Messed About By Halifax

fallen121

Just wasted 3 weeks trying to remortgage with the Halifax, only to be told at the last minute we don't meet the income criteria! What is going on with these people?

My husband and I were told we could borrow up to 90% of the valuation of our house, and in fact we eventually elected to borrow a lot less than this, to remortgage, pay off an expensive credit card and spend about £10k upgrading the kitchen and putting in new carpets, with a view to selling the house in about 4 years. Total borrowing all told less than £70k

Because the house is in my name only, having been owned prior to marriage, I was told initially that the mortgage could be done just on my salary. I was up front about my outgoings from the start and the fact that my husband is self employed.

Next thing the Halifax came back and said that because of a small mortgage on a holiday home (which outgoing I'd already told them about at the first mortgage interview) the remortgage on our main home would need to be in joint names and include my husband's earnings because I no longer met the income criteria....hang on a minute - we'd gone through all the income and expenditure stuff already and they'd done a credit check...and suddenly I can't afford it when a week ago I could?

We then went through the hassle of a valuation, which actually turned out better than expected considering our carpets and kitchen are horrible!

Final hurdle was the 3 years accounts - again we'd been upfront about the income and expenditure and told them that we use an accountant who offsets everything we are allowed to to minimise my husband's tax liability.

Suddenly...knocked back for the remortgage because my husband's net profit "is not high enough".

I'm very confused here because we've not lied about anything, have provided all the paperwork we were asked to and are now faced with a black mark on our credit record which may prevent us from getting a remortgage anywhere else!

What I can't understand is how come we were strung along for so long...I do feel that the mortgage advisor completely failed to comprehend the niceties of self employment and probably realised quite a long time ago that we probably wouldn't qualify....so why not just tell us?

Thank God no fees and didn't have to pay for the valuation. But it has left a very bad taste.

quacker_2

We are having trouble with the Halifax, this is over credit cards we have paid over the stipulated monthy amount each time but one large payment went astray, to the halifax but not our account the money was found--eventually, They have still charged us a late payment interest charge of £12 even though the account was interest free for 12mths and we are within that time and they have reduced our credit limit, we have spent a long time on the phone with them which has cost us plenty and we still havent got the problem resolved.---- Keep good records of all transactions.

opinions4u

fallen121 wrote: »

Just wasted 3 weeks trying to remortgage with the Halifax, only to be told at the last minute we don't meet the income criteria! What is going on with these people?

If they didn't see your proof of income until the "last minute", what were they meant to have done?

Next thing the Halifax came back and said that because of a small mortgage on a holiday home (which outgoing I'd already told them about at the first mortgage interview) the remortgage on our main home would need to be in joint names and include my husband's earnings because I no longer met the income criteria....hang on a minute - we'd gone through all the income and expenditure stuff already and they'd done a credit check...and suddenly I can't afford it when a week ago I could?

It sounds like your adviser treated the other mortgage commitment incorrectly.

Final hurdle was the 3 years accounts - again we'd been upfront about the income and expenditure and told them that we use an accountant who offsets everything we are allowed to to minimise my husband's tax liability.

Lower net profit = lower tax bill = lower amount you can borrow on a mortgage.

I'm very confused here because we've not lied about anything, have provided all the paperwork we were asked to and are now faced with a black mark on our credit record which may prevent us from getting a remortgage anywhere else!

What income figure did you orginally disclose for your husband, and how does that compare to the net profit?

There is no black mark. Merely the recording of a credit search.

What I can't understand is how come we were strung along for so long...I do feel that the mortgage advisor completely failed to comprehend the niceties of self employment and probably realised quite a long time ago that we probably wouldn't qualify....so why not just tell us?

They hadn't seen the accounts.