Is there any point applying for a mortgage now?

rufus31

My husband and I now earn reasonable salaries and are managing to save quite a bit. We've saved up around a £20,000 deposit. But it hasn't always been like that and it's making me worry we've no chance of getting a mortgage for years. We've both worked hard and haven't spent lavishly but for a long time neither of us have had particularly high paid jobs and it's just been a bit of a struggle at times!


My credit record is reasonable. But about five years ago I was incredibly busy at work and I have to admit I was also very disorganised. I was late with two credit card payments. I settled straight away and there was no default. However about a year ago they were still down on my record as two late payments.


I'm much better organised these days and have had no late payments for years.


The other issue is my husband. After leaving uni he had around a £2,000 authorised student overdraft. He went into a fairly low paid job where he remained for around five years.


He only managed to pay off around £1000 while he was working but he had another £1,000 left on his overdraft for quite a while and has only just paid it off, now he's started in a new higher paid job.


The other problem is that three years ago my husband went back to university to study for a vocational qualification which has led to his current job.


He didn't have to pay any fees and had a very small grant, which doesn't need to be repaid. However money was still very tight.
I was working but had a long commute to work which cost an awful lot so I could stay with him while he studied.
It was a struggle with commuting and accommodation costs and we had also just paid for our wedding.
At the end of the period we were consistently in our other authorised overdraft. At one point in the month towards the end of his course, just before I got paid, up to around £2,500. I had never been overdrawn except immediately after leaving university until this point.
Around six months ago he started in his new job. It's much closer to work so commuting costs are much less and much better paid. We have paid off the whole overdraft and have around £800 spare each month which we are saving.
We also both pay the maximum we can into workplace pensions each month.
I filled in the online Decision in Principle form with Natwest, which I understand does a soft credit check. It said we could borrow around £200,000. We will probably initially borrow less than this.
My question is once an underwriter takes a closer look at our accounts over the past few months would they take into account the fact that our circumstances have now changed and that when we went overdrawn there was only one income for specific reasons.
We have never been in our unauthorised overdraft and do not have any other loans etc.
Or will they just decide that we are just totally rubbish with money full stop.
Out of interest what are mortgage companies' stance in general to going into your authorised overdraft? If it's occasional for instance a big purchase and paid off next month, like a credit card, is that an issue at all?

amnblog

With the concerns you have and your husbands occupation discussed on another thread you would do well to engage a broker rather than applying direct to a lender.

You would benefit from support throughout the process rather than worrying yourself about detail which may or may not be relevant.

Thrugelmir

If you've £20k of savings. Why didn't you manage your personal affairs better?