Accountants & applying for a mortgage

[ADC]

I recently applied for a mortgage with first direct. They told me what they could offer me and gave me an 'agreement in principle' and said to go and look for a house and they could have it completed in within 4 weeks. They said all they would need is 3 years accounts from the accountant.

I did exactly what they said, found a house & put in an offer. They have now come back to me and told me my accountant isn't qualified enough. Talk about a complete waste of my time and not to mention the inconvenience i'm causing to the seller & the estate agent. Apparently it has to be a chartered accountant and my accountant is only a financial accountant.

I've got a mortgage advisor on to the case now, to see if I can find one from somewhere else.

But beware if you are starting a business and maybe thinking of getting a mortgage at some point. Make sure you get a chartered accountant.

 

[elaine@cheapaccounting]

I have heard of this before but of course for my clients it is not a problem.

Seems that although anyone can call themselves an accountant, lenders do prefer qualified ones.

 

[Jenni384]

As qualified non-chartered accountants, we have found that most lenders are fine with our qualifications. I think Abbey is one of the only ones who is strict on the chartered issue.

 

[ADC]

As qualified non-chartered accountants, we have found that most lenders are fine with our qualifications. I think Abbey is one of the only ones who is strict on the chartered issue.

First Direct/HSBC as well.

 

[Jenni384]

First Direct/HSBC as well.

Thanks for the heads up.

The non-chartered accountancy bodies are (supposed to be) talking to these banks to enable non-chartered qualified accountant's references to be accepted. There really is no reason why they shouldn't. I'll pass this on.

 

[stelabg]

I recently applied for a mortgage with first direct. They told me what they could offer me and gave me an 'agreement in principle' and said to go and look for a house and they could have it completed in within 4 weeks. They said all they would need is 3 years accounts from the accountant.

I did exactly what they said, found a house & put in an offer. They have now come back to me and told me my accountant isn't qualified enough. Talk about a complete waste of my time and not to mention the inconvenience i'm causing to the seller & the estate agent. Apparently it has to be a chartered accountant and my accountant is only a financial accountant.

I've got a mortgage advisor on to the case now, to see if I can find one from somewhere else.

But beware if you are starting a business and maybe thinking of getting a mortgage at some point. Make sure you get a chartered accountant.

I don't see connection between mortgage and accountant...Mortgage adviser or lawyer is better option.

 

[Jenni384]

I don't see connection between mortgage and accountant...Mortgage adviser or lawyer is better option.

If you have a job, you provide payslips to the mortgage provider to prove your income.
If you work for yourself, they will ask for an accountant's reference to confirm income over the last 3 or so years.

That's why the accountant is relevant.

Agreed, if you're looking for a mortgage, going to a mortgage adviser is a good plan.

 

[stelabg]

If you have a job, you provide payslips to the mortgage provider to prove your income.
If you work for yourself, they will ask for an accountant's reference to confirm income over the last 3 or so years.

That's why the accountant is relevant.

Agreed, if you're looking for a mortgage, going to a mortgage adviser is a good plan.

Aha, I see, I see
I am a privileged account, but that kind of issues isn't still our job description in our country.
It is enough official bank statement for now...

 

[Jenni384]

Apparently it has to be a chartered accountant and my accountant is only a financial accountant.

ADC: can I ask, was your accountant qualified with the IFA (Institute of Financial Accountants), i.e. has the letters AFA after his name?

Reason being, the IFA have just told me that they are on HSBC's list of approved accountants.

Of course, anyone qualified or not can call themselves a financial accountant but I can't think of any other professional body whose members might specifically refer to themselves as a financial accountant.

Many thanks
Jenni

 

[ADC]

ADC: can I ask, was your accountant qualified with the IFA (Institute of Financial Accountants), i.e. has the letters AFA after his name?

Reason being, the IFA have just told me that they are on HSBC's list of approved accountants.

Of course, anyone qualified or not can call themselves a financial accountant but I can't think of any other professional body whose members might specifically refer to themselves as a financial accountant.

