First time buying

lippylaura13

Does anyone have any experience in buying their first property with bad credit rating? I assume mine to be quite bad due to unpaid phone bills, gym fees etc a few years back. I was wondering how much deposit would be required to even be considered for a mortgage if at all?

Thanks

BitterAndTwisted

Assume nothing until you have seen your credit-file for yourself.

You will need a ten percent deposit as an absolute minimum plus a grand for survey and a grand for conveyancing fees. Plus a bunch of other things depending on circumstances

ACG

Get all 3 credit reports - experian, equifax and call credit.

Go and see a broker.

Late payments in themselves are not a major problem if they only went to a 1 or 2 and are 2 years old plus. However if they went to 3s or 4s or defaults/ccjs then it will be a bigger issue.

I would say if you work towards a 15% deposit that is usually the minimum you can get away but there may be lenders at 10% - there really isnt enough info and without seeing your reports its difficult to say.

lippylaura13

I have tried to get a credit check a few times now but it has trouble with my card every time. Sorry if this is a bit of a silly question but does it have to be a credit card or can I use a debit card? As I just went to try again with the experian website and it says my card details could not be processed.

ACG

Ive not checked mine for a while but i hardly ever use my credit card so im assuming i used a debit card last time and had no issues.

You can also get a copy of call credits from noddle.co.uk which is free.

moneyistooshorttomention

lippylaura13 wrote: »

I assume mine to be quite bad due to unpaid phone bills, gym fees etc a few years back.

When did you pay that money back?

lippylaura13

Thanks ACG, I thought i'd tried that noddle one before, just had another go and it says:

Sorry, we haven’t been able to verify and validate your identity and can’t provide your credit report. We're unable to tell you the exact reason that we couldn’t verify your identity but some of the most common reasons are a recent house move or name change, not being on the Electoral Roll or that the credit card details provided couldn’t be verified, this could be due to the card being relatively new.

I don't know why it's doing this though! I can't think of any of these reasons!

Moneyistooshortomention: Those bills were 2011 when I was a student and I wasn't actually going to the gym but because it was a contract they were still charging me, I had a fair few letters sent through about them not receiving payment and it totalled up to a few hundred and eventually I stopped receiving them! As for the phone bill my bills were always late as I had to pay over the phone and I was behind on a about 4/5 months & it totalled up to about £200 and I ended up paying that off at the end of my contract. I've also remembered, I had a student account where I had used £800 of my overdraft and because I hadn't attempted to pay any of it, they took it to a debt collector, I first had no idea about the situation as the letters went to my mums house where I no longer live. That was last year but I paid that within a few months. I think that's everything I can think of.

ACG

Based on these comments your going to need a broker and a 15% deposit.

Id be relatively confident of getting it through though due to the age of them, although probably not on the high st (but that doesnt mean you will be paying ridiculous rates).

Call up the credit agencies and do it over the phone with them.

Experian_company_representative

You can also apply for a report through the post with a cheque or postal order. Link to the Experian postal application form here. If there's an issue with your identity we'll probably ask you to send in proof of ID, but wait for our response first.

JAmes