Hell, Hell, Hell.
My process ran thus:
Day 1: I apply for LSAP. Unit sends paperwork via recorded delivery.
Week 6: Nothing heard. Estate agent getting bothered by lack of information.
Week 7: Still nothing. I phone AFPAA to be told that the paperwork never arrived, despite my Unit having proof of delivery. AFPAA say they'll rush it through if I fax the information to them. Meanwhile, my Sgt has been told he's not eligible when he plainly is.
Week 9: Nothing heard AGAIN. I call AFPAA: my paperwork
did arrive via fax, but "the girls didn't know what to do with it, so they filed it under 'unknown'."
Week 10: Bank of England raises the base rate and my bank decides I can no longer afford the mortgage. My Sgt is told he is eligible, but has to re-apply because his paperwork was lost. I lose my £500 deposit to the Estate Agency and have to cough up another £120 for my blood-sucking lawyer's fees.
Had AFPAA not been so completely incompetent I'd have been able to sign the mortgage papers in time and I'd be in a lovely new flat. As a consequence of their ineptitude my purchase fell through and I'm condemned to eating Pay as you Starve cr@p for another year. And I have yet to receive a reply to, or even an acknowledgement of, my letter of complaint.
If you're applying, ignore the 6-8-week lead-time you're advised of, and submit the paperwork months in advance. And pester AFPAA, because they really couldn't care less about you otherwise.
