Halifax Mortgage 'decision in principle' credit check

welliesrgreat

Good morning everyone!

I am a teacher ( please don't berate me for this). I am looking for 90% LTV and have my own 10% deposit. I have been through a mortgage broker who has emailed a decision in principle based on 180k mortgage along with a key facts statement which sets out repayments and interest rate. The offer is subject to me providing my last monthly payslip and insurance on the property I wish to purchase. He has told me to go and find a house and then he would search other companies to see if we could get a better deal.

What does a 'decision in principle' and 'key facts' from the Halifax mean? I have checked my credit file and there is a mortgage quotation search from BOS on there; does this mean I have passed their credit check? I have had a perfect credit file for over 3 years, obtained a 6k limit credit card from Halifax earlier in the year and have finished paying 2 barclays loans in the past 6 months.

I was a bit silly with credit when I left uni and therefore worried that this will show up somewhere; although they do not show on my credit expert file. I have one default from nationwide for £306 and this will 'fall off' in 14 months.

Will Halifax do another credit search and will this show up the default? So confused and don't want to set my heart on my first property if there is a chance I will fail at the next hurdle - whatever that is. Are teachers more popular with mortgage companies because of their job security and guaranteed income.

Looking for some reassurance and advice!

Thank you

claire2609

Hi,
I am in no means an expert but as far as I’m aware, the do a soft creditcheck at this stage, which should pick up the majority of issues (but not all)
We have just received an AIP from the Halifax & it picked up adefault & late payments I have… Full application has been submitted &awaiting decision.
From speaking to the advisor at Halifax, she advised to be honest about defaultsetc.. as it better to find them & deal with them at AIP stage and include them within theapplication than them be found in later credit checks
As I said I may be totally wrong but this is what I was advised.

Reen001s

Hi,

Have just been through this process, the initial halifax promise is a light footprint on your credit check.

When i found the house and put an offer in we told our Mortgage Advisor to go ahead with the application. We supplied our proofs - payslips and our mortgage was accepted the SAME DAY! :) The valuation only took another 24 hours.

For speed halifax is top of the game.

I am still waiting for someone to actually say hold on a second, you need ABCDEF it was a walk in the park and MUCH easier than initally thought.

Don't worry, chances are if you supplied all the correct info at the start and they don't get any nasty surprises everything will go through.


Good Luck

Reen001s

And your wasting money through a broker, do it yourself!

amnblog

The Halifax DIP shows a credit search only to the HBOS group. It is therefore what is called a 'soft footprint'.

Ignore Reen and continue to use your broker - it sounds like you have some complication there.

welliesrgreat

Thanks for the advice everyone. My mortgage broker reassures me that I have passed the credit checks and am all clear! Glad Reen001s has had such a good experience with the Halifax. This house buying malarkey is stressful! If another Estate Agent tries to get me to use their mortgage service I may have to thump them! As for putting me on a 'privileged buyer hot list' - which I think is unethical - they can go swing.. Just find me a house please, nothing else!

So a soft search didn't bring up the default and maybe that's because it's registered at a different address? The only info halifax have asked for is 1 month payslip and proof of insurance on the property. The rate is 4.49% fixed for 2 years.

At what stage will they do a full search and how detailed is it? Which CRA do Halifax use?

Thank you for all the advice.

welliesrgreat

I have an appointment with my own bank Barclays. I have stupidly high pre approved loan and overdraft offers and was wondering if the same applied for mortgages.

Is the credit scoring system different and has anyone had any good or bad experiences with applying directly to them recently?

Thank you :rotfl:

FTB_Doll

Reen001s wrote: »

And your wasting money through a broker, do it yourself!

Have to disagree having a good broker can be worth its weight x

welliesrgreat

MY MB has been great so far! Personally I have preferred someone else filling in forms and doing the leg work. Not through laziness on my part just confidence that he knows what he's doing and has experience on his side! I have neither!

I know that I will pay for it in the end but in my opinion it is worth it for peace of mind. It might just be personal opinion - if and when I do it again I'll probably have the confidence to do it myself.

Still trying with own bank as well so covering most options

ethank

In my opinion, Mortgage Brokers are worth their weight in gold. They generally have relationships with people inside the lenders that we don't have, and know exactly who is likely to accept meaning that you are not using the 'spray and pray' method of mortgage application, which will only damage your credit file.

welliesrgreat

I have had another mortgage offer from my bank, Barclays. Met the guy from the Woolwich in branch and he asked to see payslips and P60. Talked a lot about interest rates and deposits,. He gave me a certificate stating that they would lend up to 190K and that was that!

It all seems to easy... have I passed an internal credit check as I bank with Barclays? Will he credit check me at full application stage? I should have asked these questions earlier I know. He did have a print out in front of him with my 'profile' on it so maybe I have PAML?

He said here is a certificate which 'pretty much guarantees we will lend you the money... now go and find a house'....

I am a natural born pessimist so any reassurance that I have passed credit checks would be great.

thank you to all who contribute on here ...