Target Group Reviews 268

Completely agree with all the negative reviews before, they are literally the worst company I ever dealt with in my life ever. Repaying the loan seems to be virtually impossible, I would never used them if I had know what an absolute nightmare it would be in the future.

Dont use Help to Buy and Target HCA!

I am trying to redeem the HtB loan for more than 4 months now. After 3 months since my solicitor sent all the documentation, they told us something is missing. We explained why we could not provide the document as already mentioned in the initial pack. Then they asked for another document that we also already submitted. Finally, they sent the application to Homes England where it lies now and nobody is able to tell me when the application will be processed. Basically, if you try to redeem the loan below the purchase price because of cladding or other issues, they will drag it for ages and you will have no idea whether they will ever let you repay the loan. I cannot sell or rent the property until I repay the loan. Absolute shambles!

Target HCA is one of the most incompetent companies, I have ever had the misfortune to have any dealings with. Please save yourself the stress and frustrations of using this company!

Target HCA is one of the most incompetent companies, I have ever had the misfortune to have any dealings with. Please save yourself the stress and frustrations of using this company!

I have been trying to do a transfer of equity of my property since October and the entire process has been a nightmare. I am having a very similar experience to Laura in the review below.
I promptly return any documents that am asked for and have to wait weeks for them to be reviewed. I have been told on numerous occasions that their guidance has changed and for a particular document and have had to start again, or there is something new that is required that has not been mentioned before.
My understanding is that once they have the required documents the application is sent off to Homes England to be signed and sealed (which takes an additional 4-6 weeks) i am now 7 months in and am not at that stage. Target do not seem to know themselves what documents are needed, the whole process is an absolute shambles.
I saw the many benefits of using the help to buy scheme but exiting the arrangement is proving to be almost impossible

Quite frankly, 1 star is too much, there should be an option for zero! Anyone looking to apply for a transfer of equity, I advise to start the process 9 months before the date you actually require it. I started my process back in November, we're now almost into April & the documents haven't even been sent off for sign & sealing yet. The entire customer service team, albeit very friendly, are an absolute joke. It takes 3-5 days each time an item is sent over to the "deeds team" for them to review & in order to actually get them to review this you have to continuously call up to ensure that the customer services department have have received / picked up your latest email / document to forward on to the deeds team, otherwise it doesn't even get looked at. I have had the deeds team look at my documents 5 times now, each time it was "we just need one more document / amendment & that's it, then we will send off for urgent sign & sealing", this happened 5 times & each time they found a new fault. Surely the errors should be all picked up in one go to save time & move things on efficiently?? nope, instead each time it takes 3-5 days for them to review the new document...if you're lucky! Imagine having this happen 5 TIMES, that's delayed things by over a month. I have also been lied to on 4 occasions by 4 separate advisors where I was advised my "case was being looked at as we speak" - which in hindsight is a clear tactic to just tell you what you want to hear & get you off the phone, especially when each time you are told this, you call back the next day to find that it hasn't been looked at all. The amount of stress & anxiety this has caused me over the last 5 months is sickening & I strongly advise anyone going down the help to buy route to seriously consider whether complications later down the line are worth the initial savings! Because they certainly are not!

Target started off badly but actually redeemed themselves. We applied for a full redemption of the HTB after having a full RICS survey, instructing a solicitor, contacting the bank (to make sure we could remortgage) and filling in Targets application form. I emailed this over to them and two days later received a message saying our £200 admin fee was overdue. I was unaware at this stage that it was overdue, I just assumed someone would request the payment and then release the letter once payment was processed... WRONG! So as soon as we received the email we sent over the payment via bank transfer with my name and postcode as reference (as this was instructed on an email from Target)

A week went by and we hadn't heard anything and our bank was chasing for the letter to complete the remortgage. So I decided to ring Target. The first person I spoke with couldn't locate our account after giving her all personal details. She placed me on hold and then explained when she came back that Target had the incorrect postcode for us... they swapped a 1 for an I. Funny though never got my postcode wrong on interest statements. Once that was sorted I asked her where our application was up to. She replied with "we haven't done anything with it" her reason for this was that they had not received payment proof. I asked how am I supposed to know this was needed?And why has it taken me to phone Target to be told this when this should have been requested before? She apologised but didn't have an explanation for this. She then explained we couldn't go any further until proof of payment was sent. I was driving (hands free) at the time so had to wait until I got home to send the screenshot as proof. I am a financial accountant and I do not understand how a company like this balances their cash book (bank) if they don't allocate payments. Our payment was sat in their bank for a week and no one questioned it at their end? Strange.

