Mortgage advice please

josyd

Hi any useful advice would be welcome...
I took out a mortgage with Abbey National (now Santander) in 2003 for £120,000 after my marriage broke down. At the time I was working part time and also claiming working tax credits with the childcare element included. The advisor who sorted out my mortgage took all of my income - wages, tax credits, child benefit, childcare element and maintenance into account to calculate how much I could borrow. Subsequently I still work part time but am no longer entitled to tax credits as my children are in full time education and I have a new partner. I have struggled to pay the mortgage but am up to date and have no arrears. The mortgage is still just in my name as my partner is self employed and the bank wanted to charge us somewhere in the region of £300 which we don't have just to add his name onto the mortgage. My query is really in 2 parts I know that Santander based on my salary alone would have lent me nowhere near as much as they did taking into account my full income so do I have any kind of comeback on this considering I have never really been able to afford the mortgage. Secondly I have just come to the end of a fixed rate term and need to find out what the best option is now. I don't think I can swop lenders as I previously said I wouldn't be lent as much as I originally borrowed so I would just like some advice on what deals might be available to me.
Thanks.

theduke2011

Hi there,
please could you provide the following figures:
mortgage amount
term
your age
current salary
details of any other income
property value

Regards,
D

GMS

You fitted affordability based on your total income submitted to the lender, which at the time you were happy with. As far as the figures went you could afford it so hapily took the money. So no there is no comeback.

Without knowing your circumstances it is difficult to say where you could go but you seem to be sure your income would not be enough. Can your partner prove income with accounts? If so you may be able to add him to a new mortgage.

josyd

My partner has been in and out of work for the past couple of years as he is a sub contractor in the construction industry so the work is pretty scarce at the moment! I was getting nearly £700 a month in tax credits so don't think I would get mortgage elsewhere?

themull1

You havent given any of the details asked for to see if someone can help you.

josyd

I'm not sure I should be posting personal details like that on the net?! Just wanted some general advice really.

theduke2011

you dont have to post name etc its only rough figures. If we dont have those figures, then unfortunately we cant help.
Regards,
D

josyd

Ok, well mortgage amount was originally £120,00 now is £109,000, term was over 30 years so just over 22 years to go, I'm 35, my wages net are £1100 per month, we get £180 per month child benefit and I get £400 child maintenance from my ex, if my partner is working he gets around £800 a month but this is very hit and miss sometimes it's nothing! I think the house is worth around £150,000 but haven't had it valued for about 4 years.

theduke2011

ok so from what i can see your total income is the following:
salary - about £17k per annum gross
child benefit - £2160 per annum
maintenance - £4800 per annum
total = £23,960 (roughly)
most lenders should be able to look at a mortgage of 109k over the term youve mentioned (22years)
HOWEVER - most providers will want to see that the maintenance payments are COURT APPROVED. if not, then its unlikely they would use the income to support the mortgage application. reason being, if its not court approved maintenance then it could stop at any time (its not guaranteed)
hope this helps, my suggestion would be for you to go book an appointment with your favourite mortgage provider and take all evidence of income with you (payslips, bank statements showing child benefit + maintenance, court approved maintenance letter etc)
Regards,
D

Meeper

theduke2011 wrote: »

ok so from what i can see your total income is the following:
salary - about £17k per annum gross
child benefit - £2160 per annum
maintenance - £4800 per annum
total = £23,960 (roughly)
most lenders should be able to look at a mortgage of 109k over the term youve mentioned (22years)
HOWEVER - most providers will want to see that the maintenance payments are COURT APPROVED. if not, then its unlikely they would use the income to support the mortgage application. reason being, if its not court approved maintenance then it could stop at any time (its not guaranteed)
hope this helps,
Regards,
D

I was with you until this last part:

my suggestion would be for you to go book an appointment with your favourite mortgage provider and take all evidence of income with you (payslips, bank statements showing child benefit + maintenance, court approved maintenance letter etc)

I assume you mean "book an appointment with a local independent adviser", not "favourite lender". There are enough variables here that an adviser is required as some lenders will take all of the income into account, some only a part of it, some only the basic. Going to an arbitrary lender will not lead to the most favourable result in this case.