Have i been palmed off by santander?

lihar

Hi

I'm in a bit of a .... sticky situation.

I have a mortgage with an ex, who left 4 months into the mortgage. He has not paid in since and I was not in a financial position to take his name off of it. He agreed, thankfully to hang on the mortgage until the end of the fixed rate which is due up any day now. I have fought hard to pay some of my debts off and basically get into a better financial position. I visited Santander , a branch nearby half way through this time to try and see what my chances were looking like. I said I was struggling with the mortgage and she said get lodgers in, just do whatever you need to, to keep that mortgage going so I would not get blacklisted etc. So I did.

My ex is pressuring me to get his name off. I don't want to sell up, in fact im hard pushed to do that because I wouldn't be able to afford anything else in the area, my ex would be entitled to half of the profits and once he knows what it is likely to be - £50k-he is not going to just walk away from that . Fortuntatelly I bought the house for a great price but sadly the area has rocketed in price, so even renting is out and my family don't live nearby, my job is close etc. I've streamlined literally everything, pimped out both possible rooms in my house to tenants just to keep afloat.

I applied to Santander for the remortgage, same deal, same terms, just a change of borrower. The guy ran through the process, I explained how I am getting harassed. He said it was a no. I pleaded with him and he said ok if you can clear all your debts we can look at this again. So my dad came to my rescue, with the understanding that as soon as the mortgage is fully in my name, I sell up and then with the £100k I can pay him back and have a chance of finding a small place for myself.

So I called back in the 2 weeks, with no debts and all of my credit report showing the files as settled and my credit report as excellent.

However, I still got declined, despite the guy telling me that with it all gone it would go through. he said it was on affordability, which I couldn't understand as they had said without the debt I was well within affordability. He also then asked me how much savings I had, so I said what I had, which was lucky as he hadn't said before i'd need any, and I showed him a letter from my work that I was having a bonus and payrise due soon. He asked how much did I think id need to have in case of an emergency.

He said not to worry, that it would go through decline appeals, he would fast track it through the underwriters and get me to the next stage so we could complete it off. He was keen to end the call. I was nervous because I had to send payslips and bank statements, which clearly show 2 rental payments coming in. A financial advisor told me before they had asked for this info, not to tell Santander that I had rental coming in. So now it's gone there and a week later, i'd heard nothing. So I called up and they said I have a meeting next tues now to "finish the quotation" and I said I don't understand I thought that the underwriters had it for review, again he got me off the call asap without really understanding.

So now I don't know if this means that its gone through or theres more investigation. Furthermore I imagine the question of the rental will come up and what can I say other than yes I lied to your face about people living in my house on the advice of your branch mortgage advisor and an independent advisor.

If anyone can make sense of what I have been told, would be really grateful. It feels like ive done everything I've been asked and yet im still being told no. My dad thinks they probably set me what they thought was mission impossible, to clear all my debt (circa 20k) in 2 weeks and now I did it, they are just trying to find any excuse not to say yes. The fact the advisor made the decline appeal sound like a breeze and not to worry, is clearly not the case.

Any help would be great.

Thanks

Thrugelmir

Front line advisors have no say. The people that matter are the faceless underwriters.

£20k of debt suggests a historical lack of personal financial money management. A concern for an underwriter.

If it was paid off 2 weeks ago unlikely your credit file has been updated. Again concern for the underwriter would that there's an informal loan arrangement within the family.

Finally you need your ex's co-operation to sell the property so he'll find out the current value. This more than likely will scupper your plans. As he'll be after his share of the equity.

Wh05apk

The process going direct with Abbey is very long and convoluted.


I think part of the problem you are having is that Abbey will not do a further credit check on you within 60 days, they will simply use the old one, which will show all your debts, despite you having repaid them, I suspect it is those that are affecting your affordability?


You may do better seeing a broker and moving the mortgage to another lender, although not sure from your post if you are looking to move anyway, if so why are you transferring to your name, why not just sell?

Wh05apk

Thrugelmir wrote: »

£20k of debt suggests a historical lack of personal financial money management. A concern for an underwriter.

£20k these days is nothing, and is unfortunately quite common.

lihar

thanks, Im not looking to sell, because I want to stay put and cant afford to buy anything else. I just want my ex's name off the mortgage. transferring into my name will avoid him seeing the value as he's just signing his name off the deeds and mortgage. ive sent Santander my whole file and told sandtander that when I eventually sell my house I will pay my dad back.

Wont Santander query why I have rent coming in??

Thrugelmir

£20k these days is nothing, and is unfortunately quite common.

Wasn't so long ago some lenders ignored such matters. Times have changed. Yet many haven't registered the fact.

silvercar

lihar wrote: »

thanks, Im not looking to sell, because I want to stay put and cant afford to buy anything else. I just want my ex's name off the mortgage. transferring into my name will avoid him seeing the value as he's just signing his name off the deeds and mortgage. ive sent Santander my whole file and told sandtander that when I eventually sell my house I will pay my dad back.

Wont Santander query why I have rent coming in??

So Santander now consider that you have a loan of £20k from your Dad that needs repaying. Even though it won't be repaid until after the house is sold, it will still figure in their calculations as a loan. It would have been better if Dad had gifted you the money for the moment.

Is the rent because you have a lodger or because you are renting out the property entirely and without their consent?

Is your ex really that financially unaware? Either he has agreed that as he only paid into the home for 4 months he has no moral claim on the equity or you are hoping that he won't realise that there is half the equity in the property that he could try and claim.

Brock_and_Roll

You are not going to be able to transfer the mortgage into his name with out your ex-partners consent - otherwise it would be very tempting for separated/greedy/disengenious people to defraud their other half if for some reason they wished to do so. Regarless of who has been paying the mortgage of late, half of any equity belongs to him. So if you want to avoid selling, the best way to achieve your goal is to make him a (suitably low cash reflecting his lack of recent contributions, costs) offer in order to get his consent.

Thrugelmir

told sandtander that when I eventually sell my house I will pay my dad back

This will most certainly have an influence on their decision.

Goldiegirl

What the underwriter would be looking at is, can you afford the mortgage and all your other outgoings on your earned income.


The things you have said suggests that this is not the case. You've got lodgers in to help you pay the mortgage, and you got a family member to clear debts.


This gives the impression that you are not able to afford the mortgage and your other outgoings on your income.


In order for this transfer of equity application to succeed, I think you'd have to demonstrate, that you can afford the mortgage, for a period of time, say six months, on your income alone - and that means no lodgers