looking to buy a house

Paulgold28

Hi All,

I wonder if anyone can help.

Myself and my girlfriend are currently living in a 1 bed flat which has a mortgage on a part-buy part rent (25%) and is currently valued at 90k. We have £5k equity and a £22.5k mortgage soon finishing its fixed rate with woolwich but is solely in the girlfriend's name.

We are looking to start a family and would need an extra bedroom for this so are looking at house in the region of £165k.

Im currently on 38k but have a very large debt of 28k and currently 4 defaults from a couple of years ago, I am paying these off monthly at around £300 and they are all interest free.

The two biggest are about 15k (old mortgage from repossession) and 10k (was secured loan) respectively. the others are small credit cards.

I am also managing to save around £800 a month towards either a deposit or paying debt off.

Because of this my credit rating is very bad with equifax (200) but good with experian (900) which I don't understand.

My Girlfriend is on 17k and has no debt at all and has a great credit rating.

Collectively we currently have about 7k saved.

Can anyone give us some advice on the best way forward especially as the family part is nearing.

Thanks

Nins12345

Without being rude how long ago was the repossession? You might find that a lender won't lend to you until you have settled all your debts, hat were the defaults for? What is the total of your debt? And your gfs? What's her credit history like? How much do you have to put down as a deposit? Sorry for all the questions but they are only what the others members of the forum will ask

MoneySaverLog

TBH I think the defaults/arrangement with creditors are going to stop you from getting a mortgage in your name or in joint names. I also believe if you have a joint bank account / mortgage your GF's credit rating will be affected by yours through a financial association at the CRA.

Credit scores mean nothing so although you may have a 900 score with experian, it's the information on your file which is more relevent to anyone you apply to for a mortgage.

getmore4less

You are crazy even considering this.

By the time you have sold the flat(if you can) there will be no equity left.

you need at least £20k saving to considier buying(depsit fees).


Thats before the financial train wreck and debt.


Best bet would be a few £ on contraception,

RenovationMan

I'm afraid you have zero chance of getting a mortgage. I think you need to sit tight and pay off that debt and wait for those defaults to drop off your credit record. You might also want to look at ways to make your credit record look better - the guys on the debt board will help you finding out how to do this.

If you can continue to save £800 pm you can have the debt paid off in 2 years and can then concentrate on building a deposit. You might even be able to put more away if you make some cutbacks, post an SOA onto the Debt Free Wannabe board and the people on there will help see if there is anything you can reduce.

The only other avenue open to you is to sell the property and rent a larger one, though with your increased housing costs and increased outgoings due to children (they are VERY expensive) it would be unlikely that you'd be able to put away so much money to pay your debt down and it's highly likely that you'd be in rented accomodation for a long, long time.

All in all, if I were you I would hold off starting a family at least until I was debt free.

Thrugelmir

Paulgold28 wrote: »

Can anyone give us some advice on the best way forward especially as the family part is nearing.

Thanks

Others have covered the salient issues adequately. Seems as if you haven't learnt from mistakes you've made previously.

Going to be a squeeze in a 1 bed flat.

Paulgold28

I am shocked by some of the harshness Im hearing here namely "getmore4less" and "Thrugelmir"

The mistakes that were made were unavoidable due to the housing market crash and a rise in interest rates so in the time of trying to sell my flat value dropped from £105k to £73k and I had to sell due to my then GF leaving me with paying a mortgage I couldn't afford.

I do hope that you are a little more sensitive in the future to other posters until you truly understand why they have debt.

The reason we want to start a family is because were not getting any younger and the longer we wait the less chance there is of conceiving, thanks so much for the comment on contraception it was SOOOOO helpful!

Hopefully none of you have the same problems with no family to speak to off and turn to this forum for some help.

If I wanted CRITICISM I would of asked for it, my request was for ADVICE!

We have already thought about staying where we are but I was after.

Thank you for the other advice and thoughts, I had a feeling that was the only way out which is a shame.

Caleb11

Paulgold please don't take it to heart. The people on this forum love to jump on someone because they are oh so much better and wiser (hahahaha). You'll find that the majority of the ones who don't want to help you -only criticise- are on this forum 24/7- maybe that's why they are oh so wise because they don't have a life??

Anyway I'm just a newbie so unfortunately I don't have much solid advice but my partner has really bad credit too and we have a baby so I know it can be done. I got the mortgage in my name only- on a similar wage to your gfs and got a two bed for 76k. Maybe she could look into this? Also I got my mortgage through a mortgage broker and he said he could get people with bad credit a mortgage for a fee of £1000. I don't know anything about this though so sorry. Also you could maybe look into a gaurenter for your mortgage? Failing all that then eventually all the bad credit will fall off ur account. My bf has 4 years until this happens. And then you will be in a good position. Good luck and well done for saving the 7k

Thrugelmir

Paulgold28 wrote: »

I am shocked by some of the harshness Im hearing here namely "getmore4less" and "Thrugelmir"

The mistakes that were made were unavoidable due to the housing market crash and a rise in interest rates so in the time of trying to sell my flat value dropped from £105k to £73k and I had to sell due to my then GF leaving me with paying a mortgage I couldn't afford.

I do hope that you are a little more sensitive in the future to other posters until you truly understand why they have debt.

The reason we want to start a family is because were not getting any younger and the longer we wait the less chance there is of conceiving, thanks so much for the comment on contraception it was SOOOOO helpful!

Hopefully none of you have the same problems with no family to speak to off and turn to this forum for some help.

If I wanted CRITICISM I would of asked for it, my request was for ADVICE!

We have already thought about staying where we are but I was after.

Thank you for the other advice and thoughts, I had a feeling that was the only way out which is a shame.

Sorry if you feel offended. I'm not being judgemental. Merely being factual. We all suffer difficulties throughout our lives. What distinguishes us as individuals is how we approach issues. Everyday I encounter people who take matters personally rather than looking at the bigger picture. Wrapped up in their worlds. Trouble is life isn't like that. Life isn't fair.

My advice to you is get onto the Debt Free Wannabe forum and change your mindset. As your current circumstances leave you with little choice. If you are ever going to achieve your dreams. Start by channeling your energy positively.

Thrugelmir

Caleb11 wrote: »

The people on this forum love to jump on someone because they are oh so much better and wiser (hahahaha).

We live in the real world. Collectively have a wealth of business and personal experience. Along with a wardrobe of teeshirts as well. I strongly believe that the majority do post on this forum with a genuine desire to help. There's always some that believe that they are different to everybody else. Life is about choice. Choice determines the road we take.

Once someone can admit their own faults. Yes we all have them. Then far easier to really help someone achieve their goal.

cattie

I think you are taking the advice people have given here the wrong way. You are assuming they have taken against you, when to my mind they are trying to help you have a clearer vision of your situation.

You have already been repossessed once & still living with the fallout from it & nobody here wants to see you attempt to take on more debt that you might not be able to cope with until you manage to get your debt level drastically reduced. I see it that people have your own best interests at heart & want you to realise how bad an idea it is to be considering another mortgage, even if you were able to get one, only to find that because of the financial pressure of paying debts, a mortgage & living costs & perhaps an addition to the family, you might find yourself facing repossession again.

Surely you could cope for 2 or even 3 years with just the one bedroom? My own son was 3.5yrs old before we were able to move from a 1 bedroomed place into a 2 bedroom home? What children need is love and security in their early years, having their own bedroom isn't something they are particularly concerned about.