Westpac...words fail me...wow

[Tim86]

Applied to westpac to buy out the half share of my sisters joint ownership of a property.

Privacy documents submitted through my broker 31st/10th/2014

Valuation carried out in november 2014, early november valuation submitted to westpac.

21/1/2015 westpac finally acknowledges receipt of the valuation... that they had actually recieved 2 months earlier.

Westpac then sends out loan documents with the wrong interest rate. Then the broker corrects them and they send out loan documents for the correct interest rate.

Loan documents signed the following week.

Westpac rings us up 1-2 weeks later letting us know that our loan documents are ready to be signed.. I let westpac know we signed the documents 2 weeks ago, they replied, oh okay then *scratch head.

Broker then checks with westpac about what on earth is happening because the mortgage centre hadn't contacted me even though I was listed as self acting. They tell broker they need the transfer forms, etc...

I ring up westpac, they confirm this.

I then go to the branch 1 week ago and submit all the forms they needed.

Again westpac hasn't contacted me to follow up.

So we contact them today, now they still haven't recieved the mortgage approval documents.... the ones we signed in branch 3 weeks ago, the ones that they screwed the interest rate up on originally...the ones that they then asked us a couple weeks later to then come in again and sign.

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...

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It's been almost 4 months trying to get a simple refinance approved... the loan is already a westpac loan... yet they still can't seem to do it... Almost FOUR MONTHS! What's that, about 110 days so far.

What sort of business can take 110 days to process 5 pieces of paper work...and still be running. And settlement hasn't even been booked in yet... we are probably 2 months away from settlement at this stage, going at the rate we have been.

I'm really left speechless by it all to be honest.

 

[D.T.]

Yep. My westpac branch visit to error ratio is roughly 1:1 as well.

Written other threads on coffee lounge. They're so frustrating!

 

[wylie]

You too?

I've got to the stage of wanting to take bets on how they will stuff up my interest in advance each year. We've not had a smooth year yet. They seem to be able to create new ways of stuffing things up each year. Keeps me on my toes :roll eyes:.

 

[moyjos]

Just a silly question? Why do you all persist with Westpac if they are that bad?
Wouldn't it be worth your sanity to move?

 

[hugh72]

I had three new loans set up by westpac but only realised several months later that funds in an offset weren't actually offsetting anything. The paperwork I signed was correct but for some reason it wasn't actioned correctly. The interest was back payed
I always check interest charged now very closely to make sure everything is correct

 

[wylie]

Just a silly question? Why do you all persist with Westpac if they are that bad?
Wouldn't it be worth your sanity to move?

I don't think any other bank is any better, to be honest. They all seem pretty hopeless with the detail.

For us personally, we couldn't get a loan to buy a hamburger now so we have to stick it out .

 

[wylie]

I had three new loans set up by westpac but only realised several months later that funds in an offset weren't actually offsetting anything. The paperwork I signed was correct but for some reason it wasn't actioned correctly. The interest was back payed
I always check interest charged now very closely to make sure everything is correct

I had this too. About five years of back paid interest. Came to about $5K. I'd never noticed on a monthly basis if the interest was less as the loan balance and the set off account balance fluctuated so much.

 

[D.T.]

Just a silly question? Why do you all persist with Westpac if they are that bad?
Wouldn't it be worth your sanity to move?

I did. I moved my savings account and superannuation account elsewhere.

The loans stayed, as much as I dont like them, they were a valid checkpoint on my serviceability map that i had to navigate through. Now that I've capped out with them I've moved onto the next place and all is good with the world.

 

[hugh72]

I had this too. About five years of back paid interest. Came to about $5K. I'd never noticed on a monthly basis if the interest was less as the loan balance and the set off account balance fluctuated so much.

Funny how this never works in your favour

 

[Tim86]

Just rang up the mortgage centre to follow it up.

I was seeing red so I swore at many many people this afternoon... many many times.

After an initial call to the mortgage centre which didn't end well as they put me on hold while they apparently went to get their supervisor...on hold 8 mins, then gave up.

I rang straight back, got hold of "Breezy" made sure I got her name and let her know if I was put on hold for an extended period of time to try and deter me I would be remembering her name so I could lodge a complaint.

Explained I would like to talk to a supervisor. Breezy got me a supervisor nice and quickly this time. Then I spoke to Eric and he explained to me that 2 weeks ago when a 3rd set of loan documents came through to the westpac acacia ridge branch for me to sign, the correct response from the westpac bank employee to my feedback that I had already signed loan documents a week earlier, shouldn't have been "ahhh, oh alright, yeah not too sure whats going on, I'll just leave the documents in a drawer here then". It should have been "hey well what's happened is we're incompetent **** ups and what we've done is made an internal error with our paperwork, we've written up loan documents saying that we already held the security on the loan, only to realise that we can't do that, we have to say we don't hold the security for the loan because technically it's a new loan. Fancy that, boy we probably should have known what our processes are, because hey... they are our processes. So what we're going to do, is scrap all those loan approval documents you've already signed, get you to make the trip to come back in, sign them all over again, then we'll submit those to the mortgage centre for you..."

And when I spoke to the mortgage centre worker a week ago and asked them what they needed, maybe that would have been a good opportunity to tell me that they needed those new loan documents too.

But oh well. Now it's time to follow up with the branch and probably find out that they've since thrown out the new loan documents or used them to make paper air planes with so they are going to need to re-issue the documents yet again.

Good times... good times.

 

[Jamie M]

I don't mean to be the party pooper but my experience with them is usually pretty good.

They're generally quick to assess deals - and they'll often go off desktop valuations which leads to quicker approval times.

They're usually quick to issue docs - and verify them when returned. If I need to do a WBC internal refi I know that it's usually a quick process. The last two I done settled within 2 weeks of the applications being submitted.

