Do I include OH on mortgage application

wendyi

Thinking about remortgaging to consolidate some debts and move to a better rate.

Currently on a 4.99% fixed rate with NRAM and they're not charging early redemption so think I can do better.

House valued at somewhere between £400 - £500k according to Zoopla and general house price indicators (we're in a village with about 25 houses and they're all really different so a bit hard to get a value without a formal valuation hence the big range).

We want to borrow £245K over about 20 years (to pay off current mortgage and some debts). We'd be looking for a repayment mortgage and would probably want to fix again as I like to know where I am repayment wise. I'm 43 and OH is older at 53.

I earn £55K a year and OH is self employed as a sole trader so only has self assessment tax returns (not formal accounts) and these show him earning on average about £8k a year.

Question is, would we be likely to borrow more over a longer period if we apply with me as a sole applicant rather than a joint application? Can we apply for a mortgage in joint names but not take his age/salary into consideration? If the morgage is just in my name, does that have any ramifications for him if I pop my clogs? Is £245K a realistic amount to borrow based on figures above? (we have no dependents and this mortgage would pay off any outstanding debts so we'd have no other loan commitments).

Any advice welcome.

Thrugelmir

How much unsecured credit are you looking to consolidate into the mortgage?

wendyi

about £40k of unsecured credit - £15k which would show up on a credit check as it's on a card (0% interest) and the rest money which the in-laws lent us interest free some time ago to plough back into improving the property which needed lots of work and we'd like to pay it back (suspect they may not accept it in which case we'd just pay it straight back off the mortgage).

Dave_Ham

Hi - I cannot say definitely without knowing more details, although I would imagine it is best for the mortgage to stay joint.

Firstly, it is affordable in joint names and yes you would achieve a better rate (and probably service) away from NRAM.

It would have implications being in sole name, although you can protect against the most significant implication with appropriate insurance.

Age wise, most lenders will allow someone on the mortgage to 65 or 70, although some upto 90 depending upon circumstances and if you had OH on in name only you may be able to flex a bit more. Only issue here would be some banks may class him as a dependent and restrict your lending limit.

There is also confirmation that you are aware of turning unsecured lending into secured and whilst the short term repayments will be less, it will amount to more over a longer period of time.

Good luck