Do we have a chance at a mortgage?

Jazz_mavericks

My partner and I have between £200-250k of cash to put down as a deposit towards our dream house, which costs £399k (although we have been told we can get it for £375k).

We earn £50k between us in jobs we have had for around 7 years each, have no outstanding debts, and all credit cards etc have zero balance.

We both however, have shocking credit histories. Mine sits at 'poor' on the scale, and my partner's is likely to be worse.

This is our first time buying. We currently rent, and have done for 6 years, paying £650 per month.

Would we have a chance at getting the remaining money we would need for the mortgage? And would the rates be reasonable?

Thanks for your advice in advance!

~Beanie~

Jazz_mavericks wrote: »

We both however, have shocking credit histories. Mine sits at 'poor' on the scale, and my partner's is likely to be worse.

What do you mean by shocking? Do you have any CCJ's or defaults?

Jazz_mavericks

My Equifax score is 305, and my Experian score is 597. Both have 'reds' against electoral roll, which I have amended, as hadn't realised it had run out (but it did around a year ago). No CCJs - but 1 default - an account I forgot about from 5 years ago which was classed as 'settled' in July.

Experian say the following:

You have an account regarded as defaulted or delinquent
You are not on the Electoral Roll as a current occupant at your current address.
Your borrowing on regular instalment credit has not reduced significantly over the last 12 months.
You have recently opened 1 or more new credit accounts.
The usage of your available credit indicates a higher risk

Like I mentioned, all debts are paid off. My partner had an agreement with Step Change to pay off all debts, and these are also repaid. We haven't missed a payment on these in 5 years.

The new account is a Santander account which I opened to put £20k into to take advantage of the high interest rate.

So to recap - the house value is £399,000, and our offer of £375,000 would be accepted. We have around £200-220k to make as a deposit, and earn £52k a year between us, no outgoings apart from utilities etc.

Our plan is to save £15k each in savings, so if anything went wrong we would have £30k to support us.

Would we be able to get a mortgage?

Sorry for sounding stupid - this is our first time borrowing! We have been renting for 7 years!

Thanks folks

Armorica

Putting your credit histories to one side, your best bet may be to talk to your current bank. They have detailed information about how you manage your accounts and can see your salary coming in. Any other lender will be less informed/relying on your word.

Jazz_mavericks

Equifax also says 19 months since last payment problem, which I think was a mobile phone bill which was due while I was abroad, and missed by a day, and 57 months since last serious payment problem - which must have been the account I forgot about while in a moment of turmoil moving house!

Jazz_mavericks

The estate agent selling the house have an in house mortgage advisor - is it worth seeing them for a chat? Showing statements of current balances etc?

Senior_Paper_Monitor

With a dodgy credit background they are the LAST people you should see about this ...


1) You don't want them to know you will have difficulty obtaining the finance


2) There is tendency for inhouse estate agent advisers to have limited experience in non standard lending (you would benefit from someone with real consistent experience with adverse lending)

pjread

That all said, at 40% or lower LTV I'd expect it to all be very much possible... is the 200-250k cash from savings?

amnblog

That's interesting - StepChange the debt charity on one hand and a quarter of a mill of cash on the other.

Senior_Paper_Monitor

Presumably an inheritance floating around here ?


Should be doable - probably 'at a price', but the detail of the detail of the circumstances certainly shouldn't be put anywhere's near an estate agent's friend in the office.