First Time Mortgage - Visit to an Advisor

maurice28

Hi all,

Hoping someone can help with a bit of advice. Myself and my girlfriend are looking to buy our first house and have approached a couple of local estate agents. One had a house we liked the look of, but on a viewing it turned out to be a bit too small. However, the estate agent advised us to go in and speak to their mortgage advisor.

I’ve just booked an appointment to do this next Saturday, and asked what format the meeting would take. The estate agent said that this would be a sit down with the advisor and talk through deals we could go for, search around for some offers and maybe give us a ‘mortgage in principle’ offer. I asked if this would involve credit checks, and he said that ‘it may be recorded but it won’t be anything big.’

I just had a few questions:

1) As we don’t have a property in mind really, what basis would they use for providing an offer or doing a mortgage search?
2) I was asked if we could take in wage slips – I have just started a new job and so have had one wage slip so far, which included a bonus payment so is higher than it would be. Would this cause an issue?
3) If the advisor searches for a deal, does this show up as a search on our credit rating which could have an impact when we genuinely have a property in mind?

Hope someone has a bit of guidance, new to all this mortgage stuff!

benjaminM

Hi Maurice,

I'll do my best to answer your questions,

1. The mortgage advisor will basically look at your requirements and base his/her search on how much you want to borrow and how much deposit you have to put down. They will ask you about your earnings and outstanding commitments to assess your affordability, this will tell them how you are actually allowed to borrow. They dont need to know details of any property to do this, its all hyperthetical.

2. At the initial quote there is no need to take in wage slips. If and when you wish to go ahead with the mortgage, the lender will request evidence if required. If you have a large enough deposit some lenders may not even ask to see any evidence. With regards to payslips and only just starting your job it all depends on the lender, for instance, abbey or Santander as they are now called, dont have issue with people starting new jobs, so long as the employer will verify your income.

3. When the advisor searches for a deal it does not affect your credit rating. Afterall it is only a quote. The credit scoring takes place when you apply for the mortgage.

One word of advice for you would be to get a second opinion. I am sure the estate agent you are using is ok but it does not hurt to go and see another advisor. It wont cost you anything and its possible you could save money on fee's. Incidently, if you are looking to save money on fee's make sure you enquire about deals that include free legals and free valuations, there are lots available.

Hope this helps

maurice28

benjaminM wrote: »

Hi Maurice,

I'll do my best to answer your questions,

1. The mortgage advisor will basically look at your requirements and base his/her search on how much you want to borrow and how much deposit you have to put down. They will ask you about your earnings and outstanding commitments to assess your affordability, this will tell them how you are actually allowed to borrow. They dont need to know details of any property to do this, its all hyperthetical.

2. At the initial quote there is no need to take in wage slips. If and when you wish to go ahead with the mortgage, the lender will request evidence if required. If you have a large enough deposit some lenders may not even ask to see any evidence. With regards to payslips and only just starting your job it all depends on the lender, for instance, abbey or Santander as they are now called, dont have issue with people starting new jobs, so long as the employer will verify your income.

3. When the advisor searches for a deal it does not affect your credit rating. Afterall it is only a quote. The credit scoring takes place when you apply for the mortgage.

One word of advice for you would be to get a second opinion. I am sure the estate agent you are using is ok but it does not hurt to go and see another advisor. It wont cost you anything and its possible you could save money on fee's. Incidently, if you are looking to save money on fee's make sure you enquire about deals that include free legals and free valuations, there are lots available.

Hope this helps

Thanks, that's great. In the absence of wage slips, do you know if a declaration of earnings from my employer would be good enough?

benjaminM

maurice28 wrote: »

Thanks, that's great. In the absence of wage slips, do you know if a declaration of earnings from my employer would be good enough?

Yes it's possible a lender would allow a letter from an employer. There are quite a few underwriters these days that take a more common sense approach to mortgages. As I mentioned before Santander are pretty good and they will accept a copy of your contract as evidence of earnings.

castle96

are you in a probationary period ? (could be a problem)

Use an IFA/mortgage advisor who has access to ALL Lenders rather than just a restricted 'panel