Query re circumstances & mortgage chances

curious_

Hello, I hope someone might be able to offer some reassurance or advice.

My partner and I have found a new build house we would like to buy. It is priced at £168500. We have £26,000 (roughly 15%) as a gifted deposit and appropriately worded letters to confirm this, and enough to cover fees etc.

We both work full time on permanent contracts. I am 26, he is 35. I earn £25,692 and my partner earns £40,000 with a guaranteed 'on call' payment of £250 per month. We payslips and p60s to confirm this.

My partner's credit commitments per month amount to £244 car finance, HSBC mortgage of £380, HSBC loan of £641, payment to a Tesco credit card of £80 per month. The last payment of the HSBC loan is due in July this year, 5 payments left. He has also obtained 'consent to let' from HSBC as he intends to keep the flat he owns and that we currently live in. I have a credit card with minimum payments of £50 per month and could clear the balance (approx £1500) prior to making payments on a mortgage. I have an arranged overdraft of £300 on my current account which I make regular use of. I have never had a mortgage before.

My concerns at the moment relate to a couple of late payments that I have noticed on his credit reports. The most recent of these is on a settled British Gas account and occurred 25-36 months ago. The other relates to a settled Black Horse Finance payment in May 2010. He is currently querying this with Experian as there was an error with statements which Black Horse accepted responsibility for at the time.

We have approached an Independant Mortgage Advisor who is whole of market. A week ago we were given a AIP to the value of approximately £278k. As I've said, this a long way above what we are hoping to achieve. Unfortunately, this is a Halifax AIP which I know is widely regarded not to be worth the paper it is printed on. We have an appointment next Thursday to make a formal application for a mortgage, and I am so worried about the late payments and the impact they may have on our chances of being accepted. Have we done the right thing by approaching a whole of market independent advisor given our circumstances? He has been highly recommended and has 25 years experience. I hope he can find us something.

We will take our credit reports and bank statements to the appointment. We have no dependants, no CCJs or bankruptcies.

Thank you.

Thrugelmir

How much debt is owed in total?

curious_

£3205 on partner's HSBC loan divided over 5 payments left, £3900 on partner's Tesco credit card and £1500 on my credit card which I could clear before the mortgage payments would begin. Approximately £85k left on mortgage that the consent to let has been obtained for also.

Thrugelmir

What's the current property worth?

Would seem that clearing the debts by selling it makes more financial sense. Than hanging onto the property.

curious_

We had an estate agent recommend that if we were to put it on the market, she would recommend a price of approximately £100k. That's the closest idea of a value that we have, and were told this last summer.

We have thought for a long time about what to do with the flat and would like to keep it for the future if it is feasible. My partner has previously rented it for £600 per month before bills and c/tax. It is in an area of Glasgow which is being regenerated for the Commonwealth games, is a 10 minute walk from the city centre and close to all 3 universities and the major hospital and as such is good for rental potential. The HSBC loan will be settled in July - it was a large loan that my partner took to consolidate a number of credit cards and we have scrimped and pinched the pennies hard for two years to get to where we are now. We also increased his student loan payment in order to settle that too, which is now the case as it was settled last week. My credit card can also be settled by July, leaving us with just my partner's Tesco credit card to clear. By clearing the student loan, we have freed up £400 a month to reduce that balance as an ongoing concern. Thank you for your time / advice so far!

curious_

My wages are due to increase in May, giving us an extra £100 after tax to contribute too.