Declined due to work contact details?!

tribe_2

I have recently applied for a fairly small first direct mortgage of £57,000.

This was to be repaid at a rate of around £375 per month for 15 years. I am on a £28,000 salary.

I also technically still own a very small Ltd design company. However, the application was not made taking this into account at all.

However, the underwriter rang me today to query why my work address and my own companies address and phone number were the same.

The reality is that this is purely from practical purposes as my employer and my company are involved in design so I can pass on any enquiries that may still come in, through to my boss.

The underwriter basically said he'd rung the landline number and no one answered, that he'd checked for the company on Companies House and that he couldn't find it (which is plainly wrong) and that they weren't prepared to enter into the mortgage on this basis. He would not give me the opportunity to clarify any of his queries.

Does that seem like a legitimate or reasonable reason for turning down a mortgage of this nature?

maninthestreet

So how did the underwriter know about your own company if this was not mentioned on the mortgage application?

luckyfool

Sounds like they think you are self employed but masquerading as employed to get around having to provide accounts.

First Direct are cherry picking their cases and they are within their rights to choose who they do and do not want to lend to. You might do better with another lender as long as the full situation is laid out properly and is documented correctly.

laurel7172

If you are a freelance/contract worker/director of your own limited company, it's harder to get a mortgage. What you've said doesn't really make sense-why were they looking up the company if it didn't appear on the mortgage application?- and I don't fully understand what you've done, but I suspect it looks as if you've tried to pass yourself off as on a proper salary while freelancing through a company shell. And if it looks as if you've been less than straightforward, why would they deal with you? Sorry...

luckyfool

Some lenders will do an ID/electronic search that will pick up amongst other things any directorships a person holds. Naturally if they have applied as an employed person they are likely to then go on a digging mission into Companies House to see what they turn up. Finding out that the person who has applied to them as being a straightforward employee actually is the director of a company trading from the same address as their "employer", and with the same contact phone number as their "employer" is always going to ring alarm bells. I'd be grateful if they have not put a CIFAS fraud warning on your account if they think the application was fraudulent.

Thrugelmir

Who is your employer? The answer is your are.