I rang straight back after sending the proof and was actually put through to a lovely guy, who was very helpful (unfortunately I didn't catch his name) he located my payment after looking at the proof and allocated this against our account. He then said to speed everything up, as it was their error, he would complete the application there and then, which he did, however he explained it would then take 7-10 working days to receive the quote letter. I requested an email as well so he said this would take 1 working day. So please request an email copy as its much quicker!! Our quote was emailed the day after. So in the end we got sorted but it was a stressful process.

My advice for anyone doing help to buy redemption follow these steps...

1. Check bank will lend first
2. RICS survey
3. Instruct solicitor
4. Send target the application form (found on gov.uk website) along with payment of £200 and proof
5. Chase Target
6. Once quote is received by email send directly to your bank and solicitor

Just utterly incompetent with everything they touch. Most recent issue is asked for my ex partner to be removed from the loan LAST YEAR, only to get a letter through the post today with his name still on the loan documents. Called and said they were missing a document. Well maybe if you would have actually got off your backside and ASKED for it rather than expecting me to use my magical crystal ball. Let’s see if this actually gets processed as everything seems to move at snail pace in that black hole of an office. Solicitor says they have been a nightmare too.

ABSOLUTE SHOCKING COMPANY DO NOT DO HTB!!!

They did not send me any statements for almost 4 years so I refused to pay their stupid £1 monthly management, so they agreed as they hadn't sent any statements for the first 4 years they waived the fee of £60. 3 months later I receive a letter asking to set up a DD to pay for you guessed it the management fee. I made many phone calls sent many emails with the photo of the letters they had sent me showing the fee had been waived, yet they still kept sending letter after letter alsing for this money and to set up DD. After 3 letters they said I needed to pay it and they would pay me back as it was an automated system and they couldn't wipe it off. I refused and said that's not my probelm that's your system and that's your problem. This went to a complaint and after another 3 letters I took them to the ombudsman and the ombudsman took this on and I won against target and also got compensation for the time spent on wasted phone calls and the stress they had caused me unnecessarily over letters they kept sending.
The last 5 months I have been remortgaging my HTB loan which has also been a complete and utter nightmare from start to finish, they still kept sending letters saying I owed this management fee and interest even though I was I within the 5 years interest free still didn't help I had a really awful Conveyancor (review been left). Finally end of start of January I remortgaged but target didn't send the DS1 form to land registry which meant the loan was still against my property so you guess what I kept getting through the post, yep letters from target demading to set up a DD to pay the monthly interest as now even though I had completed my remortgage I had gone into the 6th year of my loan and still the £60 management fee!! I still have all these letters now as I've received in February. I had to call target 9 times to ask them to send the DS1 form they kept saying they hadn't got it when they had, then I had to ask for a settlement letter to prove that I had paid the loan back to them, I asked for this by post as well as email yet this has never been received by post funny that because all the letters I've received from them demanding I set up a DD for something I don't even owe and yet they can't send me one letter when I actually ask them to but when I them to stop sending they don't. Even after they sent the settlement letter by email only and this letter states my account is cleared and now closed I still get letters asking for management fee and interest.
Eventually I received the letter from Land registry stating my loan has been removed from my property, and so far as of today target have not sent me anything else, we will see as it's only been a few weeks... I'm just so glad it is now all over and they have no say over my property or own any part of it anymore, I would never advise anyone to ever go near or use this company.

