"Cherry picking" - what can you do?

Brallaqueen

Hi everyone

It seems to be common knowledge that HSBC and First Direct are cherry picking customers for their great rates - does anyone know if there is anything that your average remortgager/ FTB can do to make themselves more attractive to these companies?

Thrugelmir

Do you bank with them?

Is your credit record impeccable?

Do you wish to borrow a reasonable sum over a reasonable period?

Henry_P_Chester

Yes, have a massive deposit and spotless credit report.

trulysaintly

Henry_P_Chester wrote: »

Yes, have a massive deposit and spotless credit report.

...and perhaps a willingness to sign up for more products...(just an educated guess)..

Melaniep101

We've just had a HSBC mortgage approved for 90% LTV. It was all pretty straight forward really, although our application had to go through an underwriter (as apparently most 90% mortages have to).

We only had 10% deposit, but we have good salaries, and not much in the way of debt (I have £2k on a 0% credit card). We were a bit concerned as we had a couple of late payments from a few years back, but everything went through fine.

I should think if you have a good deposit and your credit file is clean, you should be OK, but another factor would be affordability and your salary.

Hope that helps.

Mel

kingstreet

trulysaintly wrote: »

...and perhaps a willingness to sign up for more products...(just an educated guess)..

I would normally share your cynicism, however I'm pretty sure the lending decision is always made before there's any indication of what ancilliaries you might buy.

Melaniep101

kingstreet wrote: »

I would normally share your cynicism, however I'm pretty sure the lending decision is always made before there's any indication of what ancilliaries you might buy.

I would concur - their was barely a mention of other products during our application..

michaels

They don't like you having dependants - could you disown your kids during the application/approval period?

Antispam

frankythomas :spam:

noodle

Melaniep101 wrote: »

I would concur - their was barely a mention of other products during our application..

Thirded. That never came up for me, but the overall positive experience I've had with them (in spite of one thing that I wasn't happy about at all) has led me to look at doing other things with them.

hcb42

I've heard only good things about FD

I did apply for a mortgage with them....in the end we didnt complete the paperwork, mostly because my current account bank had made a major stuff up on my address details and it proved a nightmare to fix (with them, not with FD) But I know how picky they are on paperwork.

Had that not been the case, I dont see what the problem is, but our loan was less than 2 x income and 40-45 LTV