Use of credit card after mortgage offer

okborednow

Hi everyone,

I'm sure this question has been asked a million times before but i'm fretting so bear with me please

We applied for a mortgage with Halifax under the Help to Buy Scheme and happily got our offer a few weeks ago...yay! At the time of the application we had a credit card balance of c3k n a card with a 6k limit and a loan with a few months to go. When i got the offer on the advice of the lovely people on here I queried what the application said i'd be paying off. This turned out to be everything but i wasn't planning on clearing the credit card so i had my details amended. Thank goodness everything was fine and there was no change to my offer.

My question though is we've since paid our CC down to around £1000 but as we're buying a new build and we want them to do some things before we move in there's every likelihood it'll go back up to 3k or possibly a whisker over. I've read that if there's a long gap between offer and completion Halifax re credit score you and i'm worried if we do this it could jeopardise our offer.

Can anyone offer any advice please?

ACG

The simple answer is nobody knows, why risk spending on it before you complete?

catflapuk

Yeah, why risk it and accumulate more debt? For me a smooth completion would be more important than doing anything to the new build. This can wait. Congrats on your offer by the way. :T

dunstonh

Some lenders do check again before completion. If that happens and you are already pushing criteria then it could be a risk. If you are not pushing limits, it is unlikely it would be a problem.

okborednow

Thanks for the advice everyone. Under normal circumstances i wouldn't even consider it it's just the perceived wisdom is that some things are better done before you move in...wiring, sockets, the kitchen etc. The plan was that we would save enough for the extras but the house became available a bit sooner than we expected so we have enough for deposit and fees etc but not anything else.

I just thought/hoped as the application went through with a 3k balance on the card it may be ok to go back to that level now.

Caladan

Complete on the property, the Mortgage will draw down and after that Halifax wont care what you do with your cards as long as you keep paying the Mortgage.

Good luck with the purchase

jamesd

One solution here is relatively easy: ask them to tell the underwriters what you are interested in doing and for how much money and let you know whether they are comfortable with it or if not, how much you should limit it to for them to remain comfortable.

That has a couple of advantages: it removes uncertainty for you and it shows them that you are a cooperative customer who's working with them to get things done as they would like.

I did something of this sort with FD and was told that they would be comfortable with me buying another property with a mortgage from a different lender for similar value to the one I'd been approved of with them, if that had seemed appropriate to me based on some relative-related things that were happening at the time.

Caladan's approach would also work fine if you can wait between completion and moving in.

okborednow

Thanks very much for that James you're right asking is obviously the simplest thing to do. I'm taking this out through a broker though so i may have to call them and have them ask Halifax. As i said normally i would wait but as it's a new build if the money isn't paid before the roof goes on it can't be done.

okborednow

Grrrr! Spoke to my brokers who confirmed they don't recommend spending on credit cards but said i should speak to Halifax. The guy on the mortgage switchboard at Halifax said that they couldn't advise us what would happen until after we did it. That's very helpful i guess i'll just have to not risk it and try and get the amendments made after we've completed. I thought based on what James said it would be a straightforward question but it seems not.

jamesd

It should be a straightforward question for the underwriters. Seems that the person you spoke with didn't even try asking them. Might be worth another call to see if you get a different person who will relay the question.

The broker gave the most cautious advice and that's the way to go if there is uncertainty.

okborednow

I tried but no one was prepared to speak to the underwriters, i spoke to 3 different people.