So what's the score?

angelpye

Hi all, I am hoping you guys may be in the know about what kind of score you need to get an ok mortgage deal? I just looked at my equifax and as i was late on a couple of payments to one of my credit cards (new baby so my admin got behind) I have 'good' credit score. Problem is I need to look into how much I could borrow for mortgage and I am now on maternity leave.

Any advice?

herbiesjp

It not so much how the agencies grade that counts, as to what the details on there actuallt state i.e. no. of missed payments, defaults, CCJs etc.

It is the lender scoreing systme that you have to be worried about, and you will only find out how they will treat your application, when you do an agreement in principle, and a credit search is done.

Different lenders will treat the information differently, and so you might benefit from a whole of market adviser,discussing your situation with lenders before doing an agreement in principle.

wodgerdodger

I think there is a misconception that it is purely your credit history that determines what a Lender will offer by way of mortgage. certainly the conduct of any credit related item makes a big difference and can often be the initial hurdle to overcome but lenders look at a lot more information than that.
Mortgage underwriting is almost totally automatic and computer generated and will vary from Lender to Lender. The whole profile of the customer is taken into account and notional items included when assesing affordability such as living costs and even where the property is.

The age of the applicants, how many times they change jobs, how many addresses they have had over a period of time, how many dependents there are the proportion of income needed to pay the expected mortgage.The list of areas the sophisticated systems looks at in a split second and delivers an answer is quite amazing. But being computer generated can sometimes lead to occasions when perfectly staight forward cases can be declined and there is little margin to appeal the decision unless an error in input was made or incorrect information recorded.

angelpye

Thanks guys that makes sense. But where do i start? Do i go to a mortgage brokers?
I have no CCJs and all accounts satisified with no missed payments except this one credit card which was fine until last couple of months where payments late (although one shows as missed as direct debit was £5 less than minimum) and is fine now but that doesnt show yet.

Conrad

Angel, your reciting your missed payments again, but us trying to predict the outcome of a software alogrthym is akin to predicting the weather.

Dozens of factors will come into it, such as the area you live in, whether your a tenant and if so unfurnished / furnished and onto items such as a land telephone line at work and home.
What I mean is this; studies show people that get into arrears more or less always exhibit certain traits. Now jo public does'nt like such assumptions and will cry that people who get into arrears are merely victims of circumstance, but the figures never lie. Those that get into arrears, and repossession time and again show the same traites, and a classic is not giving a work phone number on an application.

Now why would not giving a work number make a difference? Well. it comes down to ones organisational skills - organised people that plan ahead, plan for bad times, dont rush into things tend to also be orgainised in other ways such as bothering to findout thier owrk telephone number - yes they can 'be @rsed' to get than number rather than playing a vid game.
Before anyone says it - yes I know some people 'think' thay cannot / dont have a work landline, but this is never the case. Policemen can still give an HR department as an example.

It's these seemingly innocent details that build the cake.

Another is bing a smoker. A huge percentage of those in mortgage default have been shown to be smokers. Many reasons why; Perhaps they have a slightly less worrisome mindset - 'bah, me nan smoked, I'll smoke, you only live once', but this same mindset when faced with the potential of tipping into arrears is MORE LIKELY to dismiss the problem - 'bah, they can go hand for thier efin money, dont they know me van broke down'.

I'm going to get stick for this truthful post, but I've been party to the inner workings of credit scoring and Ive seen the statistics of those in arrears, and in general the fugures tell a very similar pattern.

BTW - I snapped my achillies 2 weeks ago. On top of that mortgage broking has been hard the last 2 years, but thankfuly I had always put about 10% of income by in better years to see me through. WE ALL HAVE BAD LUCK, BUT IF WE PLAN AND DONT RUSH INTO THINGS LIKE HAVING CHILDREN THEN LIFES UPS AND DOWNS ARE MORE MANAGEABLE. Thats not aimed at the OP btw, just a general comment.

angelpye

Thanks Conrad. I agree with what you say in principle - those who take risks in one area of their life are likely to take risks in other areas and these risks aren't always good. I was once a risk taker then I became a parent and the risks stopped making that crooked sense that they once did. I have two dd's now. But sometimes... just sometimes... as John Lennon once said... "Life is what happens whilst you're busy making other plans."

I took my eye off the ball - I don't need to justify why, it was important to do what I was doing.

Anyway, my reson for posting is because I am scared of rejection and the mark that will leave - am I better to wait a while for the positives to be back on my credit score? My other circumstances won't change.

JA1000

Hi

I do not agree, I checked my score today and at 492 in the very poor section yet I have not one default or one missed payment, it is completely green across all the scores. The only reason for this poor score is that I have used 89% of my available credit. I removed this on the forecast tool and it shot up to excellent.

So if the score didn't count why am I being refused a mortgage application at twice my income only at less than 75% LTV and includes the unsecured debt which makes up the 89% which would be cleared.

This either proves that computers do the processing as the decision in principle was accepted or as I believe underwriters are killing the housing market and are out of touch. Oh and they are a weird bunch anyway!!

My score has actually improved as the debts have been paid so that's what I will continue to do.