Mystery Mortgage - Good or Bad ?

Glennst

Good Morning folks,

I purchased a starter property in 2007 with a good friend and we have been living in the house ever since. The time has come for us to go our separate ways and we shall be renting the house out, as selling is not an option due to negative equity (£170k mort, c£150k value).

I intend to purchase a new property with my fiancee, who is a first time buyer. We have a 10% deposit and affordability does not appear to be an issue within the relm of what we are looking to acquire.

Where I would welcome your advice is as follows;

My joint mortgage with my friend does not, and never has, appeared on my credit report. We have never missed a payment, infact we have paid off an additional £10k above contractual repayments simply because we had the means. I would also point out that this is a staff mortgage via my friends employer (Bank) and he was the principle applicant.

When my fiancee and I now come to apply for a mortgage I am posed with the question... are you a first time buyer ?

Do I say yes and avail of the better rates / offers ?

Or

Do I strive to amend this oversight, and have my credit report updated?

I would like to add that I have checked all three credit agencies and none document the mortgage. Neither am I trying to highly gear myself and mortgage beyond my means. My fiancee and I have good salaries, good credit ratings and are only looking at £200k mortgage. In these times of stringent lending I fear an opportunity to paint a better picture may be worthy of taking

But I may be missing the bigger picture and welcome all critique.

Thanks

BoGoF

Is "opportunity to paint a better picture" another way of saying telling porkies?

You are not a FTB and failure to disclose the existence of this mortgage on any application would be fraudelent.

Glennst

BoGoF wrote: »

Is "opportunity to paint a better picture" another way of saying telling porkies?

You are not a FTB and failure to disclose the existence of this mortgage on any application would be fraudelent.

Hmmm, when you mention the F word suddenly all becomes quite clear.

Is this a common occurrance ? Is there any value in having my credit file updated ?

Cheers

Gary123456790

Hi,

Sounds like you need to check if the mortgage mentions you at all!

Request a copy of the title records from the land registry - check your name is on it!

Get your friend to show you the mortgage documents to check your name is on it, and how you differ from your friend, i.e. if they are principal applicant, what are you?

It would be far better to have the well-paid mortgage on your credit file.

Gary.

Senior_Paper_Monitor

There is/are also a (in fact more than one source I believe) separate register of mortgages that can be/is searched - if it was found then it would almost certainly be viewed as a fraudulent (you could hardly claim you forgot !) and your details passed to 'National Hunter'.

A number of other questions ....

Do you have / will you have 'permission to let' ?

Will affordability still "not be an issue" when the monthly mortgage payment (some lenders) or total affordability calculation (many lenders) involving the old property is taken in to account if it is not let ?

Glennst

Senior_Paper_Monitor wrote: »

There is/are also a (in fact more than one source I believe) separate register of mortgages that can be/is searched - if it was found then it would almost certainly be viewed as a fraudulent (you could hardly claim you forgot !) and your details passed to 'National Hunter'.

A number of other questions ....

Do you have / will you have 'permission to let' ?

Will affordability still "not be an issue" when the monthly mortgage payment (some lenders) or total affordability calculation (many lenders) involving the old property is taken in to account if it is not let ?

I do not wish to enter the world of fraudulent transactions, so this is now merely a case of whether I investigate the credit report further.

The positon is, my friend shall be remaining in the house and I shall be renting out my room. I am lead to believe that this does not quantify as a BTL scenario and no amendment to the current mortgage is required.

I would however like to ascertain why my mortgage has never appeared on my credit file. Obviously I signed all of the mortgage papers in the presence of our solicitor, so I would presume I am named on the title. If I am not named on the title what does that mean in this scenario ?

I have had many credit cards / store cards / loans / HP over the years with no defaults, missed payments or CCJs. My credit score is 872 according to Credit Expert, would adding my mortgage really change things for the better ?

thanks folks

Senior_Paper_Monitor

..... and you don't qualify for 'first time buyer' stamp duty exemption !

Senior_Paper_Monitor

OK - not quite what your first post says ("we shall be renting the house out"), but if 'taking a lodger (i.e one of the owners continues to live there) there are no BTL implications BUT (AND IT IS A VERY BIG BUT) ....

This will not be a self supporting BTL property 'in the background', it will be a mortgage for which you are responsible (assuming you are on the mortgage - and you must check [Land registry & lender I suggest] urgently) and it will come off your affordability calculation (in one or other of the ways I explain above).

Thrugelmir

Glennst wrote: »

I would however like to ascertain why my mortgage has never appeared on my credit file. Obviously I signed all of the mortgage papers in the presence of our solicitor, so I would presume I am named on the title. If I am not named on the title what does that mean in this scenario ?

Doesn't really matter if it does appear or not. As on the new mortgage application form you will will need to declare its existance. This applies to any question you are asked. Businesss relationships are based on trust. Once broken they can leave a black mark which is very hard to remove.

Glennst

Ok, I have completed a Land Registry search and I am named as "full owner as tennent in common". So from a risk perspective all appears in order.

So do I call the mortgage lender and ask for my credit files to be updated, or do I simply leave it ?