I am one of thousands of people let down by the cladding scandal.
I want to repay my loan in order to rent my property out as selling is completely off the table.
However - to be able to start the redemption I need a RICS surveyor who can sign the cladding declaration required by HTB. Due to insurance changes there a physically no surveyors that can sign the declaration that HTB require.
With this information and written proof HTB have advised ‘ We can confirm we are currently working on a process that will ensure those who cannot get valuations due to EWS1 issues or local valuer issues, can I please confirm you would like to be added to this waiting list? We currently have no estimated turn around time for this process sorry.’

I’m now in the situation where I can not pay back the loan after being blocked by HTB - I want to pay the money and rent the property out and as such purchase another but have been told this isn’t possible.

I’m seeking legal advice as HTB are breaking the terms of the loan by stopping me from paying it back.

AVOID this company at every opportunity!!

Have tried to get them to accept my complaints have sent loan documents to them a number of times they say they never received them even though I sent them registered post they just put the phone down on me. The broker who sold me this loan through them was a con man terrible terrible company

I am shocked to see how many reviews are saying if they could give 0 stars they would... 0 stars would not even cover how abysmal this company is.
I am in the process of trying to sell my flat and like many others, unfortunately the market is not in favour of flats at the moment and the value has dropped - just to note, I am loosing a larger chunk of money than Target.
With every email you get an annoying automatic response, with every phone call you get 'we can't give any time scale'. I am nearing 4 months into trying to get my redemption statement, of course I had a RICs valuation done for that to go out of date and have issued an updated one for the valuation to be the same. All I get told is its with the Legal Team for review and that's all I can be told. Can I speak to the legal team? Of course not! Last week my solicitor got told the redemption statement should be sent by the end of the day.. time to celebrate? I think not! When phoned the following day asking where said statement is, I get told its still being reviewed. The following day I get asked for more information which is information I do not believe they need to know. The phone call goes on and on and can I speak to someone who can actually give me an answer as to why they need this piece of information? I think not - all the 'EXPERTS' are busy. I mean at least there's a bit of humour calling themselves experts. I am awaiting a call back - I wonder if and when that will happen. I cannot even begin to count the numbers of hours of sleep I have lost, I cannot think about anything else at the moment and it is making me utterly miserable. Not to mention the sellers of the property I am trying to buy are threatening to pull out if we cannot give them a date. If I knew it was going to be this difficult to sell my property and cause so much stress, would I have taken out the loan? Absolutely not. Target should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.
From one very stressed, exhausted, upset, frustrated individual.

The post call survey did not work, hence this post. Had an issue with the repayments, Gareth was first class and sorted out the problem during the call.

My husband and I have had an offer since July. Provided Target with all the paperwork but was sent for review as our property value dropped.
Since then we have had 2 valuations and needed to provide them with a memorandum of sale twice (same sale so don’t ask) and all the while being told we are waiting for a review…. 5 months on and nothing! They just say homes England can be chased but no more can happen.

As many I am ill from this, lost sleep and I am so down because I feel as if they just don’t care. We have emailed and not had responses, open complaint and gone to the ops manager and nothing has happened and nothing seems to make them see that this length of time is a unacceptable.

Coming up to Xmas and I’m holding onto this chain by a thread and it breaks my heart that it will break and I don’t think we will ever be rid of them!

I hope others on here have any success since posting.

Like many others, I have had an awful experience with Target whilst trying to redeem my Help To Buy Equity Loan. In August 2021 I fulfilled the redemption criteria originally set out on their website (to get an independent RICS valuation report, pay £200 admin fee, provide solicitor’s details and complete redemption form). Straight away they asked me for an EWS1 form. This was not available so they asked my managing agent to confirm such, which I did immediately. It has now been nearly 4 months (so my valuation has passed the 3 month expiry limit) and I’ve received no updates from them. I have tried calling them numerous times to get some update on my case, each time they say it is with their legal department for review and are unable to give a timeframe or any more information, so this could end up taking years. How can they be allowed to sit on this for an indefinite period?! Meanwhile I am wasting thousands of pounds on the interest on the Equity Loan which have already kicked in and I am so far unable to redeem. This has caused me so much stress and so many sleepless nights. I feel completely naive to have expected to be treated fairly, I would advise anyone thinking of using the Help To Buy Scheme to run a mile, it has been the biggest mistake of my life. It feels like a one-sides scam in that if house prices rise, Homes England are happy to take the upside but if prices fall they will stonewall you and leave you unable to redeem. I feel completely misled by the scheme (redemption of the loan originally looked like a straightforward process) and I expected the scheme administrator to act fairly. I don’t know how they can be allowed to move the goalposts.

