Mortgage where do you start?

sharl

Hi all,

I was hoping you could give me some advice. My partner earns 16k a year but when I check out the banks websites it bring back that we could only borrow within the region of £27k which wouldn't buy us a caravan never mind an house!


So our total income is around £1700 a month with child benefit csa and taxcredits.

We also have a 17k loan which we pay £252 a month for 7 years.

where would we go to get a mortgage that would enable to buy us a house?
is it best to go to a mortgage adviser or go to diff banks?

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thx

HelpWhereIcan

HI sharl

I, of course, will be biased and would say that you should speak to a whole of market mortgage adviser. This is mainly because of the fact that their expertise could save a lot of time and headache trudging the high street, internet etc trying to find a lender that will do you the amount you need. The other thing to remember is that your credit profile can be affected by too many credit searches which can happen if you approach a number of lenders for an agreement in principle and they all search your credit file.

However, based on the brief details you have posted, I would venture to guess that you will need to use a lender that uses both an affordability calculator and accepts the tax credits, csa and child benefit. These incude Halifax, Bank of Scotland, IF, Alliance & Leicester to name a few (there are others) and not all of them will accept all your additional income. eg A&L will only accept CSA where it has been paid for more than 12 months and I recently had a case where IF would not accept CSA at all - only court enforced maintenance (don't get me started on the fact that people HAVE to go through the CSA where there is a dispute in the amount due!!).

The loan you have is quite a chunk of your income and you may need to use a lender who will ignore the loan and 'gross up' the other income you receive.

The point I am trying to make is that there is no one lender/deal that is best for everyone in a given set of circumstances. Use the services of a couple of advisers and go with whoever you think has offered the best advice/service.

Because of the myriad of potential solutions, I would say to get advice and to choose a whole of market adviser preferably through reccomendations from family and friends. Failing that, speak with a couple of firms, making sure to ask the questions that Martins suggests in

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi...01649966,86816,

Hope this helps

sharl

Hi,

Thanks for that.

Will a whole of market adviser be able to tell me which banks will use extra income? or are you saying that in my possision i would still need to approach the banks myself directly without an adviser?

Also would it be worth concidering adding the loan to the mortgage? I know it will be rediculas amount of interest but the place we live now is not where we want to live it's awful and were pretty desperate to get out. I can't cope with another summer of anti social behaviour!

HelpWhereIcan

An adviser will be able to tell you how much a certain lender will do for you and what income they will (or won't) use. They should be able to do all the number crunching for you - it is part of their job after all.

HelpWhereIcan

sharl wrote:

Also would it be worth concidering adding the loan to the mortgage? I know it will be rediculas amount of interest but the place we live now is not where we want to live it's awful and were pretty desperate to get out. I can't cope with another summer of anti social behaviour!

It is possible, but it is something that you would have to do knowing all the potential consequences eg higher rate/fees on your mortgage, the loan being paid back over a longer period and therefore costing more in total, previously unsecured debt being secured on the house etc etc

Again, a great example of why it can be a very good idea to get professional advice before making the largest (most important?) financial decision of your life.

sharl

Where do I find an all market adviser?

thanks

HelpWhereIcan

If friends and family are not able to reccommend one, use the yellow pages, yell.com, ufindus and other internet directories and speak to them over the phone first using

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi...01649966,86816

as a guide to help decide if they offer what you need. Make sure you speak to a couple and go with whoever you feel offers the best advice/service. You need to be comfortable with the person - they are dealing with your largest purchase and you will need to be able to trust them to do a good job and keep you informed.

sharl

Hi,

No family or friends will be able to reccomend I don't think, but Them links you keep leaving don't work can you direct me to where it is lol

Cheers

HelpWhereIcan

Apologies, forgot that the site has been updated recently and had posted an old link

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1101649966,86816,

is the new one

sharl

Thanks for your help, i'll take a look at that.

sharl