first time buyer advice

anican_1985

some of these questions might seem silly but here goes...

my husband and i have been together for 10years, married for 6months we are saving as much as possible to buy our first house so far got 3K saved. we have been renting a house for 5years at £400/month never missing a payment. do banks look favourably at this? (because in my view its like ive been paying a mortgage)

i earn 28K, OH earns 20K /yr (after tax)

however i have around 8K credits card debt, OH 2K on credit cards. ive had 1 or 2 late payments over the years.

we were thinking of seeing a financial advisor but im a little nervous because im embarrassed at the debts i've occurred

i've noticed some banks/building societies are lending 95% LTV we live in lancashire where little terrace houses are on 60K, we are just dying to get on the property ladder

so big question should we be paying off debts or continue saving?

ACG

The odd late payment shouldnt cause too many problems, but it depends on how many and how long ago.

You can generally borrow around 4x your pre tax income - so you would be looking at aounrd £200k as a maximum, it could be less as you have credit cards etc.

It depends on how much you are thinking or borrowing, if your looking to borrow the maximum then i would say clear the debts. If your looking at borrowing £60k then i would say affordability wise any lender probably wont have an issue with you so you might as well just save a deposit.

Also dont be embarassed about a few late payments, in the short time ive been doing this job ive seen people in arrears with their mortgage, ex bankrupts plus a fair few other things that my exams didnt prepare me for that i wont post on public forums!

Your situation is nothing unusual, everyone has the odd missed payment.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, there are 95% deals available, not many though. The rate you would be paying isnt that great. Its best to try and get a 10% or 15% deposit as there will be more deals available which gives more options and better rates.