Will we get accepted for a mortgage?

kate87

My boyfriend and I are looking to buy a house in the next 2 years. I'm quite confident we will be able to save a decent deposit (hopefully 15%) as we will be living at home, and we are just looking to buy a smallish first house, nothing that would be at the top end of what we could potentially borrow.

My boyfriend has a very good credit rating and is very organised financially, unfortunately mine is less than perfect.

I struggled with money whilst I was at university and I missed payments on my credit cards, was constantly in my overdraft etc, and this went on for about 2 years.
This was the biggest lesson I ever learnt and I am gradually paying back what I owe and haven't missed or been late on a payment for about 6 months, and I'm pretty confident that in the next 6 months I won't owe anything and I will finally have savings again (yippee!).

The experience has totally changed my attitude to money and I am now VERY careful.

What I would like to know is, if I can keep up this good behaviour for the next 2 years before we buy, will my previous track record still stop us from getting a mortgage (even if his credit rating is good?) and is he better getting a mortgage on his own for now and adding my name to it later? ( obviously this isn't ideal but he is able to borrow £90,000 on his own)

I would feel really terrible if my past stops us from getting a mortgage, and is there anything else I can do in the mean time to improve my credit rating?

Thankyou in advance for your replies!

lindens

It depends who you borrow from. i went to barclays last month and they wanted to know any defaults for the last 3 years.That was their policy.

kate87

Ahh... I didn't know that, I thought they might go on my whole credit file, which am I right in saying is 5 years? That's really useful to know thankyou!

LilacPixie

6 years until things fall off.

No one can say what lending will be like in 2 years so we can't really judge but bigger the deposit the more lenient lenders appear to be about the odd indiscretion.

Raggs_2

Whoever you're banking with may be the first people to turn to, since they will have first hand experience with how you are currently with finances. Everyone else will have to look up and base their decision on your credit report.

Who knows what the future holds, but the people you bank with will at least have first hand experience.

Thrugelmir

Rather than save. Use your money to clear your debts as a priority. This will show on your credit history. Clearly demonstrating that you realised the error of your ways and faced up to them.

A long term positive track record will not be held against you in the future.

If your boyfriend puts more into the property in the form of a deposit. Then this can be handled by the solicitor when you purchase. So should you split this money remains his, before the remaining money is divided.

Go luck and keep saving. Getting to a 15% deposit will be worth the effort.