Only freedom will do

edinburgher

P*sh! Major adjustment of expectations underway

Had been overly optimistic re. lender and now a little worried about future house.

• Despite comfortable affordability in our minds, the computer says no unless Mrs E goes back full time
• She hasn't had that discussion with her employer, so she either needs them to say 'yes, she's coming back f-t' (and let her change her mind if required), or we need to use all equity from the flat sale towards the house, meaning we can only do very minimal renovations
• Banks don't lend over home report valuation, so we need to pay £15k towards the purchase price before they'll even look at a mortgage
• Rates on offer are terrible

Sorry, this probably sounds like an entitled rant. I'm just frustrated that we can save £££££ in a year while significantly OPing our mortgage, but apparently we 'can't afford' a mortgage that actually works out *cheaper* than our current mortgage (longer term, cheaper Council Tax, no factor).

Oh the good old days where you invented your salary sound good :mad:

Luckyinlife

Rant is allowed grrr so frustrating :[

The good old days have well and truly gone now

Do you have a plan B ?

edinburgher

Luckyinlife wrote: »

Do you have a plan B ?

Plan B is say she's going back p-t, plow £50k into the deposit and save for renovations. It's not the worst plan ever, just a bit of a shock and it would be years before we could extend.

CathT

I honestly don't understand how they work out affordability. Our lender has also been particularly mean! Hope you find a solution that works for you.

edinburgher

Apparently our affordability is great at 2x f-t wages, so we can probably weather the storm and increase borrowing in 2-3 years if needed. We could have increased mortgage by £90k and kept a 17 year term while remaining affordable. Here's hoping Mrs E's employer is amenable to writing a very vague confirmation letter

PositiveBalance

edinburgher wrote: »

Apparently our affordability is great at 2x f-t wages, so we can probably weather the storm and increase borrowing in 2-3 years if needed. We could have increased mortgage by £90k and kept a 17 year term while remaining affordable. Here's hoping Mrs E's employer is amenable to writing a very vague confirmation letter

What?! This seems everyone excessively mean! Is this cos you have a child? My mortgage is 3 or 4 times what I earn and I'm single and in such a poorly paid job that chickens look at their feed then my payslip and STILL laugh!

Have you gone through a broker? Mine has been ace. My purchase has been problematic and she has not only moved heaven and earth but secured me a new, even better rate than the good rate I was on yesterday PLUS CASHBACK, all after figuring out which bank would lend me the required amount for my needs as few (alright, all bar one) would not be happy to lend me the amount I needed to get the house I am getting.

It's a minefield out there.

edinburgher

PB, we used a broker last 2 times, but didn't this time as we want to avoid a £3k ERC. Might speak to one anyway and see if anyone can lend us more.

Will try and call L&C this morning as a starter for 10. Mrs E speaking to her employer to see what they will/won't do.

gallygirl

Things needed to change in the mortgage lending world - but they've gone too far in the opposite direction. It used to be 'computer says no' and it would be passed to an underwriter who could look at your individual circumstances, including your history - now 'computer says no' is the end of it .

I remember reading about someone wanting to go from a 500k mortgage (:eek:) to 250k - no problems paying the 500k, just downsizing as kids had left home - but 'computer said no', he couldn't afford the 250k mortgage so he had to stay put and carry on paying 500k - crazy :rotfl:.

Hope you get a solution Ed.

edinburgher

The main problem (as the mortgage adviser set it out), was that they test your affordability by looking at what happens if mortgage rates double as a 'responsible lender'.

So if a mortgage rate went up to 7%, we couldn't afford it. In my head, this would lead to a) selling the property or b) them repossessing the property. In either case, they have a surety and would get what was theirs.

I think it's ridiculous to sit in a bank branch and have them try to guess at your affordability over a 30 year spell based on a few years of employment and credit history.

It would be nice to think that in the world of 'big data' etc. that a savvy underwriter would be able to look at the empirical evidence (a bank balance that grows bigger every month) and take this into account.

Hey ho, will try speaking to a broker.

Karmacat

It certainly doesn't sound like an entitled rant, Ed! Sounds terrible for you! Hopefully Mrs Ed's employer will contribute with a vague letter - certainly, I got my first house when I was a subcontractor by my main contractor lying through his teeth Best of luck with it.