Bank Reference and renting.

ford_prefect_5

Hi there,

First time poster and I am looking for advice.

We are selling our home in order to pay off all our debts and be debt free. We have a bad credit rating for a number of reasons. We are not being forced to sell the house or being reposessed, we like the idea of being
completely debt free and putting money away for childrens university fund (they are 14 and 12)

We are looking to rent a property but are being asked for a bank reference which I presume will not be great as we do not get on with our bank. As we are walking away with quite a lot of money from our house sale after paying off our debts. (sale date agreed for 31st July), we are more than happy to pay a year's rent up front in order to help us get a property we like, but none of the agents forms that we see have any information like this to fill in on there.

What we are basically wondering is what does the bank reference actually talk about, and how can we show that we are willing and are able to pay this money somehow without getting stuck by the paperwork that the agents require will will inneviatively show us in a bad light. Do people accept letters of application with this sort of stuff to explain our situation. Would people like a year up front or do they prefer the monthly income?

Forgot to mention that we are both full time teachers, so maintaining a regular income is not a problem.

mrs_deadline

When I stood guarantor for a tenancy agreement, I got the impression they would check up on:
- length of time with the bank
- amount of regular income
- amount of other financial commitments
basically to make sure the additional rent was affordable.

Sorry, this is only my vague recollection - hopefully a bank insider will be along soon to give you some advice. The cover letter sounds like an excellent idea to me. Or maybe try and rebuild bridges with your bank... I mean, surely they have to recognise you're making quite a radical effort to get your finances back on track here. Don't they?

jonesMUFCforever

A bank will have a set reply to an enquiry (they call them status enquiries)
Reply 1 would be ''good for the amount you are questioning'' - which would be an A1 rating with the bank.
Reply 2 would be ''fairly fully committed but we do not think they would enter in to anything that they could not meet'' - fairly guarded but still ok
or reply 3 ''We cannot comment on enquiry raised'' - for most this will be bankspeak for 'Don't touch with a bargepole'.

Individuals who have dealt with you previously at your branch or through Head office sections of the bank will not be able to input their favouritsm or otherwise to the enquiry.

The bank will only reply directly to an enquiring third party with your written authority and you will not get a copy of the reply.