Matched Betting Affected Mortgage Application

bwlv1

Good Morning All,

Can i firstly say a big hello to you all and say that i do feel quite cheeky coming in as a first time poster and asking for help straight away, but i'm sure there is someone who can offer me some advice who is reading this and knows what matched betting is about

I am in the process of purchasing my first home with my partner, we have good credit scores, good incomes and a decent deposit.

My first application has been with First Direct, everything went fairly smoothly until the underwriter had a look at my bank statement. Now in hind-sight, i should of used a different bank account for matched betting, they have declinded the application due to the betting transactions, i tried my best to explain to him that there had been no losses if you look at all of the transactions and matched betting was legal. They were having none of it.

I have rang the post office who i am applying with now and asked them about it and they said it shouldnt affect things but i'm not so sure about that once their underwriters have a look.

Any advice on what to do now would be so greatly appreciated

Regards

Ben

LittleMissAspie

Are you sure that's the only reason you were declined? I passed a First Direct mortgage application. My bets were made in a different account, not my main bank account, but they asked to see statements from all current accounts so I sent those off too. I only had a few bets on there mind and the account hadn't been touched for a good few months.

bwlv1

Yes Apparantly just the betting transactions. There havnt been any for 6 weeks and the highest one just touched four figures but my main point was there were no losses. They were from my one and only current account.

Really dont know where to go from here, worried that all banks will say the same .

Ben

luckyfool

I can understand the First Direct concern, I wouldnt be keen to lend someone a large amount of money who makes 4 figure bets. Having said that, First Direct are unusual in the degree to which they forensically analyse your bank statements looking for reasons not to do the mortgage. Your bets are unlikely to be a problem with most other lenders. Many don't even want to see bank statements anyway.

betmunch

First Direct have a habit of finding reasons not to lend, dont take it personnally.

My brothers mortgage went through with NatWest and they asked for his bank statements that were pretty much a record of three months of MBing and he was keeping most of the money in the bookies accounts so his would have shown a big loss.

bwlv1

Yes I can see where you are coming from regarding not lending, the matter of fact was the bets actually don't result in any loss they actually show a small profit, i struggled to explain it to the advisor who contacted me , I think the idea of gambling put them right off instantly . I am trying post office next, any idea if they are so thorough?

dmg24

benwolves wrote: »

Yes Apparantly just the betting transactions. There havnt been any for 6 weeks and the highest one just touched four figures but my main point was there were no losses. They were from my one and only current account.

Really dont know where to go from here, worried that all banks will say the same .

Ben

I think you explained it incorrectly. Saying that there were no losses implies you were mug betting, which inevitably leads to losses in the end. It is better to explain matched betting as an issue of maths as opposed to gambling, in that (if you do it correctly) you will never make a loss.

luckyfool

Is this "matched betting" in the sense of arbitrage between odds on different sites? e.g. Making simultaneous bets to take advantage of differences in odds between sites and making a small profit?

None of this really makes much difference, First Direct obviously have concerns about a prospective customer transferring hundreds or thousands of pounds to Betfair/Ladbrokes for whatever reason.

globalds

Try reposting on GIOL forum
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=41


I am sure other match betters have faced this problem.

The only similar problem I can remember off the top of my head was a semi pro poker player who had no way of proving his income.

My advice would be to open a separate match betting account right away , different from your current bank ....And then keep it to yourself.

Most mortgage advisers will not know what you are on about , however you try and explain it ....People only need to hear the word gambling and the knee jerk reaction has kicked in before they are prepared to listen to your logic.

denial2010

I had matched betting transactions galore on one of my bank statements (13 pages worth if I remember correctly... That was just one month!) and I still got accepted!

bwlv1

Luckyfool your definition there may come in handy! And denial which bank was that with if you don't mind me asking? So worried that this could hamper any chances of getting a mortgage.