Saying ‘no’ to mortgages

What exactly do you have to do to convince an estate agent that you do not, absolutely not, need a mortgage from them? The question was prompted by a conversation with the Halifax, after putting in an offer on the current favourite house. I’d assumed (because that’s the way it’s always worked previously) that I would put in my offer, they’d take details of who I was and what I was selling to check that I was in a position to buy, and then pass it onto the vendor. But not the Halifax, oh no. They wanted me to come into the branch to talk to their mortgage advisor - ostensibly to clear the money laundering checks. Which would have been fair enough, had it not been for the phone-answering droid suggesting that I’d best get there quick otherwise the vendor wouldn’t get to hear about the offer.

Which (I think) is actually illegal, or at the very least exceedingly dodgy practice. So I had another “discussion” with the mortgage advisor in question this afternoon, and made it clear that no, I did not need nor want one of their mortgages - after which I was assured (her words) that the offer had gone forward, and that the money laundering part could wait until after the vendor had accepted the offer (assuming they do, because I’ve not offered asking price…)

But then I got home this evening to find a letter from the Halifax confirming the appointment for my “mortgage review”. Which has really pissed me off, because the whole process is quite transparently about trying to drum up business for their crappy overpriced mortgage products and has bugger-all to do with “managing the transaction chain”.

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