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Mortgage with old(ish) defaults

I'm looking to apply for mortgages at some point next year. By then my defaults (of which there were quite a few) should be roughly 4 years old or more. Since then I have an unblemished credit record, and have built it up as you would with small payments on a credit card.

I spoke to London & Country early this year about how likely I would be to get offered a mortgage by a bank and how much they could potentially offer me, but they said they couldn't do this without doing a credit search. I didn't want to do this as I thought it was a needless search on my credit file.

I want to know how likely I am to be offered a mortgage next year, and by LTV I can expect, as this will affect how I live my life for the next year. (no chance or very low LTV - I'll just start renting and give up on a mortgage until the defaults clear; anything more positive then I'll do what I can to get more of a deposit).

So the question is - will I be able to accurately get this information from someone or a broker? Are there specific brokers that will know the 'default history' market well? I'm happy to get all my credit files printed off from the respective agencies and send these to anyone who has the time to look them over.

To give you some idea of where I'm at - if I need to be saving over 20-25% of the value of the home, then it's simply impossible as I live in London. The rate of home prices increasing is above what I can save already so adding time and cash to my deposit is almost fruitless at the moment (I can save about £1k a month, but with house prices rising over 8% on an average of well over £200k for the homes I'm looking at -the longer I leave it, the worse I'm doing somehow).

Comments

  • ACG
    ACG Posts: 24,897 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper I've helped Parliament
    5% deposit could be achievable... but options will be limited.

    15% will open up the market a little more to you.
    I am a Mortgage Adviser
    You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a mortgage adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.
  • Thrugelmir
    Thrugelmir Posts: 89,546 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    tain wrote: »
    Since then I have an unblemished credit record, and have built it up as you would with small payments on a credit card.

    Impact of this is a complete myth. As demonstrates absolutely nothing. Has no bearing when it comes to a mortgage.
  • tain
    tain Posts: 716 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Thrugelmir wrote: »
    Impact of this is a complete myth. As demonstrates absolutely nothing. Has no bearing when it comes to a mortgage.

    But it's recommended all over this website. Or do you mean the payments should be bigger? Or are you saying Martin Lewis is giving poor advice??
  • tain
    tain Posts: 716 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    ACG wrote: »
    5% deposit could be achievable... but options will be limited.

    15% will open up the market a little more to you.

    Where would be the best place to start looking at this? Through a broker?

    We have 10% already, but expected to need to spend another year desperately trying to beat the house price increases to get to 15%.
  • ACG
    ACG Posts: 24,897 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper I've helped Parliament
    Definitely a broker.

    There are only 2 lenders I know of that would look at this. You could spend a long time trying to find the needle in the haystack or pass it to a broker who will/should know who will potentially accept this.
    I am a Mortgage Adviser
    You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a mortgage adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.
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