Urgent Help Needed! Searches damage to credit rating!

Reebok70

Hi, can anyone help us?? We currently have a mortgage with a high street lender and decided to buy another property (then sell ours after and put the capital made straight into the new mortgage). We are literally at the eleventh hour of the purchase and after having had one mortgage promise from the High Street Lender, we then went and sought advice from a broker who it seems has completely ruined our credit score by applying for loads of different mortgages. When we have gone back to the original High Street lender we are now told that our credit rating is too low as a result of all the searches. We are due to complete in approx 4 weeks. Can anyone PLEASE advise????

herbiesjp

Why did the broker "apply" for different mortgages - did the broker have your authority to do so?

How many "applications" has the broker made

If you had applied and had the mortgage agreed originally, why did you go to the broker?

Reebok70

Hiyah - we've just checked one of our credit reports and it seems that it wasn't the broker who did all the searches - it was actually the High Street lender. The reason we went to the broker was simply to see if we could get a better deal. Now its all gone wrong.

herbiesjp

How many searches did the lender carry out?

If there are too many - query the entries on your credit file - ask them why they have carried out so many searches.

Other lenders should still be an option to you if needed.

Reebok70

Thanks for that - according to the credit report they carried out 6 different searches, and two more last february when our fixed rate was up. I can't believe they did the damage and now they've apologised profusely and said we've had too many searches done! Madness! I'm a little worried about trying another one in case it brings the score down even worse?

UK007BullDog

Ask the lender to have those extra serches removed from your credit file ASAP. If they do not comply threaten with the FSA and the Ombudsman, this would not help right away and your purchase might fall through, but you have some leverage and could theoretically ask for compensation due to their incompetence.

Reebok70

Thanks so much - i'll give it a go!

EdInvestor

Doesn't it seem rather odd that shopping around for the best deal ( which we are all encouraged to do, especially by the FSA) results in potential damage to one's credit rating?

What can be done to stop this unintended consequence of otherwise virtuous behaviour?

kenshaz

This is not normal shopping around ,it is incompetence by the lender,an error.Why I cannot imagine, have they admitted liability and given an explanation as to how it occurred and will they rectify it and offer compensation ,all these questions must be asked.

Reebok70

Thanks - I've rang them today and one of the advisors has agreed that too many unnecessary searches were done and has launched a complaint. However its helpful to know about the compensation. I will bring this up when we speak to them.

dunstonh

Doesn't it seem rather odd that shopping around for the best deal ( which we are all encouraged to do, especially by the FSA) results in potential damage to one's credit rating?

It isnt the shopping round that has caused the problem. It is the original lender that has. So, in effect, not shopping around has caused the problem.