trustpilot should allow zero stars ..and for Target grout they should create a new measure with negative stars
this nightmare experience still ongoing .. I have applied to pay my equity loan but because the price dropped more than 10% the application went to legal department (or we can call it the black hole). after a week or so ..I was asking what is the status ..they asked me to provide EWS1 form to check if there is cladding or not in the building ..so ..3 storey building ..is definitely less than 18 m (ask someone from year 2 would acknowledge that) ..so as per government instruction ..it shouldn't be requested ...I told them that..but their answer ..we need it ..we need it ..we ned it ..u feel like we are talking to recorded message ..finally they said ..alternatively a letter from building management saying it is not required ..after long debate I got that letter and send to them ..during that time my purchase developer and my selling were asking to accelerate the exchange of contract otherwise I am going to lose both ..I forward that to them with the letter and they said we put your application to (blackhole) team as urgent with those evidences ..but as expected ..nothing ..calling them ..nothing ..is it possible to give me time frame..no ..no time frame ..so ..actually they can spend 15 yrs without resolving the issue ..there is no time frame (what a great job ..service company takes customers request and telling them ..sorry no chase no time frame ..brilliant!!!)
have been now 2 months trying to solve that issue ..with a week only to either resolve it or lose my purchase (and my selling consequently) ..
I don't know if that review can help me..but I hope it help anybody trying to apply for a new help to buy scheme ...just one advice ...DON'T!!!!!

If I could give 0 stars then I would, they have been a nightmare from start to finish, they ignore calls and emails from solicitors. Dragging the whole process out.first of all they informed me that all my paperwork was correct and I paid the money to them, they said your solicitors will receive paperwork 5-7 days 22 days later no sign, I ring up to find out what was the hold up? She said oh your paperwork isn’t correct from surveyor!
Well don’t you think that informing me would of helped. Nope just a oops sorry.
Prior to that debacle I rang and asked what percentage we were to pay back we were told the incorrect amount, (lesser) which I queried on the phone and she assured me that she was correct, eeerrr nope you clearly weren’t !!
so now we have been landed with a 17.5k bigger bill than expected and all they can say is SORRY she shouldn’t of told you that. Err no she shouldn’t of. And you will get a letter in 5 days to say we have acknowledged your complaint. What a shower of S**te! never known so much incompetency.
If you think you have to deal with these clowns turn away and run, quickly.

Another horrendous call with Harry (manager for the evening) and Nathan Watt at HCA. We cant tell you anything as its with the legal team for review - 2 months and cannot put me through (They dont have a phone in legal dept - ofcourse they dont.

Anyway, just been told my property had A3 grade as unfit due to cladding - theres not cladding on the building at all and the A3 grade was made on 1st September and no one has told me. Apparently signficant changes need to happen - to a brick building!!

I am absolutely furious that i now want to issue legal action against them - anyone who is under 6 months with this expect it to go on for a very long time.

The people here are some of the most incompetent i have come across in a very long time. No one there seems to know what the various requirements are and you get a different message from different people. This has made the process of trying to get my loan repaid an absolute nightmare and delayed things resulting in me having to pay higher mortgage rate once my rate ran out. Spent over an hour and half on the phone and still no resolution.

Thank you to the customer service team at Target.
Every time I rang Target Group:
- It went straight through to a person
- They took action quickly
- They were very friendly and helpful on the phone