Many thanks
Jenni

He has AFA after his name, they said that wasn't acceptable and he needed to be a memeber of one of the following (I wrote these down quickly, so they could be wrong) ACCA, ICAEW, ICAF, AAT, ATT, CIOT, CIMA or ACMA

 

[Jenni384]

Thanks ADC. I'll pass this info on.

 

[David Griffiths]

Just had one in from Northern Rock, and their criteria are

ACA, ACCA, FAPA, CA, MAAT, ATII CIMA, and the fellowship equivalents

FAPA anyone? :|

 

[Jenni384]

Just had one in from Northern Rock, and their criteria are

ACA, ACCA, FAPA, CA, MAAT, ATII CIMA, and the fellowship equivalents

FAPA anyone? :|

MAAT but not IFA? Lawks, they don't have a clue, do they, these banks?

FAPA? I'm not going to even hazard a guess....!!

 

[Zeno]

Lawks, they don't have a clue, do they, these banks?

FAPA? I'm not going to even hazard a guess....!!

Given that they still do not understand the difference between an accountant's report and an auditor's report the rest does not surprise me.

I find it worrying that for most of the paperwork surrounding loans, overdrafts etc the conditions tend to be for quarterly management accounts and audited accounts within 6 months of the year end. These are almost always ignored by both parties but I wonder what would happen if they try to enforce this clauses?

 

[Jenni384]

Given that they still do not understand the difference between an accountant's report and an auditor's report the rest does not surprise me.

I find it worrying that for most of the paperwork surrounding loans, overdrafts etc the conditions tend to be for quarterly management accounts and audited accounts within 6 months of the year end. These are almost always ignored by both parties but I wonder what would happen if they try to enforce this clauses?

Yes, very good point!
They really don't have a clue what an audit is.

...But then we all know banks aren't always competent, they are just apparently a necessary evil.

 

[Jenni384]

Back onto the original topic, the IFA have confirmed to me that both Santander and HSBC accept accounts prepared by IFA members (AFAs) (or are supposed to!).

ADC, if you still haven't got the mortgage reference approved, your AFA accountant may be able to take this issue up with HSBC and the IFA on your behalf. Hope this helps.

 

[Zeno]

I think I have mentioned before that I do not complete the forms that come from the banks either (and much the same for all reference requests from other places). I have my own letter that I use for this purpose that unfortuntely has to have various caveats and arse covering limitation of liability clauses etc that for some reason seem to have been ommitted.

They tend to have a habit of asking unsuitable/unanswerable questions too. I find you have to be wary of this especially such drivel as "In your opinion can your client afford the repayments?" as declining to answer seem to be taken as saying "no".

 

[Zeno]

Oh, and the "original copy of the tax return" chestnut occasionaly pops up. That along with the request for the original tax calculation from the Inland Revenue makes for a fun afternoon.

(You really can't blame the clowns on the phone, they are only reading what comes up on their screens. The "managers" are not much better though)

 

[ADC]

Back onto the original topic, the IFA have confirmed to me that both Santander and HSBC accept accounts prepared by IFA members (AFAs) (or are supposed to!).

ADC, if you still haven't got the mortgage reference approved, your AFA accountant may be able to take this issue up with HSBC and the IFA on your behalf. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info Jenni. So if they have AFA after their name that means theay are a member of the IFA then? Confusing, why don't they put IFA

I will let my mortgage adviser know. I've already told First Direct to stick it. I want an offset mortgage so will be closing my bank accounts with them too.

 

[David Griffiths]

Thanks for the info Jenni. So if they have AFA after their name that means theay are a member of the IFA then? Confusing, why don't they put IFA .

Because I is for Institute and A is for Associate?

 

[Jenni384]

Thanks for the info Jenni. So if they have AFA after their name that means theay are a member of the IFA then? Confusing, why don't they put IFA

I don't know

IFA is Institute of Financial Accountants; their members are called Associate Financial Accountants (AFA).

It's like the main chartered body is called ICAEW and its members have the designatory letters ACA (Associate Chartered Accountant?).

Some have the same desginatory letters as the name of the body (eg ATT, ACCA) and others don't.

Good luck getting the right mortgage.