How to apply
To save your time and ours, we like to discuss your application with you over the phone to make sure in principle that it fits our criteria and to answer any questions you may have. Our Mortgage Team can be contacted on 0845 674 5566. Don't forget to check our brochures in the Mortgage literature section which can help you decide if our lending facilities suit your needs, and our leaflet entitled The Application Process (PDF*, 248K) provides a step by step guide.
After discussing your requirements, our Mortgage Department will send you a mortgage application form and for residential applications, a payment illustration. This should be completed in full and returned with a cheque to cover our administration fee and the valuation fee. We need to be satisfied about the ecological content of any proposal and you should provide as much detail as you can on the form.
If all or part of your residential mortgage is to be on an interest-only basis, please send with your application form a copy of a recently obtained illustration showing the projected benefits on maturity of your endowment policy or personal pension plan, or the estimated value of your ISA savings at the time you intend to repay your mortgage.
Costings & work supervision
You will need to provide detailed costings and plans in respect of the materials and labour required for your project, including provision for contingencies. Where you are constructing a new property, we will require the work to be supervised, usually by a qualified architect. The architect will then be able to issue a certificate when the work has completed.
We will also accept a Local Authority Building Regulations Practical Completion Certificate or verification from a Chartered Building Surveyor, in place of an Architect's Certificate.
Proof of identity
By law financial institutions are required to verify the identity of anyone who opens an account, or takes out a mortgage. This is necessary to protect the organisation, its members and the public from fraud and to help combat money laundering. We will need to verify both your name and your current address and will normally be able to do this by a combination of searching the Electoral Register, seeking bank and employers references and by checking your current mortgage statement or, if you do not presently have a mortgage, by asking you to produce a recent utility bill. If our requirements cause you difficulties, we may be able to suggest other means by which you might be able to provide suitable identification evidence. In the case of a joint mortgage application, we will normally require both applicants to prove their identity.
Processing your application
On receipt of your completed application form, we will review the information you have given and discuss any outstanding matters with you. We will then take up references, complete our identity checks and obtain a valuers report. If these are all satisfactory, we will send you a written offer of loan. Since we normally use the same solicitor as you do (making the transaction more efficient and less expensive from your point of view), we ask your solicitor to carry out the legal formalities needed to complete the mortgage. We will then release the funds to the solicitor in return for being granted a first charge over the property.
Valuations & more detailed inspections
We are required by law to have an independent valuation of the property carried out by a qualified valuer. We will arrange this on receipt of your application. The purpose of the valuation is to enable us to assess the adequacy of the proposed security and decide on the amount we can lend you on mortgage. It does not provide a detailed assessment of the property, nor if you are purchasing it, does it provide any guarantee that the purchase price is reasonable. We recommend that you have a more detailed inspection report carried out before buying and you will find that in most cases the valuer carrying out the Society's valuation will agree to make a more detailed inspection on payment of an additional fee.