Is a mortgage possible?

Jacie

Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice as to whether I need to give up hope in being accepted for a mortgage in order for us to move from our flat to a family house.

My husband and I have been paying a mortgage to Scottish Widows for 6 years now with no issues and have been saving for a deposit on a family home. When we first started looking at potential houses, an estate agent IFA applied to Santander for an AIP which was referred but came back as accepted. We lost out on two houses that went to closing dates and we have since been seduced by a new build.

The builder is offering us 5% deposit and appliances and flooring and we were advised by the builder's IFA that Nationwide was the best lender to approach as they would accept the builder's incentives along with a gifted deposit from my husband's dad as along with our own personal savings, we are hoping to take an 85% LTV mortgage.

After 2 weeks of sending additional information back and forth to Nationwide, the IFA has advised us that our application has been 'subjectively declined'. He then applied for a decision in principle with Santander for the new build and it was a straight decline. He has now basically told us that there is nothing more he can do for us.

The issue lies with me, when I was at uni, I had a student account which I genuinely thought I had paid off along with another student account and some credit cards but it turns out I didn't and there is an unsatisfied default on my credit file with Natwest dated August 2010. I have contacted Natwest to pay the amount off but they have advised me that the account is closed and as far as they are concerned, the debt has been written off. Where does this leave me???

I can only assume that all correspondence regarding the Natwest student account has gone to an old uni address which is why I haven't addressed the issue sooner but I really don't know how I can resolve the issue and it is clearly this that is stopping us from obtaining a mortgage.

I have done some research and it looks like a company called Precise Mortgages may be worth applying to but I am scared of applying to too many lenders but we really don't want to lose out on this new house as we have sold the flat we are currently living in.

Is it likely that we can obtain a mortgage through a company such as precise with this unsatisfied default from 3 years ago on my file? The default is for 1.5k and apart from that both of our credit reports are good with no other outstanding debt. We have a joint income of 58.5k.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

kingstreet

Is the default visible on all three versions of your credit file?

No more speculative credit searches until you know the answer to this!!

Lenders often have issues with builder gifted deposit and lending above 80% on newbuild, so you need to know your exact credit situation before you apply anywhere else.

Find yourselves a decent independent or whole market broker.

Jacie

Hi - thank you for your reply.

The default is visible on Experian and Equifax but call credit couldn't seem to find me so I am having to fill in an application and send it via post to find out what data they have about me.

We are thinking of letting go of the new build property to try and find a property that we could hopefully obtain a mortgage for just in my husband's name or in both names but for a lower purchase price than the new build and a greater deposit from ourselves.

The broker we have just now seems to just want an easy ride so he is definitely not going to be able to help us and finding a whole of market broker in Scotland is proving difficult but we are trying hard to uncover one!

amnblog

Hi Jacie

There are plenty of good mortgage brokers like ourselves who work Nationally.

You don't necessarily need to find a 'local' firm.

Don't try to sort this out yourself.

Let_Us_See

kingstreet wrote: »

Find yourselves a decent independent or whole market broker.

Why independent OR whole of market, when many (if not the majority) advisers/brokers are both?

amnblog

Let_Us_See wrote: »

Why independent OR whole of market, when many (if not the majority) advisers/brokers are both?

Don't assume.

A large number of brokers working in and with estate agencies work with large national chains that use limited lending panels.

(this does not stop them being able to present themselves as 'whole of market' but does restrict their, and your, lending options)

A broker is not 'independent' unless they offer you the opportunity to pay a fee and have the lenders procuration fee refunded to you.

I don't know the figures but I suspect under 50% of mortgage brokers are both independent with true rather than stated whole of market access.

Let_Us_See

I am well aware of the technical meaning of "independent" and "whole of market", and I was challenging the advice of "independent OR whole of market" as misleading. Surely, if recommending a single option, it should be "independent AND whole of market."

amnblog

point noted

kingstreet

How about "a broker offering an independent and/or whole market service?"

It's about what they do, not what they are, as you know. Does every whole market broker offer an independent option?

I know the difference between the two as well, but I'm not sure the average consumer does. By suggesting these are not one and the same, I'm intimating to them there's a difference and they may wish to research further...

amnblog

The Financial Conduct Authority say...

Whole of market (without fee-only option). A firm provides whole of market recommendations but does not offer a fee-only option.

Independent (whole of market plus option of fee-only). To provide independent advice, a firm must consider products from across the whole of the market, and offer its clients the opportunity to pay by fee only.

kingstreet

I still think it needs a delineation between "whole of market including direct to lender products" and "whole of market for commission-paying products only."

At the moment, the confusion is working in favour of those who don't actually offer independent advice but give the potential client the idea that they do...

The way I describe independent and whole market is to try to differentiate between the two and show there is a difference. It also needs an explanation of the difference between advice and advice & arrangement too.