I am having extreme difficulty in finalising a mortgage with Deutsche Bank and am wondering whether any other forum members have encountered similar problems, or have experience with negotiating with developers for an extended delay in payment.

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For any one thinking of applying to DB for a mortgage, in outline my experience was as follows

My mortgage was"approved" by DB over four months ago after submission of the usual mountain of documentation but when I tried to draw down the money weeks passed without DB producing the formal offer, then the DB analysts started querying information provided almost 6 months previously - relating to unused credit card limits. completely trivial stuff given that I was only requesting 45% LTV on an already completed and let apartment.

The next 6 weeks consisted of almost daily calls to Rednet and initially lots of confident assertions that the formal offer would be made on the next Monday.

My Rednet contact has now recommended applying to a different bank, however the payment deadline has already passed and there is no certainty that the developer of the appartments the morgagewas intended to fund will accept the delay involved in this - based on previous experience.

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Final lineshould have read

basedon previous experience I probably need a delay of around 3 monthsto be sure of completing the new mortgage.

Alan

Your plight sounds very familiar.

I started the mortgage process in January and was finalised last week with DB!

There were never any delays on my side.

DB were painfully slow - I think recent global events have brought on a great deal of conservatism on the banks part. Either that or they were inundated with applications with very few staff to handle them.

Either way, I decided (based on forum members views in the past) at the start of the process to employ the services of a polish speaking mortgage broker based in the UK so I could speak to someone here rather than rely on e-mails and more delays. That turned out to be an excellent move.

The payment I made was later than planned (although the developer was to blame in part and so no late payment penalties were applied).

I would suggest you inform your developer of the situation but try and get DB to reassess the position.

If I was in your shoes, I wouldn't fancy going through the whole process again with another bank.


Regards

Sanj

Alan,

I too have recently used DB and found the whole process totally unsatisfactory. I have ended up with a huge penalty interest invoice and am looking for someone to shoot. I am not new to this process (I have 3 other Polish mortgages), but between RedNet (I don't think they are very good either), the developer (Budimex) and DB I lost months. I was told my mortgage was approved in November 07 but it only paid out at the end of April 08. I applied in June 07.

I would not recommend DB or RedNet and the only advice I can offer is to chase them daily.

Regards
Chris

Hi Alan

I had exactly the same experience with DB. Applied in February, they verbally approved the mortgage at a good rate in April. Despite, pressure from my broker I never saw any paperwork. Then we learned it had gone back to risk assessors, who were wary about my risk. The money was needed in June and they were told the deadline. They could well be still assessing my risk because I've not been declined - bit pointless as they have missed the deadline by a mile. Fortunately my broker had applied to a second bank at the same time and I managed to get that deal, with WBK, more or less at the right time and did not suffer penalties. Although it was still an anxiety-ridden wait. Like Sanj, I didn't fancy trying to liaise with a broker in Poland and the complications that that would have entailed so chose a Polish one based in London. This, I think, did make life much easier with phoning, faxing and posting. You have my sympathies, it really is a deseperate, drawn-out business.

David B

I had exactly the same problem, although no happy ending. I provided all the documents, got approval in principle, six months down the line they declined my application, giving no reason at all. All my documents supported my original assumptions which secured the agreement in principle. They were slow, unprofessional and very poor at communicationg, leaving me between a rock and a hard place as I had already committed to buy. Ended up with Gethin Bank, through recommendation of TGC Lawyers - 18,000 PLN in Bank fees, 6.09 interest rate. 5000 PLN to solicitor for signing the documents and opening the account....none of which were accurately reflected in the original financial assumptions! Oh, I haven't mentioned to visits to the English notary because I was sent the wrong POA, and quite heft telephone bills trying to sort out a few errors and mishaps along the way. With PLN at 4.1, and substantial completion fees - finish, kitchen (and we have all seen the long running debate on the Polish Kitchens!) etc, this is not for the feint hearted. I'd advise anyone to really scrutinise the maths, several times over, especially with stage payments - and factor in an increasingly strong PLN (PS quoted 5.8 on the Lumiere calculations in Dec 06). My interest coverage is nearly twice the amount suggest PS projections & the rent will not cover the interest only, let alone when the repayment of capital when it kicks in. Then on top of that there are management fees, insurance ......