Mortgage Advice - Defaults and old DMP no longer showing

fightingback4mykids

Hi
I've posted before, but now find myself in an updated position and would really appreciate some advice on what my options may be before I engage a mortgage broker.
My husband and I got in to financial difficulty some years ago. We were over committed which was our fault, but were managing until our eldest son went through an autism diagnosis, the impact of which was he was out of education and our jobs suffered, I had to give up work and we couldn't meet our commitments. We went in to a DMP and paid off all the debt, including quite a number through full and final settlements.
This was 7 years ago, all the debts were defaulted, none of them ever showed as an arrangement to pay. All the defaults are now removed from our files, we have no adverse showing at all. We do have an overdraft facility that has been paid off, we never go in to it. My husband has a credit card with £2000 limit which is clear. I have a card with a balance on which I plan on clearing. The credit facilities that remain on our account all show green.
We both work, and earn £97000 between us with about £12000 variable on top of that. Most affordability calculators I have tried say we could borrow way in excess of what we want to borrow.
We will have £140000 deposit to put down on a £335000 house. We plan on saving for the fees whilst we rent, and pay off the outstanding balance on my credit card.
We have just sold our house but want to rent for a few months because we aren't sure where our second son is going to high school, and the house we may want to buy is currently let until April next year.
My worry is we sell and then can't get another mortgage after we finish renting and are ready to buy again. I know we have no adverse showing, but am also obviously aware that if asked we are duty bound to declare previous financial difficulties even if a credit report doesn't show them. I'm really worried that this would cause us problems. Would we have to declare the arrangements to pay or just the defaults?
We have a great buyer, cash, wants to move ASAP, but I'm really scared of coming out of the mortgage without knowing if we can get another.
Some advice for those of you out there with any experience of this siutation would be greatly appreciated. Our buyer is instructing his survey and I don't want to waste his time if there is any chance we can't risk selling our house. To be honest I thought it would take ages to sell but it has gone straight away, to the sort of buyer it would be a shame to pass up.

Dave_Ham

Hi there,

Just have a chat with a mortgage broker, achieve a decision in principle in advance and this should all be fine.

The process protects you, but a decent mortgage professional and your Solicitor should protect you entirely..

Best of luck

fightingback4mykids

Thanks Dave. I know I have to speak to a broker but in the meantime just out of interest what do we have to declare? As I said we never had any arrangement to pay markers, all the accounts showed as default. And again, none of them actually show on our reports any more. Are you still classed as 'sub prime' (and again, I know this isn't really a concept in the market anymore) or can we just go high street? I guess I am asking to target what sort of broker we need to look at.

Dave_Ham

I think getting a broker you are comfortable with and are suitably experienced and they will manage this for you.

If you go highstreet, yes you should declare your previous history although will be lender specific if they will have an issue with it

fightingback4mykids

THanks Dave. I have asked around and have a few recommendations for brokers. I am guessing now the first thing they need to do for me is advise lenders who are less likely to focus on that historical bad debt that no longer appears on the credit reports. And there lies the challenge.....

Dave_Ham

It should not be that painful and at least you are in safe hands as a recommended broker...

Best of luck