Recent experiences with homeloan application

[Schizoid29]

Took some time to write up my recent experiences over in Health, Wealth and Leisure and figured I may as well post something here with proper tags.

I recently went through the experience of buying a home and applying for a bond and thought I'd write up something on my experiences for posterity while it is still relatively fresh. I applied to Absa directly since they're already my main service provider and Ooba since I don't have enough of a form filling fetish to do the other banks myself. This was for a second bond, since I'm not selling the first place just yet.

Absa
I was able to handle the entire application online. Never had to set foot inside a branch. They somehow detected that the ooba application was a duplicate and canceled it. They offered me a 90% bond at prime interest, which to I decided to accept in the end since I already had a 10% deposit available. Apparently they have a policy about not offering 100% bonds on second home loans.

FNB
Second most competitive offer - 100% bond at prime + 0.25% iirc (this was after some negotiating, their first offer was prime+1). Didn't require statements from me - they were able to request it themselves. After some thought, I elected not to use them mostly due to the interest rate.

STD bank
Last bank to respond after several prompts. They're apparently unable to request statements from my bank on my behalf and this was the ONLY reason I ever had to enter a branch during the entire process. They literally gave me the ****tiest offer after taking their sweet time to send a agent to do the property valuation. 90% bond at prime+1.2 which they didn't want to negotiate. Then they phoned the lawyers to proceed with the loan despite not having my go-ahead. Will never use them. Ever.

Nedbank
Apparently these guys can't be bothered to give you a quote on a homeloan unless you're already banking with them. Meh.

Ooba
The agent that was handling my applications was very professional and responsive to email communications. I enjoyed working with her. They will also offer you life cover on the bond that ended up being slightly better priced than the absa offer. Unfortunately, they then canceled the life cover policy since I sourced the bond directly with absa and informed me of this cancellation through snail mail. This caused some needless delays.

Dykes & van Heerden
Conveyancing attorneys appointed by Absa. These guys had a tendency to wait until I prompt them for a status update before they would inform me of something that may be holding up the process. Disappointed, but not sure if there's anything to be done about it, since absa chose them.

 

[Napalm2880]

STD bank
Then they phoned the lawyers to proceed with the loan despite not having my go-ahead. Will never use them. Ever.

That's not cool. Having recently gone through a homeloan application myself, I got 100% at prime with STD bank. FNB was better but that's cos I bank with them.

Dykes & van Heerden
Conveyancing attorneys appointed by Absa. These guys had a tendency to wait until I prompt them for a status update before they would inform me of something that may be holding up the process. Disappointed, but not sure if there's anything to be done about it, since absa chose them.

The conveyancing attorneys I got via FNB were a bunch of idiots. I had to deal with their sub-ordinates who didn't understand many of the technicalities and took weeks to get answers to me. They also never gave any status updates unless prompted and my transfer attorneys simply don't respond at all to emails which has made things rather frustrating. I fail to understand why I'm paying these guys in the first place.

 

[Batista]

I had a very pleasant experience with SA Homeloans.

 

[Ocali]

was just wondering why SA Home Loans was not on OP's list of home loan providers to visit.

 

[F1 Fan]

That's not cool. Having recently gone through a homeloan application myself, I got 100% at prime with STD bank. FNB was better but that's cos I bank with them.



The conveyancing attorneys I got via FNB were a bunch of idiots. I had to deal with their sub-ordinates who didn't understand many of the technicalities and took weeks to get answers to me. They also never gave any status updates unless prompted and my transfer attorneys simply don't respond at all to emails which has made things rather frustrating. I fail to understand why I'm paying these guys in the first place.

Who did you get? I got Greyvensteins and they were absolutely terrible...

 

[drkev]

I had a very pleasant experience with SA Homeloans.

+1

Overall I was shocked at the service from the 'high street' banks. Horrible interest rates too.

Standard Bank came around to the property to value it and decided it was worth less than I was offering by about R100k (total BS, for a number of reasons). SA Home Loans came around and (rightly) valued it higher than the purchase price.