gambling and mortgage application

mirror-man1

Hi, I'm hoping to become a FTB (with a 10% deposit) and will be making a joint mortgage application with my wife in the next month or so. I've just realised that on my current account statements there will be transactions for an online spreadbetting account that I have totalling £1000 over the course of a few weeks during October. Its not something I do regularly so these are the only transactions in the last 6 months. I'm concerned this might cause problems as it is a large sum of money (which I ended up loosing) and naturally gambling will probably be seen as a risky activity by a potential lender.
How many months of bank statements are they likely to ask to see and has anybody else come up against this problem?
Any thoughts gratefully recieved.......

rising_from_the_ashes

Not all lenders ask for bank statements so you could check before you apply if you're worried - the ones that do usually want 3 months (so it's likely October's statement would be required if you're applying in the next few weeks).

Gambling's a dangerous game .... can you afford to lose £1k?

This could've gone towards the deposit on your house / decorating / furniture etc when you move in .....

Wh05apk

Lenders "normally" only ask for bank statements to confirm the deposit, some are starting to ask to see evidence of salary and account conduct.

I wouldn't worry about it, if your accounts have stayed within o/d limits etc then the account is well run as far as they are concerned, that is all they look for, must admit though as brokers we do sometimes have a giggle at some of the entries shown - Ann summers / adult channels etc.

I was going to add a comment about waiting for patronising comments about gambling, but was too late!

chucknorris

mirror-man1 wrote: »

Hi, I'm hoping to become a FTB (with a 10% deposit) and will be making a joint mortgage application with my wife in the next month or so. I've just realised that on my current account statements there will be transactions for an online spreadbetting account that I have totalling £1000 over the course of a few weeks during October. Its not something I do regularly so these are the only transactions in the last 6 months. I'm concerned this might cause problems as it is a large sum of money (which I ended up loosing) and naturally gambling will probably be seen as a risky activity by a potential lender.
How many months of bank statements are they likely to ask to see and has anybody else come up against this problem?
Any thoughts gratefully recieved.......

I seriously doubt that they will ask you about it, but if they do say that you were arbitraging (betting both/all sides of an event at odds that you can't lose at).

Thrugelmir

Wh05apk wrote: »

I was going to add a comment about waiting for patronising comments about gambling, but was too late!

From an underwriters perspective does give an insight into an individuals attitude to financial management.

kk20

offer to give 12 months statements to show that it was a "one off" i.e. holiday or a planned recreation.

Wh05apk

Do not get hung up on this, lenders won't give a monkeys about this, as long as the account is well run, and they can see salary credits etc then that is fine, we all spend money in ways that others may not approve of, but it has no bearing on a mortgage, next people will be commenting that smokers are less likely to get a mortgage, as they take chances with their health/life!

Smeagal

I recently applied for a mortgage and I do a lot of arbing (arbitrage) where thousands are hitting my bank statement every month for gambling companies, my lender (ybs) didn't even ask about them.

mirror-man1

Many thanks for all your replies, its helped set my mind at rest. Its never something that has left me "short" at the end of the month, its spare cash I can afford to loose, but I hear so much about how picky lenders are being. Guess the only way to find out is to apply. Thanks again everyone.

chucknorris

Thrugelmir wrote: »

From an underwriters perspective does give an insight into an individuals attitude to financial management.

Yes especially if he was arbitraging, a definite plus point for him for taking the free money. It's going back a bit but the best one I remember is Minter v Hagler (Hagler odds against here and Minter odds against in the states). But equally good were the spread stop loss arbitrages with spread firms in football, where you bought the golas in a football match without a stop loss but also sold the goals in the same match with a stop loss, it meant if there was a lot of goals you made a lot of free money.

But I would be surprised if people who worked in a mortgage dept would be smart enough to appreciate this.

mjv1986

Hi,

I have just applied for a Mortgage and came across this thread. I was just wondering if it affects your Mortgage as I have just applied and my bank statements with the same Mortgage company will have betting transactions..........admittingly we are not talking £1,000s but at work we do some weekly bets (ie £10 each) so it can sometimes be £50 deposits, but then i get the Cash from other so really it is only £10 I am risking of my own money!

I was just wondering if this makes any difference?

I always bet what I can afford to lose in that month and don't go taking money from savings etc

Thanks for any help!