Mortgage possibilities with bad credit rating

little-jo-jo

Hi everyone

Just after some advice really.... through nothing other than complete and utter stupidity and immaturity I managed to rack up credit card and overdraft debts amounting to a little over £11k. I am aware what a mess I got myself into and only wish I could turn back time as unfortunately its done now.
I am currently in a debt management plan and am completely committed to turning over a new leaf, sorting out my finances and cutting back on all possible expenditure to enable me to pay my debts off as soon as possible. I have calculated that within 14-15 months I should be pretty much debt free, or down to a manageable couple of hundred pounds on one credit card to enable me to come off the plan. I currently pay quite a substantial amount towards my debt management plan every month and over the coming months I am due some 'bonus' money from work and my parents are helping me out a little aswell.

My query really comes with the complications I know I am bound to face when trying for a mortgage a couple of years down the line. My boyfriend and I are keen to buy somewhere, will probably be taking advantage of the part-buy part-rent schemes for first time buyers in our area, so will only initially be looking for mortgages of around £58,000 to buy our first 35% share of the property (which can be increased later on). My credit rating is significantly damaged from my debt management plan and although I can currently afford to make good payments each month this wasn't always the case and at one point I was paying less than minumum payment on a few accounts so received some default notices. I have no CCJs or further court orders, just defaults.
I know my credit rating cannot improve until I have come off the debt management plan, so has anyone got any advice on mortgages for people with bad credit? Or ways to improve my rating as quickly as possible, once the debt is cleared of course.

All advice and comments welcome

Conrad

Part buy mortgages are currently only offered by lenders that want a clean credit record.

As to how to improve your rating my advice is act like a sensible geeky person - don't change job / address / make sure on voters roll / have a landline telephone number etc

little-jo-jo

thanks for your reply conrad....

is that really the case with part-buy part-rent mortgages? i've gone through all the small print pretty closely and never seen it mentioned and know of friends who have been successful getting these mortgages with damage to their credit rating (not as bad as mine though)?
are all areas that offer part-rent part-buy guaranteed to run the same eligiability criteria? i have seen that there are various terms & conditions i.e. you cannot have more than £15k of debt

thanks for tips on building credit rating once debt is cleared. all the basics common sense stuff then....i am just really worried it will take years and years to repair :undecided

Conrad

You wont find anything in the housing scheme terms, I'm talking about the fact that only clean credit lenders lend on these schemes. They included Leeds, Halifax, Santander, C&g AND Nationwide.