Sure - I've had my moments of frustration with them, but not as bad as any other lender I work with - and as long as I keep on top of them (like any lender) things usually progress smoothly.

I prefer to deal with them over their dragon counterpart - that's for sure!

Cheers

Jamie

 

[hugh72]

I guess any Bank is only as good as the person you have to deal with

 

[Peter_Tersteeg]

I'm the broker in this deal.

It's fair to say that this particular deal is fairly unusual and not something the banks would see very often. It's not particularly complex and getting the approval wasn't very difficult, but if you put it in the perspective of the banks automated systems, it's a very odd shape that doesn't fit their round hole at all.

At every stage of the application, we've had to discuss with initial assessors and then senior credit assessors what was going on, despite everything being disclosed in writing right from the beginning. The electronic system we use to submit applications doesn't really model the deal very well. A comment from the first assessor to look at the application was she wasn't certain how to explain the deal in their system either.

Despite this, I have to agree with Tim, there's been some incompetence. The valuation took a fortnight just to get ordered (Westpac orders valuations, not brokers). The valuer then gave Westpac the result, but took 3 weeks to submit the actual report. Daily phone calls couldn't get them to push the buttons to send it through.

Once the valuation was returned, the application was approved with the incorrect rates but this was rectified within a few days.

I can't explain why Westpac has issued new documents after Tim signed and returned the correct ones. I think this is what's creating confusion around booking settlement, but the deal is highly unusual due to the nature of the settlement.

A lot of it comes down to it's a very non-standard deal. Most lenders are highly dependant on their electronic systems and processes. In my experience Westpac creates an even greater dis-association between different business units. These systems work very efficiently when it's a nice pretty deal, but not when there's a number of elements that are highly unusual.

 

[Spectre]

Its also often a case of getting a competent BDM from a bank who's wiling to put the train back back on its tracks when it falls off. My history with Westpac bdms is checkered.

To be honest I think I use them 1 or 2 times a year and its moreso only for existing westpac clients. Great products but the issue with them (or was) was when they do an escalation - they only escalate one part and then consider its fixed. Usually its not just one part, its the entire thing. Its funny I just met my westpac bdm for the first time in a few years a few weeks ago. They dont market me so i suppose its a two sided street at the same time.

Noting this is the resi side - commercial and having a guy in Brisbane who's experienced who I can sit with and work through a deal is a different gig.

 

[Tim86]

The really annoying thing is, when my wife rang up earlier in the day and asked nicely what was going on, all the mortgage centre person said was "waiting on mortgage documents, contact your branch and discuss it with them." Then my wife rang the branch and they said "we don't have any documents, don't know what the mortgage centre is talking about". And then they just left it at that...

It was only when I was an a hole and demanded to speak to a supervisor in the mortgage centre, did I finally get someone that was able to give me answers and let me know that they had made an internal error with the mortgage documents and they would now need to be signed all over again.

Peter is definitely having to work hard for this bloody loan lol. But at this point it really isn't Peter's job. He got the loan approved, now it's up to westpac to follow up with the correct paperwork. A point I explained to the supervisor at westpac when he tried to tell me to follow up through my broker. Peter is the only one working on this deal that hasn't f'd things up.

The supervisor did say he would escalate things. But I'm yet to ring up the branch and find out if they've thrown out the mortgage documents. I think it's a pretty safe assumption that they've done something that will inevitably screw me around. --- Actually no sorry I did try ringing the branch yesterday, but of course as you'd expect from westpac's great service, there was no answer, and they didn't respond to the msg I left.

 

[wylie]

We had an issue with a loan for our son recently that dragged on for three months (long boring story, not the bank's fault).

Ultimately, I called a NAB mobile banker who got the loan from application to funding in five days. Legend.

 

[Allgood]

We've got $1.7 mill of borrowing with Westpac. Always dealt with local branch who have been excellent. We've had an absolutely fantastic relationship. New lending manager now and things are not travelling well with our current application (whinging about it in another thread because it's taking forever).

We've said today that if its not sorted we'll be taking all our loans elsewhere.

 

[perthguy]

Just a silly question? Why do you all persist with Westpac if they are that bad?
Wouldn't it be worth your sanity to move?

Are other banks better? I just did a refi to ING Direct which I started in October last year and which didn't settle until Jan 27. About 3 1/2 months. They issued the loan docs four times. Four!

My mate at work just bought a house (MR) and went with Bankwest. They issued him five different sets of loan docs.

 

[ElisaT]

I must say that we regularly have problems with Westpac, incorrect documents, titles not being registered correctly, lost files you name it.

As a result we tend to avoid them if we can. This is not to say any of the lenders are perfect but we find less errors with most of the others.

Best of luck!

 

[Paul@PFI]

I just finalised a matter with Westpac and it was FAST. Real fast. Five business days end to end for a refinance and release of equity for investment. Within minutes of the verbal appn I had the docs to sign and return with other docs requested. I did that and stuffed one little thing. I left off page 3 of 3 for a statement. (It was blank paper with "Page 3 or 3" on it)...The next day I was corrected and told they need all pages...No exceptions no matter how stupid it seems. Credit checked, Valuation by desktop. Literally minutes.

Two hours after receipt they said it would take three days for approval. Two hours later it was approved. In a hour we had docs to sign. Sign, scan and email back.

I'm an existing customer - 21 years they said. No fees with Premier Adv package

26hrs later funds in account. Stupid really they cant just up the limit. But I can put funds back to loan and redraw when I need it (Yes I checked) so I did that. I suspects its some legal issue with increasing a loan. Upping a limit may not be an "advance". I don't know. The Mortgage Company seem to do it smoothly. No complaints.

Now just need to find the right property. "New" beachfront vacant land in southern QLD four streets back maybe ??