Re-appeal an appeal?

lmw1804

Hello, I wonder if you might be able to help me. (it's a long story, so bear with me!) My boyfriend and I recently had an offer accepted on a flat, we already had a mortgage agreed in principle with Halifax. After the offer had been accepted the wheels rolled into motion and the valuation survey was quickly booked in. We then found out that Halifax had decided to decline our mortgage. It transpires that there was some bad credit on my boyfriend's credit score, something that had not come up when we did an Experian credit check. When we delved further we found out that the bad credit was actually a defaulted credit card from around 15 years ago that my boyfriend's mother had borrowed and stopped making payments on, but hadn't ever made us aware of. The amount was for £7000. My boyfriend paid and cleared the debt immediately, this blip on his credit score is now 'satisfied'. We hoped that this might change matters with our mortgage, we've had a number of weeks of chasing people up and this morning we discovered that Halifax decided to decline us again, but have passed it over to the risk assessors, so we have another few days to wait before we hear our fate.
Obviously we’re angry and frustrated at the situation, the debt wasn't a result of my boyfriend's actions and he cleared it the second he found out about it, in full. If the risk assessors decide to agree with Halifax and decline us, is there any way we can appeal this appeal? Or do we just have to suck it up, wait 6 months for the debt to clear completely from the credit score, and in the process get completely priced out of an ever increasingly competitive market? On additional note: as my boyfriend and I are both freelancers, Halifax are the only mortgage providers that would consider us, so they really are our only option.
Any help, advice, words of comfort greatly appreciated!
Thank you in advance.

Westminster

Are you applying directly or using a broker (the second option would be significantly more advantageous in this situation I suspect)

stephenni1971

Perhaps you should be angry with your BFs mum rather than Halifax?

Halifax were entirely correct to decline on an unsettled default. Was it for £70,000 or was that just a typo?

amnblog

Given the date you state the problem occurred I suspect the lender on the default was part of the Halifax Group.


Their position is therefore hardly unsurprising - once bitten, twice shy.


Not sure why you suggest they are the only lending option you have.

lmw1804

eesh, that was a typo! It was £7000, not £70,000. (corrected) I really would have given up hope if it was that!

I do of course understand from Halifax's point of view, of course they should have declined us with that default. However, when we were alerted to it, the debt was paid in its entirety within 48 hours. My frustration is very much with my BF’s mother, it’s been a tricky couple of weeks. Now that the debt has been paid and Halifax are aware of, (what I assume to be) the unusual situation, I guess I was just hoping that they could see that we have done everything in our power to get things put right, particularly when it came from something that wasn’t our result of our own personal actions. Perhaps I’m being a bit too naive?

And yep, we are with a broker, who has been wonderful and I’m very grateful to have on side.

libf

Difficult to prove that it was boyfriend's mum and not that you're just saying that to try and change their opinion though...

lmw1804

As I am freelance and generally don’t stay anywhere for more than 3 months and my boyfriend is a limited company, who again moves onto new contracts with similar frequency, we were advised that Virgin and Halifax were the only two mortgage lenders that might consider us. Virgin didn’t like the fact that I moved around so much, so that left us with Halifax. A number of my colleagues have had similar experiences.

amnblog

It does not matter who's mother it was if the account is in the applicant's name.

Thrugelmir

lmw1804 wrote: »

When we delved further we found out that the bad credit was actually a defaulted credit card from around 15 years ago that my boyfriend's mother had borrowed and stopped making payments on, but hadn't ever made us aware of. The amount was for £7000. My boyfriend paid and cleared the debt immediately, this blip on his credit score is now 'satisfied'.

Given the age of the debt. How did this come to light now after all this time. When was it settled.

sam2015_2

15 years ago? That is a long time ago.
I personally don't think it would be a problem as long as your recent year credit history has been good.

Fingers crossed.

DandelionPatrol

lmw1804 wrote: »

Obviously we’re angry and frustrated at the situation, the debt wasn't a result of my boyfriend's actions and he cleared it the second he found out about it, in full. If the risk assessors decide to agree with Halifax and decline us, is there any way we can appeal this appeal?

Bad mistake to pay a penny in such a situation. It is effectively an admission of the debt. He should have shopped his mother to the police. Then you might be in with a chance.