Help! Declined for mortgage

nickname

My partner and I have reserved a new build property at £180k and we have a £9k deposit so need a 95% mortgage of £171k.

Unfortunately our first application (with Bristol & West) has been declined due to a "poor credit score" (we appealed this and were told it was not due to affordability, which they said was not a problem. They still refused the mortgage).

We have both checked our Callcredit and Experian files and get credit scores of about 760 out of 1000 (a "3-star" rating apparently) and have only a couple of 1 month late payment status over the last few years. We have both moved around a bit with work over the last few years so that is always a negative on credit files I suppose?

We are both working in full time secure jobs earning £31k and £25k respectively, and have credit card commitments of £340 and £325 per month respectively (both have about £15k c/c debt).

Can anyone suggest any lenders who are a bit less strict on credit score? We have done a detailed budget and have over £1,000 a month disposable income after the expected mortgage, credit cards and living expenses so we just can't see that affordability is the issue.

We are now worried about time as the deadline for exchange with our developer is in less than 3 weeks and we are already paying out for searches, etc...

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

herbiesjp

There are several lenders, however it will depend greatly on the details of the credit files for both of you.

I would strongly suggest getting in contact with a mortgage adviser asap, as time is not on your side here, and they will be able to discuss your case directly with lenders and find which one will best fit your needs

HTH

nickname

Sorry I should have made it more clear, we were referred to B&W and applied through our broker (London & Country, following Martin's recommendation), who considered even with our c/c debts that as we met the affordability criteria we should be accepted.

Afterwards however when we were declined they did say B&W were stricter than most on credit score. They are now recommending Accord mortgages (part of Yorkshire BS?) with a similar fixed rate to B&W.

I'm just worried about making lots of applications which will show up on our credit file and reduce the chance of acceptance each time we apply!

They have said that Accord are "a little more lenient" on credit score but that doesn't exactly fill me with confidence!!

Are we best just to stick with the advice L&C provide, and apply to Accord?