Am I getting bad advice?

richk77

I have a question about mortgage applications, and more specifically about the hurdles underwriters put in place. It's a rather long-winded question, so my apologies for that in advance.

I need to set some background. Three years ago my wife's business failed. We spent too much time and effort trying to prop it up and living on loans and CCs. It was a bad idea, and we should have walked away before we did, but you live and learn. It left my wife's credit file in a mess and she went into HSBC's collection system and defaulted on her CC. It all shows up on her credit file and we always knew this would be a problem. My credit score is 995, with a few late payments on a CC over the years when we were really struggling, but no CCJs, defaults, BR etc. I have no debts, loans or CC balance to speak of.

Recently we've started looking for a mortgage and used an advisor who seemed very knowledgeable. He represents (freelance) what I believe is an independent mortgage broker, but I don't don't really understand the market enough to know quite what the relationships are. I gave him all our details - both mine and my wife's - but we discussed it and agreed that any application would be done in my name only. We have a large deposit (35%), and I have a good job. We wanted to borrow £180,000 on a £280,000 house, and I can achieve this one my salary alone.

It appears the advisors "team" have made an application with Nationwide in both names and it's been immediately declined. We've both been "hard" credit-checked and my wife failed, as expected. This has now damaged her credit score further. I passed, but Nationwide rejected us out of hand. The mortgage advisor made all kinds of noises about both of us being untouchable to any lender and washed his hands of us, but it appears he's made the mistake in putting us forward jointly. (Stupidly, I don't think I have anything in email proving what we agreed). His parting comment - after telling me I probably wouldn't get a mortgage for six years - was to approach my bank as they might be the only people who'd touch us.

This left me demoralised to say the least, but I did contact my bank (Barclays/Woolwich). I met a mortgage advisor there who asked me to do the on-line application in my own name, which would do a "soft" credit-check. I passed this without a problem. I then went into the branch yesterday and did a more detailed application and received an AIP based on a "hard" credit-check. Seemingly, the only thing they wanted additionally was proof that we've paid the rent on our current house for the last 12 months - which we have without fail. The Woolwich mortgage advisor seems good, and I've been totally honest with him and held nothing back. He seems to think my chances are good, and I'm going back on Saturday to do the full application.

My problem / question is this: I have two mortgage advisors (one in-house and one independent) who are giving me almost entirely opposite advice. One tells me I'm essentially unclean to all lenders - while the other seems positive and says my chances are good. The 'independent' tells me "any" underwriter will almost certainly decline our application, but everything has gone through OK so far. We have a big deposit and can easily afford the mortgage, even if the rates go right up. We're well inside our affordability window, but I don't know who to trust now.

To complicate things further, the 'independent' came back to me on Saturday - after telling me on Friday that his code of conduct prevented him dealing with me further - saying he'd found a lender who might take us on, as they're looking to fill their books. He's now gone completely silent again, and I'm starting to doubt his competence.

Am I into 'flip a coin' territory here, or am I getting bad advice? Is the 'independent' advisor incompetent, or trying to feather his own nest? I'm confused. Anyone have any advice on who to believe?

ACG

I would not want to deal with the independent you have by any means, his attitude seems to stink.

Woolwich will consider single married applicants so its not impossible that you have got lucky and they may accept you. I think I would probably await the outcome of Woolwich and then if that fails find a new broker.

Starting the process with another broker is potentially a waste of your time and theirs.

richk77

ACG wrote: »

I would not want to deal with the independent you have by any means, his attitude seems to stink.

Woolwich will consider single married applicants so its not impossible that you have got lucky and they may accept you. I think I would probably await the outcome of Woolwich and then if that fails find a new broker.

Starting the process with another broker is potentially a waste of your time and theirs.

Thanks for your reply. I am starting to suspect our original adviser has been playing his own game.

Looks like you're suggesting it's unlikely the underwriter will approve the application unless we're very lucky? Basically, regardless of our deposit, income and LTV ratio, we're probably going to get declined, and that if we do, we might as well just give up all hope for a while?

I didn't even realise a "single married applicant" was a thing. The guy in the Woolwich didn't bat an eyelid when I wanted to leave my wife out of the application because of her credit history. Is he just stringing me along in the vain hope of getting some commission?

Dave_Ham

Presented correctly this will be fine

richk77

Dave_Ham wrote: »

Presented correctly this will be fine

Dave, thanks for your very brief but encouraging response. Good to know I'm totally wasting my time.

ACG

Completely the opposite, I think your application could get through with Woolwich.

The reason Woolwich would not have batted an eyelid is because to them its acceptable - so chances are they would not have come across other lenders where it is an issue.

I would not dwell on your previous broker, see how you get on with Woolwich. If it is not accepted find a new broker.

kingstreet

richk77 wrote: »

Dave, thanks for your very brief but encouraging response. Good to know I'm totally wasting my time.

How do you reach that conclusion from his post?

richk77

kingstreet wrote: »

How do you reach that conclusion from his post?

Errr.. "presented correctly this will be fine"? That's more encouraging than, "don't bother, you're wasting your time buddy", isn't it, or am I missing the point?

I'd have to hope the internal guy at Barclays knows how to present to his own underwriters?

kingstreet

So why do you think you are totally wasting your time?

Either you mis-read what he posted, or you've missed "not" out of your reply?

amnblog

Unfortunately Rich the broker does sound like a clown.


I agree with ACG and Dave that you may as well see if Barclays Woolwich give you a result - it sounds like they will.


If not, do not give up, but find yourself a sensible broker.

In_For_A_Penny_2

richk77 wrote: »

My problem / question is this: I now have two mortgage advisers (one in-house and one independent) who are giving me almost entirely opposed advise. One tells me I'm essentially a mortgage leper - unclean to all lenders - while the other seems positive and believes my chances are good. The 'independent' tells me "any" underwriter will almost certainly decline our application, but everything has gone through

We were in a not too dissimilar situation. I had no problem asking different brokers for an opinion - one told us we had no chance and the other took on our case.

richk77 wrote: »

I don't know who to trust now

We decided to "trust" the one that we thought might get us a mortgage!

Good luck!

EDIT - I suspect that in some cases, when a broker tells you you have "no chance", they mean you aren't worth the effort to them when they can pursue easier options.