Struggling to escape my past

Florida68

I am a homeowner, I purchased the house in 2005 with a mortgage from the then Northern Rock. In 2009 I ran into financial difficulties mainly of my own doing, and defaulted on 5 credit cards, two personal loans and the mortgage. Having looked at IVA and Debt Management, I finally went down the route of negotiating with the various banks/financial institutions and managed to get them to freeze the amounts owed and accept reduced payments until these were paid off in full. I brought the mortgage up to date in June 2009 and have paid that in full ever since, and the credit cards were paid off by April 2015.

I am looking to move my mortgage to get a better rate (I am paying just under 5% with NRAM and they obviously can’t offer a better deal, or any new deals for that matter). The outstanding amount is £115,000, I am earning £43,000 a year and I have just one personal loan with M&S Bank for £8,000 (from August 2015) and a credit card which I no longer use (all previous accounts are now closed). I switched my account from Lloyds to Nationwide in October last year and applied for a remortgage in February but was rejected, I was informed due to something on my credit report, not affordability. Credit scores are: Experian 999 !!(score from October 2015 and no new credit since), Clear Score 481/700 (“Stable” – 9 positives and 0 negatives), Noddle 3/5

Can anyone give me any guidance as to what to do next? I am paying £170-£200 a month over what I could be paying at the current rates, which we know won’t last forever. I was looking at applying through the Post Office but am afraid I will be rejected again, and I am not sure why. I contacted Clear Score and they couldn’t give me a clear answer, just suggested keeping up to date with payments (have done so for 7 years), use credit cards and pay off each month (I only have one, and I don’t use it), and diversity of accounts is a sign of stability and credit responsibility – all should be open and active (I don’t have many, but then again they advise against applying for new credit).

How long do I have to suffer the consequences of some bad decisions back in 2008/2009? Let me know please if you need any more details, I didn't want to make this too long to read

csgohan4

You need a good broker with deals in adverse credit. Apply yourself will only result in wasted credit searches


Your score means nothing. your history everything

ACG

I can not see if you have said how much the property is valued at.

The rate can potentially be beaten, depending on the equity but it may be a few more years before you are back on high street rates, it will all depend on how it shows on your credit report (ignore the scores).

As above, you need a broker really with experience in this sort of thing.

Florida68

We haven't had the property valued but it will be approximately £180-£200,000

ACG

There should be options then.

mildredalien

Florida68 wrote: »

How long do I have to suffer the consequences of some bad decisions back in 2008/2009? Let me know please if you need any more details, I didn't want to make this too long to read

Adverse credit marks (defaults, missed payments etc) stay on your record for 6 years, so if all these occurred prior to April 2010 they will no longer show on your record and won't therefore be seen or taken into account by a mortgage lender. It matters a lot less when the debt was paid off completely, and if it's now pretty much all paid off there shouldn't be any affordability issues.

The only thing I'm not sure about is missed mortgage payments and mortgage arrears, as if you were in arrears for longer that will still show on your record.

Thrugelmir

Is your mortgage on an interest only or repayment basis?

You could help yourself by making overpayments and reducing the debt owed. This will save you money.

Florida68

It is a repayment mortgage. I went into arrears at beginning of 2009, but got it back to current in June 2009 and have kept up to date with full monthly payments ever since

MortgageMamma

The mind boggles!

What were the dates of the defaults/CCj's that you received? If they were before March 2010 they should not be showing now anyhow but it would be helpful to know.

Nationwide are not known for accepting any adverse credit history, so unless there is something revealed on your credit report I'm not sure why this could happen but here is a list of reasons that could be the case

property non standard construction

if a flat/apartment what floor is it on

is your property next to, above or in close proximity to commercial property?

affordability - do you have dependents and/or a lot to pay out each month?

Have you taken a payday loan at any point?

Are you asking for full interest only?

Are you trying to borrow money into your retirement?

if you can answer some of these we may be able to shed some light on this and tell you if you will fit with a high street lender or need a specialist lender - either way so long as you are better off financially it doesn't matter who the lender is

Thrugelmir

Florida68 wrote: »

I finally went down the route of negotiating with the various banks/financial institutions and managed to get them to freeze the amounts owed and accept reduced payments until these were paid off in full.

Those "various" lenders may not now be willing to advance you thousands of pounds. Once burnt twice shy.

getmore4less

You need to get your full reports and go through in detail for anything that will throw up warnings.

All the lenders you previously defaulted will still have records they can access.

<60%-65% LTV, a multiple even with a £8k loan should be something.

history probably need a good broker on the case.