Refused an Agreement in Principle - how long to wait before reapplying?

porkpie74

My wife and I were refused an agreement in principle (I think due to the number of credit cards we held jointly – a number of which with zero balances (which we are closing today) and also the percentage of available credit being used – over 50% though again, I paid off and closed a card yesterday. The first company (Nationwide) refused us, and the second (Natwest) said we passed the affordability check but would need a 25% deposit. (We applied with 10% deposit so will now save for 15%.)
My question is, how long do we now need to wait before reapplying? 3 months, 6 months?

Paully232000

Maybe see a broker instead of going to individual companies, we did this and saved us a lot of hassle and only applied to one mortgage company suggested and successful.

Also, just a thought, if it was due to your use of CC and using more than 50% of available balances surely closing some down will increase this figure, if you see what I mean?

Someone will come along soon with more knowledge.

ACG

Definitely speak to a broker.

Im sure with a common sense lender this can be done.

porkpie74

I used a mortgage adviser to approach them (should have stated this) and yes, I understand what you mean by closing cards = increase in % used, but I was advised by the mortgage adviser that the total number of cards could have been an issue (I had 5 and my wife had a store card and 7 cards, including 2 with zero balances she hadn't closed).
So now having been refused, how long should we wait (as three will be "footprints" on our credit records now.)

ACG

Find a new broker.

Seriously, having cards opened/closed showing as paid/not paid should not be enough to not get accepted. Assuming there is no bad credit and affordability is not an issue this is possible to place.

Im assuming your broker has tried to find out the reason for the decline and appealed if its something that can be appealed?

Was it an estate agent or fee free broker?

porkpie74

no she didn't appeal or find out why, it was her assumption. The thing is, wouldn't a third application in as many days be a mistake?

Paully232000

If it was me I would speak to the broker again and ask her/him can she find out why? No point on applying at all again if it is going to be the same decline for the same (at the minute) unknown reason. It may be something that you can do something about.

Thrugelmir

porkpie74 wrote: »

(I had 5 and my wife had a store card and 7 cards, including 2 with zero balances she hadn't closed).

So how much do you owe on active credit cards?

Any other loans?

ACG

3 applications is never going to look great.
However, there are lenders who do not credit score. They have clear criteria which means so long as you pass affordability and the criteria in terms of adverse then you should be fine (I say should as there is never a guarantee).

Rates are never going to be as good as natwest and the rest of the high street but at 90% LTV would be looking at around 5.9% or 4.75% at 85% LTV. It gets you the house and gives you some time to sort out whatever it is that the bigger lenders are having issues with.

Personally I think you broker needs to pull their finger out and work out why its been declined with 2 lenders. There is clearly something but to just say its been declined isnt really good enough, it might just be a case of your application as a whole is not particularly strong, it might be that the lender is getting information from your application that does not tally up with your credit report.

If its the former, fine but atleast you know. If its the latter then your broker might be able to rectify it with a bit of effort and get it back on track with either of those lenders.

porkpie74

Thanks for the comments.

Can anyone answer my original question though of how long is the usual amount of time to wait before reapplying for an agreement in principle after having been declined?

Wh05apk

Agree with ACG here, this is unlikely to be the number of cards, there is an issue here, you need to go back to your broker and get them to find out why, get copies of your credit files and make sure everything is correct, and check there are no missed payments, this looks like either an affordability or credit issue.