Mortgage Advice for newbie

whunt18885

Ok so I am 31 years old and my Slovakian girlfriend is 26 years old.

We are keen to buy our first house at the end of 2013/early 2014.

We are both on the electoral register at our privately rented house. I have been on the electoral register since I moved in 4 years ago and my girlfriend for 2 years when she moved in, although she has been in the UK working full time since early 2007. For reference Slovakia is in the EU so there are no work / visa issues - she has full right of abode.

My credit score was rubbish (501) not so long ago due to me being silly when I was a student but now its steadily getting better as my old debts drop off the radar and in addition I am making regular payments to outstanding debts, I am now up to 601, I expect to be at about 700 at the end of the year after another adverse credit entry falls off.

Unfortunately I have a default for £26 that I can't do anything about, I have tried getting it removed with letters / emails / phone calls etc but the company refuse to remove it - I have checked the contract etc and to be honest they have me bang to rights. This won't go until 2016

So even though my credit score is improving with a default I reckon I won't get a mortgage or even if I do it will be at rubbish rates.

My girlfriend has a score of around 780 at the moment but she has until recently had no history of credit, I have finally persuaded her to start using her credit card and she has recently added another credit card (credit builder style job) plus phone contract. She has now got into the habbit of buying stuff on her credit cards and paying off in full each month so I expect her credit score to go to 900+ by the end of the year.

We aim to buy a property of around £80k and have £22k in depsit already saved up.

We both earn £16k a year full time (secreatary / Computer technician)

Given the above I have a few questions:

1. Due to my default is it even worth trying to apply for a joint mortgage or is it just better for my girlfriend to be sole applicant ?

2. Do we apply for the mortgage first before looking / making offers on houses ?

I am very new to this so any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers

kingstreet

With that piddling default, but massive deposit, you'll have no problems getting a mortgage of 75%.

You should be able to apply jointly.

Get an agreement in principle before you start viewing.