First time buyer advice

safc88

Hi All

I am looking to apply for my first mortgage with the girlfriend this summer and it is all completely new ground to me so I was hoping you guys could give me some advice!

I have been in my currrent job for 9 years now and she is just finishing her masters degree in teaching and has a signed contract which starts in September this year.

Between us we will be earning circa £52k pa.

The only outgoings we have are phone bills of £40 each per month, repayment of her student loan which will kick in and by the time we are ready to apply I will have about £1k outstanding on a credit card.

We will have a deposit of about £40-50k to put down and will be looking at properties that are roughly £130-150k.

The main questions that i have got are;

1. As we will be looking to apply for a mortgage in approx July/August and my girlfirend won't have and salary payments going in to her bank account at this point as her first pay day will be at the end of September (she has a signed contract however) will this create any issues?
2. I have been spending quite a lot on gambling (about £250-350 a month) which i know is ridiculous but as at today there will be no further payments in this regard. Will this create any problems when applying in July/August, there will be 4/5 months of my bank account with no gambling transactions at all.
3. Do we stand a chance of getting a mortgage with the LTV that we are looking at?
4. Should i consider repaying my cc in full and just reduce our deposit accordingly?

Any other advice is greatly appreciated! With the news about the new checks etc that lenders are now doing this is all scary stuff!!

Thanks!

amnblog

1. Depends when you intend to complete the purchase and then lender involved.
2. Best if that is off the bank statements
3. Yes you do
4. Paying the credit card may prove helpful if it is done now ready for late July/August application (it is not a deal breaker)

nick12

Get in touch with a broker. If there are a few little things (or even big things) that might effect a mortgage application, a broker will a. likely know the lenders who are a bit more relaxed about your specific circumstances and b. liase directly with the lenders to overcome any such issues (of course some issues are insurmountable but from what little I know I don't think the things you mentioned should be).

We are FTBs and haven't even found anywhere yet but our broker has already saved us a load of hassle and uncertainty just getting a DIP and answering the 4,000 questions we had.

safc88

Thank you both for the advice

safc88

The only other question that i have got is that in the middle of last year, the interest charged on my credit card took me over my agreed credit limit two months on the bounce but i made payment the following day to bring it back under the limit.

I have spoken to my bank about it and asked if it would affect my credit rating, the guy said he couldnt advise but all he could say was that from their end everything looked fine and i am eligible for pretty much every product that they offer including a very sizeable loan.

Would my credit rating be affected by this? The only other lines of credit i have ever had in my life is my phone bill (never missed a payment) and car insurance (never missed a payment)

Sorry for the million questions!

nick12

Yes late payments/arrears will probably be marked on your credit file. An issue for some lenders but your relatively big deposit should make this less of problem (and without wanting to labour the point a decent independent broker would likely be able to work around any such issues).

If you're looking at getting a mortgage I would strongly recommend getting credit reports from the 3 credit reference agencies (experian, equifax and callcredit). The first two charge £2 for the statutory report (don't bother with the expensive premium services they offer) and the latter can be accessed for free if you sign up on their "noddle" website.

These will show any "black marks" and it's good to be fully aware of what these say before applying for a mortgage (a broker may even ask to see copies of these so good to get them now).

safc88

nick12 wrote: »

Yes late payments/arrears will probably be marked on your credit file. An issue for some lenders but your relatively big deposit should make this less of problem (and without wanting to labour the point a decent independent broker would likely be able to work around any such issues).

If you're looking at getting a mortgage I would strongly recommend getting credit reports from the 3 credit reference agencies (experian, equifax and callcredit). The first two charge £2 for the statutory report (don't bother with the expensive premium services they offer) and the latter can be accessed for free if you sign up on their "noddle" website.

These will show any "black marks" and it's good to be fully aware of what these say before applying for a mortgage (a broker may even ask to see copies of these so good to get them now).

There havent been any late payments or arrears, its purely been the interest that the bank charged at the month end that took it over my agreed credit limit. I've never missed a payment

Thrugelmir

Where's the deposit coming from?

safc88

about £10-15k of our personal savings and our parents are giving us about 20k or so (lucky i know!)