First time buyers 95% LTV mortgage - chances?

chameleojo

Hi everyone,
My boyfriend and myself are looking into buying a tenement flat in Glasgow (the one we particularly like is offers over £89,000). We'd really appreciate some advice on our chances of getting a 95% mortgage.

We have enough for a 5% deposit so are now looking at 95% LTV mortgages suitable for first time buyers. The ones we've seen are Nationwide SavetoBuy (I've had a SavetoBuy ISA with them for 4 months), Clydesdale bank and Newcastle Building Society.

I've seen on MSE that going through a broker is a good bet, but the one I've contacted so far says we won't get a mortgage without a 10% deposit. Then when I told him about the above products, he said those one's are not available through brokers! So it looks like we might need to go direct, which is fine, but I want to get an idea for our chances of approval before racking up too many searches on our credit files.

Combined income: £40,000
Time in current job: Me 8 months, boyfriend 2 months (6 month probation)
Time at current address: As above - we are both now on the electoral roll but my boyfriend only managed to move from Edinburgh 2 months ago so it may not show up on credit files yet?
Debts: Me £7,000 on credit card (low rate 6.7% interest until balance paid off though), boyfriend has no debt (except for student loan)
Payment history: Neither of us has ever missed a payment

I'd really appreciate some advice as to how likely we are to get approved for one of the above mortgages. Particular areas of concern, in my opinion, are high credit card debt (although low rate - will this be taken into account), short length of time at current address and the fact that my boyfriend is still in probation at his job.

Can anyone offer any advice? Thanks in advance!

TastyTeeth

Length of service in both your jobs will probably be an issue, particularly with one of you on a probationary period.

The credit card will also be taken off the available loan amount, but shouldn't as much of an issue as you're looking to loan about 2x salary by the looks of things.

I'm no expert and I'm sure one of the knowledgable ones will be along soon to give more advice

Brazuca

Hi, I also have 7K on credit card and save to buy, and I was approved within days for a 95% mortgage with Nationwide. I went directly to the branch. When I spoke to a broker he wasn't happy with my low deposit, but Nationwide had no problem with that as I had the Save to Buy account.

ACG

You would need an independent financial/mortgage advisor to locate those deals and to be honest due to the little deposit you have and the fact you have already found the deals im not sure it would be worth you spending probably best part of £1k on a broker.

95% deals are hard to get at the best of times, your income is fine even with the debt, the problem you have is as has been mentioned the short period in your job(s). Yours isnt too bad and might be acceptable your partners wont be by more than 1 or 2 lenders and those dont do 95% deals.

Is there any reason why on £40k combined you cant save up a significant chunk of money over the next month or 2?

chameleojo

ACG - Thanks for you advice. Because rent is so expensive, we cannot afford to save any significant amount. We are paying £695 at the moment in rent per month.

Whereas with the 3 bed flat we have our eyes on, we can get a lodger or two in to significantly reduce monthly mortgage costs (would be approx £700 reduced by approx £250-£300 per lodger).

We might just try applying to Nationwide once I've had the SavetoBuy ISA for 6 months and if we get refused, wait until my boyfriend passes his probation period at work then try again. Does that sound sensible?

nakiwala123

Brazuca wrote: »

Hi, I also have 7K on credit card and save to buy, and I was approved within days for a 95% mortgage with Nationwide. I went directly to the branch. When I spoke to a broker he wasn't happy with my low deposit, but Nationwide had no problem with that as I had the Save to Buy account.

We also hold a save to buy with Nationwide and it will be 6 months in November 2012. I have been wondering how other people have got on with these and if they have been accepted. If you don't mind telling, what interest rate did they offer you?