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Credit score needed for mortgage

What credit score is needed to be approved for the best rate mortgages?

I have recently agreed a price of 148K and I have a deposit of £38,000. My salary is £36,000. I have an agreement in principle saying Santander will lend me up to £165K without a deposit so the purchase price could be up to £203K I believe (165+38). They told me that they did not do a full credit check.

I logged on to Experian today to find that my credit score has fallen to 932, which is in the "good" category. It use to be 999, but I opened a new Santander 123 account in December as I want a mortgage from them (I currently have a HSBC account). I also purchased a new mobile phone contract in December with a monthyl payment of £40 over 18 months.

Is 932 good enough for a competitive mortgage deal? I have no loans etc.

Comments

  • Mortgage-lenders don't use those credit-score numbers; they have their own criteria to arrive at a decision whether to lend. As you have an agreement in principle you appear to have satisfied those criteria already.
  • Mortgage-lenders don't use those credit-score numbers; they have their own criteria to arrive at a decision whether to lend. As you have an agreement in principle you appear to have satisfied those criteria already.

    I agree with the first part of the above, but not the second. I've known people to get an agreement in principle then be turned down when the full mortgage ap goes in. The AIP decision comes before the bank has run all their checks - they seem to simply look at what you told them and say 'yeah, all that being true we'd be willing to lend to you'. They look at a lot more info when deciding on the full mortgage application and if they see something they don't like at that stage they aren't going to lend to you.

    All that said, I don't think switching current accounts (particularly to the lender) and taking out a mobile phone contract are going to scupper OP.
    Common sense?...There's nothing common about sense!
  • drdpj
    drdpj Posts: 152 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    When I did a proper AIP with Santander they needed to know exactly what the value of the house was, what my deposit was and an awful lot of other information about outgoings. They did a full credit check too (which wasn't repeated at full application). Are you sure you did an AIP and not just the initial affordability calculation?

    d.
  • gazter
    gazter Posts: 931 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary Combo Breaker
    w00519772 wrote: »
    What credit score is needed to be approved for the best rate mortgages?

    I have recently agreed a price of 148K and I have a deposit of £38,000. My salary is £36,000. I have an agreement in principle saying Santander will lend me up to £165K without a deposit so the purchase price could be up to £203K I believe (165+38). They told me that they did not do a full credit check.

    I logged on to Experian today to find that my credit score has fallen to 932, which is in the "good" category. It use to be 999, but I opened a new Santander 123 account in December as I want a mortgage from them (I currently have a HSBC account). I also purchased a new mobile phone contract in December with a monthyl payment of £40 over 18 months.

    Is 932 good enough for a competitive mortgage deal? I have no loans etc.

    The score from the credit agencies, as other say arent used, but the data that is used to determine those scores is. A poor score could indicate something that would flag up against you.

    So, its more about the events on your file. The greater LTV the more fussy lenders tend to be. Some incidents on a credit file go down very badly when a lender decides to borrow against, a series of missed payments, a CCJ (obviously), existing borrowing (essentially take off the top existing borrowing from the amount they will lend you), certain lending such as pay day lenders is a major turn off.
  • w00519772 wrote: »

    I logged on to Experian today.

    I hope this is the free 30day trial and not the ridiculous £14.99 or whatever they charge per month for a pointless number...
    An opinion is just that..... An opinion
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