We’re taking a look behind the scenes at CHL Mortgages to show you what happens when you place a mortgage application with us. From the very start of the process through to completion, we’ll introduce you to the teams that make things happen and speak with some of the people that get your cases over the line.
In the third part of our series, we’re highlighting the work of our Completions team.
Introducing the Completions team
Your case has been underwritten, but what happens once a loan’s been offered? We spoke with Completions team leader Cindy Buckley-Mellor to find out more about the last stage of an application’s journey.
Can you tell us more about what the Completions team does? What happens when a case arrives with you? what happens next?
The easiest way to describe our role is that we’re the last piece in the jigsaw; the final step before a loan goes live. We’re here to make sure all loan conditions are satisfied and all legal documents are in order so the funds can be securely released.
Once a case comes to us, it’s assigned to a completions officer who’ll send the offer out to the relevant parties. There’ll usually be little trigger points that need taking care of. It could be that we get a call from a broker who needs to ask a few questions or we might get an email from a solicitor reporting something back to us from the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook. Good communication is absolutely key at this stage, so we try and respond to queries within 24 hours to help keep things moving along.
Once all that’s sorted out, do you then release the funds?
Not quite. We still need to receive the Certificate of Title from the solicitor. It’s a one-page document which contains details such as the address of the property, the name of the people involved, the value of the funds we’re releasing and the solicitor’s details, but it’s the crux of the process. Once the solicitor signs this, they’re saying they’ve done all of their checks and that everything’s compliant in line with the conditions of the offer.
We check the details here to make sure they’ve adhered to the offer conditions. If it’s not correct, we’ll return it. For example, if the address doesn’t exactly match what’s on the offer, we’ll have to ask them to amend it.
We’re very much the end of the line so our final checks are crucial. Completions is an unsung part of the whole process as we’ve got to get things right before the money goes out.
Only once we’ve completed a four-eye check will we finally request the funds from our Finance team. We’ll then keep a careful eye over things to make sure the solicitors have received the funds and that they’ve completed on the agreed date on the Certificate of Title.
In a perfect world, how long does it take for a case to pass from application through to completion?
I’d say 6 to 8 weeks would be the dream but realistically, you’re looking at something more in the region of 12 weeks. As a specialist lender, we deal with more complex cases, such as applications from limited companies which naturally involve more documentation than a straightforward residential mortgage application.
Our timelines are also heavily dependent on the solicitors satisfying all of the conditions of the offer and meeting all of the requirements from the UK Finance handbook.
How many cases you are dealing with at any one time?
Each of our completions officers handles around 60 to 70 cases at any given time. Although that might sound like a lot, it’s worth remembering that all of the cases are at different stages.
When an offer comes in, we’ll get in touch with the solicitors to ensure they’ve received the instruction. As soon as they’ve completed their checks and replied to us, we’ll action any information we receive within 24 hours. We’ll then contact the solicitors, broker and BDM four weeks prior to expiry to get an update on when it will complete.
We’ve got nine completions officers on the team, as well as two team leaders, based in our Wrexham and Fleet offices.
What sort of things can hold things up towards the end of a case?
I’d say incorrect information on the Certificate of Title tends to be the main hold up. The solicitor may put in the wrong loan amount, for example, or write the address in a different format to what’s stated on the offer. It might only sound like a small thing, but we need it to be written in exactly the same way.
Another thing we see quite often is confusion over the dates. The solicitor may be working off a previous offer and put the date from that one. Again, we wouldn’t accept that as the Certificate of Title must include the date for the correct offer.
As you can see, you’ve got to have a pretty good eye for detail to work in Completions! Fortunately, I graduated in law specialising in the conveyance side and I’ve also worked as an intermediary so I know what I’m looking for and can also see things from both a broker’s and a solicitor’s perspective which really helps.
Go behind the scenes with our Underwriting Team
