Halifax Mortgage Declined

MrsCtobe_2

Hi all,

My fiance and I have just applied for our first mortgage together. As we're both contractors, our mortgage broker recommended Halifax as the best option as they're one of the more contractor-friendly lenders.

Approximately one month ago we provided all relevant information to the underwriters at Halifax (including credit reports from Experian and Equifax, our individual contracts etc). Following this we received our AIP, and also the reassurance via our broker that two of the senior underwriters at Halifax had given us "the green light" and that we'd have absolutely no problems with our application being accepted.

So based on this information, we paid our reservation fee on our new-build home, paid for the valuation (which we received back yesterday and all perfect) and also our broker's fees.

All seemed to be fine until out of the blue we heard on Tuesday that Halifax had found something "adverse" associated with one of our former or linked addresses. They will not disclose to us (nor our broker) what the exact problem is, nor which of us this relates to.

We are both very diligent when it comes to our finances and have been members of Experian for the past few years, and in the run up to submitting our mortgage application also subscribed to Equifax. There is absolutely nothing negative showing on either of our reports from either credit agency, so we are extremely baffled and frustrated by this latest twist of events, because we are not seeing what they claim to be seeing. We cannot fathom why Halifax will not disclose to us the exact problem given this is our own information.

The latest suggestion is that if we can identify which of us is causing the problem, we can proceed with the mortgage in the other's name as a single application (fortunately both of us are decent earners and so are able to do so). However as this is our first home together and we are getting married next year, we are a little reluctant to proceed in this manner as we feel that this should be something we are entering jointly.

I was just wondering if anyone else had encountered this kind of issue, whereby the lender appears to not want to share the exact reasons behind a declined decision. As we both know our credit histories are clean, alarm bells are ringing that something is not quite right. If there is some form of error on either of our reports, then surely we should be informed so that we can have this rectified?!

Any advice or info would be much appreciated.

Best regards

kingstreet

Obtain your current credit files from Call Credit if you have up to date versions from Experian and Equifax. It may also be worth a long-shot of a subject access request to National Hunter.

https://www.callcredit.co.uk/stat-report-online/index.php?action=register_display&tpl=regPurchase

http://www.nhunter.co.uk/data.html

Once again a decision in principle from Halifax turns out to be worthless and results in a decline when the full check is done when you submit a full application. :mad:

If they've told you it's about a linked address, I don't see them telling you much more than that.

Conrad

MrsCtobe wrote: »

I was just wondering if anyone else had encountered this kind of issue, whereby the lender appears to not want to share the exact reasons behind a declined decision.

Shareholders of Halifax, for example the teachers pension fund, are not in the business of providing a credit information service, just as you yourself for example are not in a line of work that enables you to serve hotdogs at lunchtime. It isn't thier remit or reason to exist.

They either can or cannot lend. It's up to you to establish whats on your credit file, it's no one else's domain.

Sometimes staff do tell me or at least give a hint what the issue is but it seems yours could be one of those where possibly some sort of fraud warning has been triggered. There could be a million explanations so speculation on here is utterly pointless.

One of the unusual cases I came up against was where a fraudster had tried to take out a loan in my clients name, but perversly this later made obtaining finance for my client an issue. We had to get the credit bureaus to alter the 'flagr' warnings to enable lenders to then proceed with an offer of finace, but dont get hung up on this as it's only an example of the sorts of thing that can happen.

Another example is someone might have off handedly given rough status details when taking out anything from a Nectar card to a warranty, and these rough on the spot off hand answers were recorded but now conflict with information given in a mortgage app.

As I say all sepculation.
My gut feel is you will resolve this.

MrsCtobe_2

Thank you for the replies.

The issue we have is that although we are (fortunately) both high-earners and have immaculate credit histories, we still seem to be hitting a brick wall, with no valid explanation other than they have apparently found something on a former or linked address that they are not happy with. We are extremely baffled, as is our mortgage broker.

As I said, we have our up-to-date credit reports from Equifax and Experian, and upon the advice of the first reply, also now from Credit Call, all of which we have fully scrutinised. There is absolutely nothing on there that is adverse - no late payments, nothing. We have also discussed this with Equifax and Experian by telephone, and asked if there is anything on our reports that could be perceived as negative by a lender, and they tell us there is nothing.

If we are not told what the problem is, how can we rectify it? We are not experts in credit searching, so have no idea where to start with trying to find what it is Halifax claim to have found. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions as to how we go about this?

