Mortgage after bankruptcy and repossession

There is no such thing as a black mark on your credit file

Some lenders will accept your application, some won't depending upon the whole picture. The size of the deposit, the stability of your income & your outgoings are the important factors. Credit history plays a part, but not with all lenders

Never lie on an application, lenders are spending vast amount of money on fraud detection, and any suspicions are reported to the hunter system, which can seriously harm you in the long term

Be honest, speak to an independent adviser who knows what he is doing, and mortgages are possible for discharged BR from 1 year after discharge.

silvercar wrote: »

Some lenders will ask if you have ever had a property repossessed, you have to answer truthfully.

Q1: I know there used to be a mortgage repossessions database maintained by the CML, but this has been done away with (see http://www.checkmyfile.com/articles/403/mortgages/how-mortgage-repossessions-are-reported.htm). How are repossessions recorded on CRA files? Just wondering as my own repossession is not listed on any of my CRA files.


Q2: If repossessions are recorded on your CRA file somewhere, how long do they stay there for?


Q3: If bankruptcy legally drops off your file after 6 years, then inline with the data protection act around data being relevant, are lenders legally aloud to ask the 'ever' question? Surely they are only allowed to ask relevant questions?

Cheers.

Firstly Silvercar is completely right and that is the best answer I think I have read on the subject of lying on applications.

I have read a lot of scaremongering about the banks and the millions they spend on fraud detection. In reality this is to detect the applications where the fraudster has no intention of repaying the money. The bottom line is the Banks could impose many more checks on you before offering credit, such as requiring your National Insurance Number. They don't as the current system makes them billions, and in order to make that money they need a method of people with 'history' obtaining a new start. What they really want to do is lend people money, and those people pay it back, with interest of course!

Bazza

Q1: Not all repo's are recorded, the current scheme only covers 95% of mortgages. Is your BR on your credit file? Has your old property been sold?

Q2: According to the CML it stays on your credit file 6 Years.

Q3: An interesting question, technically you are correct if it's considered out of date by the credit reference agencies then no. However, it is a matter for public record... But in reality even if they found your Gazette record is there anything that could link that to yourself? On mine there is nothing other than someone with the same name as me went Bankrupt that happen to live in the same county six years ago.

On a personal level, short of this forum day to day I have completely forgotten about my BR. I fill out credit applications when I need credit and touch wood haven't been declined. I mostly likely have lied inadvertently thinking about it, where it says tick this box to accept our terms and conditions as almost certainly thinking back one of the lenders would have some kind of caveat about having ever been BR. That said, I went to great lengths to ensure I didn't lie on my mortgage application, I didn't tell them about my BR, but technically they didn't ask either. A number of lenders including the Halifax have started to put this in the lending criteria.

"The Bankruptcy question should be answered as yes if you have had a bankruptcy/IVA or Debt Relief Order within the last 6 years OR still have an outstanding Bankruptcy Restriction Order."

For those of you looking for a mortgage post BR, my best advice is wait the 6 years while you save a deposit, check your credit file, and pick your lender carefully. You wont need a whole market broker and you can get a market rate. Just use Google and look up the lending criteria of the various lenders and pick the one that suits your circumstances.

I hope this helps

2k

Hi Bazza,

Then it looks like you are one of the lucky ones, was your repo post bankruptcy? I suppose if you have a BR marker it's not worth updating the file further.. The only other place that might give it away is the land registry, as they keep the House Price Index which doesn't record sales if the property is repossessed, however they would show a change of ownership. So if you looked at the land registry entries for your repo'd property it would show a change of ownership and not have a corresponding record on the house price index. However, I would think it would be unlikely that you would be listing that as a place you've lived on credit applications!

As for the BR question.. I agree, particularly as even criminal convictions can be treated as 'spent'.. IMO the whole thing needs a shake up, however I suspect it's kept as it works for the banks. People are scared of the term 'credit fraud', and the mistaken belief all these systems are linked. The majority of people don't lie, I know of a few people who have and thus far would appear to have gotten away with it, but I don't think I could sleep at night if I had. As I have pointed out before there are ways to work the system to not lie.

2k

Hi freddy911,

Great update! At the time of writing the CML repossession section was still showing on checkmyfile.com so I assumed (incorrectly as you state that the register was still running) having been BR in 2008 it was relevant to me during my BR.

"The improvement of the way repossessions are reported on credit reports within shared databases such as CAIS, Insight and Share resulted in the duplication of reporting of repossessions, which was cited as the reason for the abandonment of the Repossessions Register and the destruction of the database on 30 June 2010."

So all this time on, if anyone is re-reading this for information.. The advice is still check your credit file, clean up, and apply!