Help- Serviceman's Mortgage Conundrum

209phill

I seem to be going around in circles in my attempts to remortgage due to my circumstances as a Serviceman and wondered if anybody could steer me towards a Lender inclined towards accepting my situation?
Background - had a £220K mortgage since 2006 with HSBC, it's now at £195K. House valued at £300K and increasing.....Credit record is Excellent. My pay £70k pa; wife is a teacher but cannot get full time employment due to us moving regularly, she has an income from Supply teaching but this is not being taken into account by lenders.
Requirement - Release Equity to take mortgage back up to approx £220K to tide me through the next few years of school & Uni costs. Given Interest rates I'd still be paying £400 less per month than I've been paying for the HSBC 5 yr fixed deal!!
Issue - to my surprise some lenders rejecting me on "affordability" no doubt due to new regulations eg I have 3 kids and an "unemployed" wife. Other lenders have an issue with me Letting out my house (unavoidable in my line of work!!).

So I have a conundrum. I know I can make the repayments. My house has been permanently Let since 2009 and brings a steady income of £800 per month (also not considered by lenders!) but I keep hitting a different wall with different Lenders.....

I've been using a Broker and HSBC have swapped my rate and are happy with the Letting but won't give me any more due to No of dependants.

Would I be better approaching a Lender direct as I sense the Broker is less than au fait with presenting my case, and if so which Lenders might be the most flexible. My Broker thought Nationwide would be a good bet but they've an issue with the Letting (again perhaps I should approach them directly?)

A bit of an essay but hope someone can steer me in the right direction???

Dave_Ham

My gut feel is that your difficult experience is more borne out by your broker and less so your situation.

I am assuming as a serviceman and frequent moving you are Forces?

Some lenders are sympathetic, or alternatively buy to let rates are probably better than you are getting.

It all sounds pretty straightforward to be honest and unsure why you ended up at Nationwide.

Suggest you get a decent broker, or do some reading yourself online at lender criteria...

All the best

Gonzo33

Same as above really.

The Business Development Manager in my area for Nationwide told me yesterday that they have changed their criteria within the last month with regard to service personnel because they weren't writing enough business.

Natwest have always been my second choice for service personnel (I have a limited panel though) because you can apply for consent to let and they won't hike the rate or charge any more than £100 to give the consent. Trouble is I find that they are not the cheapest.

I am married to the green, and have been in your situation so know how you feel. If I think of anyone else that may be more forces friendly I'll come back.

Thinking about this there is a broker that deals specifically with the forces, and they do workshops all over the world - Forces Property Direct. They might be able to point you in the right direction if they cannot help.

209phill

Thanks for your observations. I approached Barclays and they have agreed in principal but I'm wondering if I should keep the HSBC mortgage and simply take a loan.

I've posted my question under a separate thread.
kind regards.