If there has been fraudulent activity in either of our names, surely the lenders have a responsibility to assist applicants in having this corrected?

Halifax seem to be very cryptic with what information they release. Why can they not simply advise what the adverse finding is and to which applicant it relates?

On their website, they quote "If we have declined the application because of something in your credit profile we’ll give you as much information as we can and suggest ways to improve your credit record or correct it if it’s wrong."

That doesn't seem to be the process they are following in this instance, and rather than "help you to understand why, offer alternatives if we can and try to provide guidance", they seem to want to make life as difficult as possible by refusing us access to what is our own data!

:mad::mad::mad:

kingstreet

Did either of you have a financial association with another party while resident at a previous address? Any former partners with credit problems? Anyone possibly with a similar name at the previous address? Family members with the same initials?

In my experience, a lender will normally be as frank as it can, particularly if dealing via an intermediary. If there is nothing more forthcoming, it may be an issue of Data Protection for a third party.

Dave_Ham

Any undeclared bankrupticies or fraud over 6 years sometimes give this response - not suggesting that is the case here but thought I would check...

MrsCtobe_2

Again, thank you for your replies.

Yes, my other half is divorced and so was financially associated with his ex. He is unaware of any credit issues there, but no longer has contact so that is a sure possibility.

Is there any way of us searching to establish if the problem lies with this financial association?

I have read about disassociation. Does anyone know how to request / enforce this?

With regards to the comment re "issue of Data Protection for a third party", please could you clarify what you mean? - that perhaps Halifax are unable to disclose anything further as the info may relate to a former financial associate of my partner, rather than directly to him / us?

There are absolutely no bankruptcies or fraud on our part. This is also why we are so concerned, that there may perhaps be something against our names that we are unaware of.

kingstreet

MrsCtobe wrote: »

With regards to the comment re "issue of Data Protection for a third party", please could you clarify what you mean? - that perhaps Halifax are unable to disclose anything further as the info may relate to a former financial associate of my partner, rather than directly to him / us?

Yes. That's exactly what I meant. They can't disclose to him or you, information which applies to a third party even if it is affecting your credit.

You can obtain disassociation forms from the CRAs, but how you disassociate yourself when you don't know who/if this is the problem, I'm not sure...

EG;-

http://www.uk.experian.com/contactforms/consumer_onlinedisassociation.html

MrsCtobe_2

Thank you, this is (potentially) making a lot more sense now. I've downloaded Experian's disassociation request form - they state they will also inform the other agencies of the disassociation once approved. Will get this in the post ASAP.

The only association either of us has (with the exception of one another) is between my partner and his ex, so if this is where the problem lies, at least we have identified it and can have matters rectified.

Our broker has a contact at Halifax who will apparently be back from annual leave on Monday, so hopefully they will be able to clarify if we're on the right track.

Fingers crossed this is the problem and we can move forward with the mortgage. It seems to be the only thing that makes any sense, given we are both 100% certain we have nothing adverse on our own credit histories, and also would explain why the reluctance on the lender's part to disclose any further details.

Don't suppose anyone knows how long the process to disassociate can take?

Thanks again for your help, this has put my mind at ease ever so slightly!!

Oxid8uk

MrsCtobe wrote: »

I've downloaded Experian's disassociation request form - they state they will also inform the other agencies of the disassociation once approved. Will get this in the post ASAP.

I recently financially disassociated myself from my ex husband. Although Experian say they will inform the other agencies it is worth you contacting Call Credit and Equifax yourself just to make sure. Call Credit and Equifax were very quick at disassociating me from the ex (within 7 days, wrote to me to confirm) but Experian has taken longer. I sent the form to them 3 weeks ago and still haven't had confirmation the ex has been disassociated.

Thrugelmir

MrsCtobe wrote: »

Approximately one month ago we provided all relevant information to the underwriters at Halifax (including credit reports from Experian and Equifax, our individual contracts etc). Following this we received our AIP, and also the reassurance via our broker that two of the senior underwriters at Halifax had given us "the green light" and that we'd have absolutely no problems with our application being accepted.

All lenders will run their own credit checks based on data provided by all the main credit agencies along with the court register. They will not be interested in consumer reports .

At the AIP stage senior underwriters won't even know of your existance.

Your particular mortgage broker appears to be talking hot air.

With regards to your partner. Was a financial consent order agreed and obtained at the time of the divorce?