Do I have adverse credit?

Emsy1977

Hi, I'm looking to be added to my partner's mortgage (we've lived together in his house for a couple of years now) but not sure what my chances are of being accepted, so was hoping for some opinions before we put in an application!

I had a few (5!) late payments on one of my cards a couple of years ago due to not having a direct debit set up and just generally being forgetful (I know, I know!) - these show as status "1" on my credit report. No other adverse credit, have a couple of other cards with no late payments ever, plus a paid off loan, mobile phone contract always paid on time etc.

The mortgage is currently at around 70% LTV, and is less than 1x our joint salary (I am the higher earner). We could potentially put in additional savings to bring it down to 60% if required.

The other problem is that I'm self-employed, although I do have 2 years of accounts and am booked up full time with work for the next few months at least.

Will the late payments and the self-employed status put the lender off me? It's HSBC and I've heard they don't allow ANY black marks on your credit report at all so am worried

Thanks

dimbo61

Why do you want to be added ?
He has a mortgage with HSBC right now and will still have once the current deal ends !
The only way to find out for sure is to get your credit file and see when the 5 late payments finish on your credit report and apply to HSBC.
Speake to them and see what deals are on offer , explain that you can afford to repay some of the loan if that will help get a better deal.

Emsy1977

Hi, we want me to be added as I cannot be on the house deeds without being on the mortgage - as a large amount of the money we are using to pay off the mortgage is mine we would both be more comfortable with my name on the deeds.

Late payments stay on your credit report (as I understand it) for 6 years, so it will be 3-4 years before they all disappear, I don't want to wait this long if I can avoid it. We will of course speak to HSBC but as I mentioned I just wanted to get some opinions on whether it's likely to be a straight decline before we go ahead - I like to be prepared for the worst!

Wutang_2

Its one credit check - give it a go (and blame Wutang if it all goes pete tong).

HappyMJ

I still don't understand why you would want to be on the deeds??? If you're married then it's marital property and it's yours anyway no matter whose name is on the deeds. Do married people buy everything (including the telly) in joint names? I don't think so. If you're not married then you're paying rent/board/lodgings and aren't entitled to it. If you're not happy with that then buy your own property rent it out pay that mortgage off and contribute less of your own money to paying off your partners mortgage.

If you want to save some money then paying someone elses mortgage off, who you are not married to, isn't always the best idea you can always invest the money elsewhere.

HSBC's current mortgage rate looks to be 3.94% and although this isn't the best rate on the market it is still a fair rate and the cost to switch usually makes any deal at the moment not worth it. Even on the no fees mortgage you still have to pay something i.e your own legal fees to save only 0.25% per year (£250 per £100,000) and you'll be locked in for two years. All the other deals have booking fees of £999 and none are really worth it as there are better offers elsewhere. Being self-employed won't meet the requirements of the banks best rate mortgages.

I think pete tong will be around on this one.....

Emsy1977

I was just asking for advice on a specific question, not how I should be running my relationship! I have been married before and have no desire whatsoever to do it again.

Anyway, it sounds like we will just have to give it a go.We are not looking for a new deal Happy, and my partner is not on a rate anywhere near as good as the ones you are mentioning. We just want to add me onto the current deal, and were trying to get advice on whether this would be possible.

We'll just give HSBC a call directly.

dimbo61

please dont take offence
Yes are trying to protect your interests
I have done the same and put a large amount of my money into by then girlfriends mortgage ( offset ) before we married.
She now has ALL my money TRUST is very important.
We cant say if HSBC will allow you onto the mortgage but I hope they do as this gives you more security if things do go wrong.
But it also means you are both tied together financially for Better or Worse!
If your dont pay the mortgage YOU ARE BOTH LIABLE!
As your rate is over 4% the best thing to do is overpay if you can afford too
GOOD LUCK in your home together

Rob71

HappyMJ wrote: »

I still don't understand why you would want to be on the deeds??? If you're married then it's marital property and it's yours anyway no matter whose name is on the deeds. Do married people buy everything (including the telly) in joint names? I don't think so. If you're not married then you're paying rent/board/lodgings and aren't entitled to it. If you're not happy with that then buy your own property rent it out pay that mortgage off and contribute less of your own money to paying off your partners mortgage.

Actually, that's not strictly true - "the marital estate" is everything accrued since marriage; it's not a 50/50 split as most people think.

If the house is bought prior to marriage, then the new spouse doesn't automatically get half of it - I'm mid-divorce, so I'm speaking from experience!

Likewise, even if you're just common-law partners, there are still some rights (ok, not rights as such, but a legal precedent has been set awarding a common-law partner "compensation" for their contributions during a relationship).

From what the OP has said, they are the majority breadwinner - if they're contributing to the mortgage then I can understand the desire to have their name on the deeds and mortgage, purely from a pragmatic point of view.

Likewise, I'd consider getting something set up with a solicitor explicitly defining who owns what etc (I have friends that have done this: it's a gradual way of getting more equal ownership over time and is fair to both people).

If there's an outstanding term (for a fixed rate or whatever) there's no point doing anything just yet. The act of putting a name on the mortgage (or taking it off) invariably leads to starting a new mortgage agreement - this wouldn't necessarily mean staying with the same lender.

That said, if the new agreement is based upon the joint credit rating/income etc., then there's a fairly good chance that getting a new agreement won't be an issue - especially with existing repayment history with HSBC.

I think the general consensus is give them a call and talk it through - for more "leverage" you might want to go into the branch and go through *everything* with them....

Best of luck!

talkalot

Everyones situation is different but all I can advise is that about 6 months ago HSBC gave my wife and myself a new mortgage and I had only recently completed a IVA. My credit file was not good at all.

Emsy1977

Thanks all, apologies if I sounded a bit shirty earlier but just felt I was being judged a bit!

Thanks Rob for pointing out that we would have to get a new deal no matter what - I'd assumed we would just be able to pay a fee and add my name to the current deal (subject to acceptance of course)! It sounds like maybe we should speak to a solicitor instead with regards to drawing up some kind of agreement in the interim and then look at adding my name when we have to remortgage anyway next year.