere and overextend ourselves on this.

We were offered a range of products - and ended up with a 10 year fixed rate mortgage, which gives us certainty regardless of movements in interest rates, and I have to say that even with recent drops in base rates, we are very pleased that we took this option!

We were also given an option of having a 6 month payment holiday when needed - although this adds to the cost of the total mortgage, because you are just adding on payments and interest to the end of the loan, it was a lifeline to us when I was waiting to start a new job and had a couple of months without a salary as my starting date had been put back. I arranged this over the telephone and even though my next payment was due out in just 2 days time, they were able to agree the holiday and sort it all out for me before it was too late.

I am sure that for every positive mortgage story, there is someone with a negative, and I am not Halifax's biggest fan in other areas of their banking, but I will definitely be seeing what they have got on offer next time we move house.

Summary: We've done ok with them over the years!