I am of course unable to comment on other applications but mine was handled effectively, on time and in a professional manner.

J Cummings

At the risk of all publicity being good publicity, I would like to add my own experience to your list of disgruntled people that have contacted Mark Foreman, MD of himself and one other person company Ubiquitous Mortgages.

I read the comments here and thought that it was a rival posting letters to attract business to themselves instead of Ubiquitous. I was hoping to add to the positive comment from Marianne but no such luck. The yen mortgage is a much cheaper option that a Euro mortgage – that is if you ever get one. If you do apply to Ubiquitous DO NOT get an AVM – i.e. a computerised valuation, pay for a full valuation. The computer program is not clever enough to know the difference between a 3 bedroom apartment 5 minutes from the sea or a 3 bedroom apartment on the local council estate.

I approached Ubiquitous – got their “These are exciting times” reply, I was then given a quote and paid for the AVM. It also says on their web site that if this is more than 18% too low, if you get another valuation the cost of this will be refunded. Well the AVM valuation came out at exactly 18% below the market value. Normally these valuations take 4 weeks to complete but for another 95 Euros they will rush it through in 2 weeks. So you pay 416 Euros which is more than most other valuations.

Ubiquitous gave me a ‘Decision in Principal’ which was dependant on this valuation, when it came out too low I asked if they would lend me the agreed 80% of their valuation, planning to raise the rest in the UK. But no, this was not possible. The mortgage goes through a Henry Braithwaite of Dominion Finance but he won’t talk to you/reply to e-mails. The next attempt was to send some estate agent valuations for similar properties with a higher price. After several more days this was not acceptable. Next we tried getting an old valuation for another property in the same complex but no – after several more days. that was not acceptable. I had repeatedly asked Mark or Alicia to get another valuer lined up so that a visit valuation could be arranged quickly but this was ignored. It says on the web site that if you already have a valuation then this can be used. Mark says this is not correct – yet repeatedly you are told that all the information is on their web site.

When I repeated my request to get another valuation done (at my expense) I was then told that there was no guarantee that the original ‘Decision in Principal’ still held and even if I did get a proper valuation there was no guarantee that Dominion would still lend. A you can imagine after all this time I am in danger of losing my holiday home and gave up with Ubiquitous and found a broker who could get things done quickly and also responds to e-mails the same day.

Oh and by the way forget phoning them, they have an 0845 number with a UK operator who tries to put you through but not once did I succeed. Once I did get a call returned but all ‘difficult’ questions were avoided and then oops we were cut off.

It is correct to say that she applied to me for a loan in or around August 2009. Again, I believe that she was extremely over optimistic of the property value. I was informed that the property was valued between 450k and 595k Euros, yet Suzanne was able to buy it for 320k. If it’s worth 600k who would sell it for 50% less?

Unfortunately, experience shows that the marketing campaigns of real estate agents referring to values when they were at their peak bears very little relationship to values on the ground right now.

We went to great lengths to get this application through to include considering some UK property as further security. However, the lender did not wish to get involved with all the legalities and complications involved with using UK assets as security for a Spanish property.

As always, if applicants are not happy with the valuation figure and they truly believe that the property should be valued at a considerably higher figure we can have a formal on site valuation done. This does not prejudice their position since they need it for a loan anyway. And if there is a material difference they are refunded the valuation fee! Again this offer was not taken up…

I find it unfortunate that declined applicants refer to the word “scam” simply because they were declined a loan. This forum has so far (in the space of 22 months) since Clive Ballards comments unearthed 5 dissatisfied clients. My God, they should have seen the list of declines when we were using the Spanish banks for mortgages.

During this 22 month period we have completed in excess of a 1000 mortgages across wide ranging countries and received almost 20,000 enquiries. So it’s a case of perspective.

That said, I receive applications for my products that far exceed funds available, so please, if you have any concerns whatsoever please apply for a traditional loan with a high street bank!!!

Thank you

Mark Foreman

Managing Director

I can only imagine the company changed it’s name to escape the negative comments that could be found on a google search from February onwards.

It was reading those that confirmed to us that we had been scammed.

However a comforting thought is that many people are now aware of this company and its changing forms and will steer well clear.

Let’s hope for Mark sake that he doesn’t scam someone dodgier than himself, I’ve heard there are some very deep lakes in Florida!

This guy changes his name more often than I care to mention!

I suspect he’s a Turkish mortgage broker or agent fishing. Might be wrong but his name was Murat Onel. That sounds pretty Arabic/Turkish to me but later changes to Khana Dilip and now he’s Matt.

Firstly, I never approach people – they approach me!

He was not approved for a loan simply a decision in principle which then has to be followed up formally to include a valuation.

If he referred to FAQ’s on our website he would see that applications, on average, take 3-4 weeks plus a further two weeks to finalise in first world countries and we make it clear that applicants should refer to their own legal representative in their country of purchase if in doubt.

George is an absolute gentleman. I have tried everything humanly possible to approve his loan and this is still ongoing.

His options are very limited since he’s a 76 year old pensioner. His valuation was lower than expected but I have afforded him every opportunity to contest this by having a formal valuation done (personal property inspection). So far he has refused to accept this offer. By the way, if the formal on site valuation is materially different we refund the fees!

George has informed me that he has had French banks offer him finance but to date has not accepted their offers…holding out for a better rate. I asked him for a copy of the valuation that they must have had done to offer a loan but this has not been forthcoming.

In hindsight, and in my opinion George has been unable to obtain a mortgage anywhere in over a year. Why else, and in his own words “ I even met a broker on the forecort of UK motorway service station who assured he’d get me a mortgage but wanted 4,000 pounds up front” and “all these issues have cost me a relationship”

Lastly, George applied to us many times for a job since he was so impressed with the service but unfortunately was declined so I have no idea whether it’s a case of sour grapes or not.

In every case where a valuation is disputed clients are afforded the opportunity to have a formal on site survey carried out, and where a valuation is materially different a FULL REFUND of the AVM valuation is given. Both of these applicants refused to take up that offer which leads me to suspect that they were over optimistic of their properties value.