First time buyer - Can you apply for 2 mortgages at once?

hshen

Hi,

I'm a FTB trying to get my first mortgage.

Last week when I went in and submitted my application, there was a credit check error that was obviously wrong. ("no settled account for past 12 month", where I have banked with the lender for 3+ years).

My application is fairly solid. 70% LTV. Loan amount of just over 2x earning, and good affordability. The catch is that I'm on a tier 1 visa.

The advisor put the application in anyway but I'm not so confident what will happen to that application.

I have spoken to another mortgage broker before and he got me a AIP from another lender.

I want to mitigate my risk of not getting a mortgage in time as the vendor wants everything done by Christmas.

Is it possible to apply for two mortgages but only accept one if both came through?

Any advise appreciated!

josievg

Have you considered the fact that you will need to pay out for two valuations if you do it this way?

Also have you checked your credit files to make sure they do not contain errors?

herbiesjp

Have you both discussed your current visa status with the respective lenders to see if you fit criteria?

Whilst it is possible, it is not normally advisable to apply for 2 mortgages at the same time.

hshen

josievg wrote: »

Have you considered the fact that you will need to pay out for two valuations if you do it this way?

Also have you checked your credit files to make sure they do not contain errors?

Believe it or not, I went through my credit file with Credit Expert to make sure everything was correct before I applied...

Guess it didn't make any difference?!

Do you think it's worthwhile to print out my Credit Expert report and show them that?

Why do I have to pay for 2 valuations? My guess was that the valuation comes after they decided you as an individual are good risk and are able to afford the loan. Valuation comes after that, and surely I would be able to ask them not to proceed with the valuation if both came through.

They might not offer me the mortgage if I don't do a valuation, but the risk I'm trying to mitigate is the lender's creditworthiness criteria and how that is applied in my case as a foreign national.

Does that make sense?

hshen

herbiesjp wrote: »

Have you both discussed your current visa status with the respective lenders to see if you fit criteria?

Whilst it is possible, it is not normally advisable to apply for 2 mortgages at the same time.

I was very upfront with my visa status and how much time I had left on it. They were discussed from the beginning and both lender said that's fine.

Barclays if you have > 12 month left on your visa.
ING > 6 month as long as you can show you can reasonably get a renewal. Which I am able to given the scoring of points are public information.

josievg

Is Credit Expert just Experian? Some lenders may use Equifax although I think probably most mortgage lenders use Experian because [I think] it's the biggest. Records can vary between the three different credit reference agencies.

Wrt to what I said about two valuation fees. We got our mortgage in principle and then did the full application. The whole lot - including valuation result - had to go to the underwriter for the final decision.

You'd think in theory it would be like you say 'decide you are a good risk' and then proceed to valuation but we weren't able to get approval from a credit point of view first (other than the AIP) so we paid up for the valuation and hoped for the best.

Maybe all lenders aren't the same wrt the order of things (mine was Post Office). You said your other AIP was through a broker so they should be able to advise you whether you could get a definite approval without having to pay for the valuation first.

Good luck getting everything sorted for a move before Christmas. That's what I'm aiming for now. We originally wanted to be in by Autumn ...

herbiesjp

hshen wrote: »

I was very upfront with my visa status and how much time I had left on it. They were discussed from the beginning and both lender said that's fine.

.

You can't do more than that then.

Although if that is the case, I would still only apply to the deal that was best - and not both.

pughgra78

correct - only if you pay for 2x valuations will be down any cash - i have done this before but in my case I was happy to forego the valuation fee (i'd already paid) to save an extra few hundred quid a month on a deal I found closer to completion