First Direct - Disaposable income percentage

uzubairu

sebtomato wrote: »

I can surely confirm that First Direct are very picky when it comes to mortgages.

I took an offset mortgage with them, and my LTV was about 45% (very large deposit). The income multiple for the amount borrowed was less than x 1.5

Perfect credit rating, never had any overdraft, saving about 30% of my pay each month etc

During the application, they still called me about three times for 45 min each time, asking questions about deductions on pay slips, specific bank transfers on my various accounts etc. They gave the mortgage at the end, but I was amazed by the due dilligence they went through, for what I though was a very good application.

Great bank in term of service, but clearly, they are really picky for mortgages, hence the best market rates. I guess they don't want trouble from their customers, or people defaulting, and therefore it is cheaper for them to provide mortgages.

We jumped through several hoops when we re-mortgaged with them in August 2010.
Income multiple was low (1.25) and LTV was approx 50%.
We had several long conversations on the phone to underwriters and we had to re-submit bank and credit card statements and explain specific outgoings /cash withdrawals etc.

They were so thorough, we thought we might not get approved, but thankfully we did.

They are very picky and I guess we were one of the lucky ones, as it seems that others in better financial postions than us are getting turned down.