Mortgage with lender who only uses Experian?

wurlycurly

Hi,

I hope someone can help me.

I've had an offer accepted on my perfect flat, however last week I applied for a mortgage with Accord and was turned down on my credit score. I wasn't turned down outright, it went to the underwriters who rejected the application.

I then got copies of my credit rating from Experian and Equifax. My rating with Experian is fine. The one with Equifax shows a default from Virgin Media. I've called them and found out that I had an outstanding balance of £13 due to them when I moved house last year, however as even though I told them I was cancelling to move house all they did was send letters to my old address. I have now paid them and been told that I should be able to appeal to have the default removed as they should have done more to contact me knowing I had moved house. However she said that this could take some time as they will need to investigate and find the phone records etc.

So to cut a long story short if I don't get a mortgage soon I will loose the flat so does anyone know any lenders that only look at Experian for your credit as my credit with them is fine.

I'm wondering if to talk to Nationwide as I've had a mortgage with them previously for just over a year (Jun 08-Dec 09) and never had any late payments etc, but I've been told that they've made all their criteria a lot tougher as at the 3rd March and I don't know what credit agency they use.

If it helps purchase price is 148000, LTV of 80%. I earn 33k and have been with my employer 4 months, however my probation period is 6 months, although I've spoken to a number of lenders and they don't mind that I'm on probation as it is a permenant job.

Any help or advice greatly received.

beecher2

I'd book an appointment with a mortgage adviser as soon as possible. The combination of the default and the probationary contract makes it tricky and applying to random lenders will not help your credit file.

BTW, don't panic into taking any mortgage offered to you as I'm sure there will be another dream flat round the corner.

wurlycurly

beecher thanks for your help,

My mortgage advisor has said that before we apply he can find out if lenders mind the probation period, and I know from asking that many don't, however he has said that he can't find out what credit agency they use.

I thought some people here might know as you can see from your files who's looked at your report. For example I now know that Accord use both Equifax and Experian. However when I applied for as ISA with Intelligence Finance I can see that they have only searched my Experian file.

I'm aware that more searches are going to make my record look bad, but I think it's worth having another go before I accept I've lost the flat as realistically it'll be 3-6 months before I can look to buy again. If I loose this place I'll wait until my dispute with VM is sorted. I'm just trying to arm myself with the most information with who might be my best bet as I really don't want to loose this flat.

ltk4

Hi

I am in a similar situation in that my Experian credit rating is fine but not my equifax one. I have had an offer accepted on a house but have been turned down by one mortgage lender based on my equifax credit report. I desperately need to find a lender which uses only Experian for checks, did you have any luck finding one?

Thrugelmir

Lenders have their own scoring criteria for mortgage applications and use various sources of obtaining credit data.

So suggest you focus your energies on increasing the size of your deposit rather than worrying about what consumer credit agency a particular lender uses.

Leon_W

Does it really matter what agency they use ?

Most lenders do ask the question " Have you ever defaulted on a loan or credit agreement ? " so unless applicants intend to lie about it then it should be declared anyway.

And in all honesty I don't really see a £13 default given the circumstances is going to cause most lenders any problems so I would encourage you to be upfront about it.

A common reason for mortgage rejections is always that the lender wasn't told about something (ccj, default, undeclared credit card etc) . If you tell them beforhand you will stand a better chance.

Regards