Help to Buy Mortgage with Poor Credit file?

cupcake2014

Hi everyone, first post ever on MSE, hoping to get some advice from all you knowledgable lot :-)

Ok so me and my partner are wanting to offer on a new home, on the HTB Scheme. We have passed the income check to ensure we can afford the mortgage etc and have our 5% deposit. Now, the next stage is passing the credit check. My partner has an excellent credit score of 880. Mine is 507 :-( this is probaby due to a mixture of things. I.e. having about 4 addresses in the last 6 years (nothing untoward, just normal situational changes, never kicked out or anything) my age (am only 25yrs old), my 2 late payments on an old (and closed) catalogue account, and most significantly, my 1 x default on an old phone contract exactly 4yrs ago. (Amount was £14!!! Don't know how this happened...prob change of address)

Now, I am scared about our mortgage application, and would be so gutted for my partner who desperately wants us to get a home together. I will feel like such a failure!

We've spoken with a mortgage broker who are going to do some research for us, but in the interim I just need a bit of advice or words of hope from anyone who can really..

What are our chances?? I've heard HTB are very strict... I can't bear the thought of waiting until 2016 til the default is cleared. Back then I was in a bit of a bad place but my life has completely changed and I have a fantastic job and everything is just great. I'm saving and am really careful with my spending. I closed all my catalogue/store card accounts in 2012 and now only have a credit card which I rarely use, it only has 200 pounds on it to pay with a limit of 2500. I only use it if I really really need to and pay back big chunks (if not all of it) every month. I'm on the electoral rol but have been on and off of it so this of course shows up on my credit history

Can anyone think of a way to get it better? Or will I not get a mortgage until my default is gone? I'm clearing my credit card at the end of June payday and then I will have no credit accounts under my name.

Any advice, tips, honesty etc etc would go hugely appreciated. Thank you all!

Cupcake x

Thrugelmir

Post on the Mortgages & Endowments board. One of the resident brokers should be able to help you.

pmd123

I applied for HTB with Halifax 2 months ago, no defaults, no late payments, on electoral role credit card paid off in full every month, was turned down at the credit check stage due to having a "B" credit rating meaning I would need to put down a 15% deposit to negate the risk.

A week later I applied for HTB through Natwest (who I have banked with for 20 years) under the new MMR process. Wasn't going to go through with it due to the Halifax decline, but the advisor said they would look at it differently as they had more history, and knew I was a reliable customer due tot the time I had banked with them.

Outcome was that Natwest accepted me under stricter criteria than Halifax, but my advice to you based upon what you have said is to try a whole market broker, because if you have a bad credit history then HTB is likely to be very difficult to obtain.


Forget your credit scores, it's all irrelevant, but pay for a copy of your statutory credit report with all 3 agencies, and then take these to your chosen broker, who will determine who your best chance of success would be with based upon what each agency is reporting.