nearly ready to apply for a mortage - my plans...

mansicklebobblebod

Hi all,

hope you're well! I thought I'd share my situation with you,for peace of mind really,so I welcome constructive comments!

background..After a divorce & repossession many years ago (1999) which is all paid,done & dusted,debt & struggling to bring my family on one wage,after hard work & sensible spending,I'm now in a position to be looking at buying a house again!:j

quick over view... I'm 38,married,been in full time employment with my employer for 10 years on basic salary of £41xxx (+over time) lived at this rented house for 10 years + on electoral role.

Experian shows a credit rating of 758 'fair' (I know it doesn't hold too much weight but I joined before I found this site!!),with nothing adverse showing up on my credit history. I've been on time with all my payments so plenty of green dots on my history,apart from two late payments in 2007 on a loan long finished.

The only recent changes to my credit history is a credit card taken out in Jan 2013,which has just had the limit upped (although I won't go anywhere near the limit of £1,200). I've also just paid off a loan 12 months early (on 29 April) with a lump sum I got from the sale of my car.:T

My plan....I'm just waiting for these two above to show up on my credit history.The credit card to 'mature' when its 6 months old & the loan cleared to show up as closed,which I believe takes a month.....just waiting for them two to register on my credit history then I'm going to apply for a mortage!!.

I like the idea of using 'Which' to find me a lender as they say they are impartial,so I should get the best/suitable deal - yes ??

We don't live an extravagant lifestyle so I don't plan on necessarily going right up to the amount a mortgage lender may offer,a house around the £130k I'm thinking?!

My wife hasn't got that good a rating & has lacked self control & organisation over the years when it comes to finances.Therefore I deal with all the family budgeting & financial decisions. With this in mind,I'm applying solely in my name. I can comfortably afford £600ish per month and I have saved £15,000 for a deposit, so I'm hoping I stand a good chance of a mortgage & a decent rate.

what do you think peeps? am I on the right track,are my plans in order ?

Regards - Rob

ACG

Your currently in the 90% product range, im not sure how they would view this at that LTV with a repossession in the background, you might need to get to a 85% or under LTV, although someone who has come across this may be able to answer.

Also at £130k your paying £1300 in stamp duty, at £125k your saving that money - just a thought.

All independent/whole of market brokers should be acting on your behalf.

mansicklebobblebod

Hi ACG,
Thank you for the reply - much appreciated!

The repo was around 1998/99 (memory's are hazy from that period in my life) & the short fall,just under £6k was paid off over the next few years to Halifax via an agency i.f.a.i.r.

Will that still have an effect on my application? I've heard of 'The council of Mortgage lenders' ...Is this a legitimate body that would keep a record of this? Is there a period after which the settled repossession 'drops off' the record?

Thank you in advance

ACG

The problem you have is that the question it usually asks is have you ever had a property repossessed - in which case the answer would be yes and would have an affect on the application.

Its some time ago so it would hopefully not have a massive effect. To be honest, if this landed on my desk (So to speak) i would want to do some ringing around to our account managers before submitting anything on a punt. I would also probably avoid halifax as thats who the problems were with.

The CML are a legitimate body. Im not sure what info they would hold and whether they would hold the repo due to its age, but im not sure its risking saying no on your app as it could get flagged as mortgage fraud.

ffor99

Hi I work part time (sole applicant) and earn £24k with a £51k deposit I managed to get a mortgage of £112k so don't think your affordability is the issue here.

I think I waited about 3 weeks to apply after paying off 2 loans although one loan was with hsbc of which I hold an account and have taken my mortgage with!

I had one credit card which had a limit of £2.5k with no balance and I purposely reduced this limit to £1k. Only reason being is that lenders don't like to see that you have additional access to credit as this could potentially affect affordability. But a reasonable limit should be ok.