Resolving credit report issues to get a mortgage

elliefiz

Hi All I am a newbie to the site and am hoping you financial whiz kids might be able to advise me.

I am currently trying to buy a house- a fairly simple process until the dreaded credit report gets mentioned! i was unaware that i had any issues on my credit file- i have very little credit exposure and have always been timely in making payments on anything i owed. Thus i was fairly confident i would get a mortgage on a 250k property with approx 65k as a deposit and a decent salary. I was therefore astounded to get knock backed by Santander who cited credit issues. Upon investigating it turns out that my current account has some marks regarding "late payments" on it from last year- im unsure what this means but maybe it was times i went into my unplanned overdraft accidentally? My salary gets paid in every month on the same date as it always has so not sure what i could have been late on.

Secondly i had an account lying dormant with Lloyds TSB that I have not used since early 2012 when i moved banks. I have not received any correspondence regarding this account and I actually thought it was closed. Turns out that it hadnt been closed and my ex partner has been using my old card to withdraw money from the account which had a zero balance but had an overdraft attached to it. I only became aware of this because the account is highlighted as in arrears for the past 2 months on my credit file. The amount isnt massive- my ex "kindly" left it within the allowed overdraft limit however charges took it 30 pounds over the allowed limit and this has been sitting like this since December 2012. When i became aware of this I went straight to Lloyds and cleared the entire overdraft amount plus charges and explained what had happened. Obviously as my ex knew the pin and had the card it cant be classified as fraud. However i had received no correspondence that the account was even in its overdraft nor over the overdraft limit despite it being obvious to Lloyds that the account was not receiving any credits- the terms of the account is that it receives a monthyl credit of x per month but this has not heppened in over a year. Lloyds claim they had not been advised i moved house and that they had my old address on file- this is rubbish as i advised them of my change of address last Feb whilst in branch closing down my savings account. Also they have my contact number and have not called me once. They were apologetic enough in my local branch that they refunded me the charges for the unplanned overdraft however said they didnt think they could do anything about my credit report. I am just wondering how true this is? It seems terribly unfair that I wont get accepted for a mortgage for what really boils down to 30 pounds. Can anyone advise me on what to do?

(oh and apologies for such a long first post!)

Dave_Ham

And breathe..

Ok, firstly this does appear unfair although all lenders will only deal in fact.

Your deposit will help you be heard.

What markers exactly are showing on your Experian file. when does it say 1, 2, 3 etc.

Have you found a place, or just thinking of buying in the near future?

Have you obtained your Equifax and Call Credit reports?

You can complain to Lloyds and given the information provided, I think they may remove the markers although this will be a lengthy process given what is going on in the world of late.

elliefiz

thanks Dave for your reply!

The credit file i have is Equifax- i was told it was more detailed than the others. I havent looked at the others as I would have assumed they show the same details- your going to tell me Im wrong arent you ? :-D

My current account shows 1's in Oct/ Nov last year- nothing since then although i am unsure what it even means to be honest unless it may be related to unplanned overdraft?

The Lloyds TSB account is green all the way until Dec 2012 when there is a 1, then a 2 in Jan 2013 and it says they will be putting a 3 in Feb despite the account being settled in Feb.

Unfortunately i have a house picked out and a holding deposit paid (only small) as my mortgage broker was confident that i would get approval- like i said i was 100% sure that i had no credit problems at all and a fairly hefty deposit. :-(

i am so disappointed- i am due to pay 15% deposit on house by end of april- i was hoping i would get the issue resolved by then. I was told that it really is a case of computer says no- that my application would fail at the first hurdle because my credit score would look poor and the overall picture wouldnt even be looked at.

Was really hoping there is something i could do!

Dave_Ham

Your deposit means this could still be possible, but will require a decent broker.

You will also absolutely need your Experian and Call Credit. They are independent agencies and therefore there may be some naughties or some relief on them.

Assuming given the timelines that this is a newbuild, if it is a newbuild flat best to mention that to a new broker.

Where have you been declined from so far and if your existing broker is just firing out applications to see if they get lucky; this will not be helpful (unless of course they get lucky)