Santander with this kind of adverse credit ?

sophieev

Hello

I am in the process of buying a place and would like a lifetime tracker with no ERCs. As far as I can tell the only banks offering this are HSBC, First Direct and Santander.

We have some (relatively minor?) adverse credit and my research suggests that this will more than likely count HSBC and First Direct out as options. That leaves Santander although the suggestion seems to be that they are also quite picky.

I set out the situation below. Any views as to whether I would be wasting my time with Santander would be very welcome.



I am applying for a mortgage jointly. My credit reports are all fine and no missed payments. Same for my partner's credit report, except for partner's mobile phone payments where there are some late payments and which are as follows (on Experian - this seems to go further back than the others):

1 - 12 months back - All "0"s (i.e. fine)

13-24 months back - All "0"s (i.e. fine)

25-36 months - Nine "0"s, three "1"s

37-48 months - Nine "0"s, three "1"s

49-60 months - Seven "0"s, five "1"s

61-72 months - 8 MONTHS ONLY - 3 "0"s, 4 "1"s and 1 "2"


Just by way of further info - no other defaults or late payments, Experian rates us both (for what that is worth) as "Excellent". Combined salary of £150,000, looking to borrow approx £392,000 to £420,000 at 70-75% LTV. If any other info would be helpful I can pass this on.

If anyone (particularly any of the brokers) could shed some light on whether Santander is even worth approaching / provide any advice then we would be very grateful.


Thank you

ACG

At 70-75% i would say it should be ok, but Santander are not a company i have ever sent any clients to.

kingstreet

Try a DIP with Santander.

If it works, great. If it doesn't, pick a lender who will lend to you for a couple of years on a decent rate and remortgage away to the product you want when any ERP ends.

sophieev

Thanks. I was under the impression that DIPs were effectively a waste of time on the basis that they do not really credit check you at DIP stage but maybe Santander do.... I don't really know.

I will give it a go anyway, although I assume that if it is a meaningful DIP (i.e. with a proper credit check) then we will be at a disadvantage if they decline and we look elsewhere, having a recent credit check on our files....

It is all a bit Catch 22 isn't it.

Thanks for the advice.

kingstreet

Only Halifax DIPs are dubious. Pretty much the rest of the lending market does a full search and the DIP is reliable.

Santander's certainly is...

A couple of searches to find the best deal is perfectly acceptable. Half a dozen might cause an issue if your credit record is borderline to start with.

amnblog

I'd be interested, and surprised to hear you got a pass with Santander.

With a patchy credit file this is more about who will lend than who you pick to borrow from.

Use a broker.

sophieev

You say that that his credit file is "patchy". But how does one define "patchy" ?

That is the issue really and it seems there really is no one answer. We will be approved by some lenders and not by others, as far as I can tell. Anecdotally, for example, i understand some lenders are prepared to disregard mobile phone bills. I am trying to understand which lenders this credit file will cause to say "computer says no". Or more specifically whether it will cause Santander to do so.

As an aside - Lenders need to have a system and that is understood. I am totally convinced, however, that a human employing brain and asking as many pertinent questions as they wish and delving as much as they wish into our financial affairs and history would have absolutely no issue with lending to us. The fact is that we are good credits and are financially responsible and cautious people - better credits than many of those that would not face the same issue we may face. As I said, they need to have a system. But a system does not always produce the right results. Such is life, I guess.

Thanks for the responses.

Thrugelmir

sophieev wrote: »

As an aside - Lenders need to have a system and that is understood. I am totally convinced, however, that a human employing brain and asking as many pertinent questions as they wish and delving as much as they wish into our financial affairs and history would have absolutely no issue with lending to us. The fact is that we are good credits and are financially responsible and cautious people - better credits than many of those that would not face the same issue we may face. As I said, they need to have a system. But a system does not always produce the right results. Such is life, I guess.

Mainstream lenders use sophisticated algorithms (computer programmes) to profile your application and the risk you pose. With the volume of data available. Profiling is pretty accurate in terms of classifying you, and your attitude towards money matters. The lenders approach is totally different to the way people view themselves. People over rate themselves on the whole

kingstreet

sophieev wrote: »

I am totally convinced, however, that a human employing brain and asking as many pertinent questions as they wish and delving as much as they wish into our financial affairs and history would have absolutely no issue with lending to us

Which is absolutely sensible. There are plenty of small building societies who operate on a regional basis who do not credit score who let a human being decide who gets a mortgage.

The best deal?

Sorry, I though we were discussing non-scoring lenders?

sophieev

This seems to have gone off topic - my fault.
The merits and accuracy of credit scoring is a separate conversation.

The question here is a simple one really. Will Santander decline an application on the basis of the above.

I have consulted brokers but to be honest I have found all 3 separate brokers I have spoken to basically useless. None has told me anything I did not already know and none has been anywhere near as helpful/useful as the posters on here. Their attitude seems to be that they handle the paperwork and that's it. Frankly, with a bit of effort I can do that myself.

It's not difficult. These are my circumstances. I want the best deal I can get, taking these circumstances into account. What do you advise...... But I seem to get flaky responses at best. Maybe I have just been unlucky with the brokers I have approached.

One of them is suggesting that Santander would be 100% not an issue. I, myself, doubt that.....

kingstreet

There is no point railing against "the system" when you actually want the fruits of the system...!

I would "gamble" a credit search on a DIP with Santander, based on what you've said and the product you want.

You are less likely to be accepted by HSBC Group (IMHO) so Santander is the next best option.

If unsuccessful, a broker would give you the next-best, fall-back position.

This is not an exact science.