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Single or Joint application
MPEARSON
Posts: 26 Forumite
I've been reading a few older threads about a sole mortgage application when married, but wondered if anyone can advise pls.
My wife is a foreign national (non-EU), and has been living in the uk for 3 1/2 years. She has permanent residence (ILR) and has been self-employed for just short of 3 years. Her income is hovering around 8k net profit per year. No accountant is used, so there are just 3x SA302s as income evidence. She has a very limited credit file because she hasn't been here long. We are financially linked in a joint account.
I'm in full-time employment. I also have a 5% share in the business profits.
According to the various calculators, my income alone is enough to borrow for the kind of place we are hoping for, even if the mrs is treated as an extra dependant.
So we are trying to figure out whether a sole or joint mortgage is the best way to go. If we do a joint application, will my wife's lack of history bring the strength of the application down at all? Would relying solely on my employed income make things more straight forward, because it's more easily evidenced? But then I'm seeing other stories of lenders who don't like single applications when married and both will be living in the property. I've read about doing a joint application with my wife's income as 0, but this seems to reduce how much we can borrow by over 30k, according to the Halifax calculator, which is the lender we are leaning towards at this stage.
Any advice is much welcome.
Edited to add that another reason we are thinking of a sole application is an issue with my wife's name. Her surname is 31 characters long. A lot of company systems have 30 character limits. The bank, the electoral register and the utilities all have different variations of her surname.
My wife is a foreign national (non-EU), and has been living in the uk for 3 1/2 years. She has permanent residence (ILR) and has been self-employed for just short of 3 years. Her income is hovering around 8k net profit per year. No accountant is used, so there are just 3x SA302s as income evidence. She has a very limited credit file because she hasn't been here long. We are financially linked in a joint account.
I'm in full-time employment. I also have a 5% share in the business profits.
According to the various calculators, my income alone is enough to borrow for the kind of place we are hoping for, even if the mrs is treated as an extra dependant.
So we are trying to figure out whether a sole or joint mortgage is the best way to go. If we do a joint application, will my wife's lack of history bring the strength of the application down at all? Would relying solely on my employed income make things more straight forward, because it's more easily evidenced? But then I'm seeing other stories of lenders who don't like single applications when married and both will be living in the property. I've read about doing a joint application with my wife's income as 0, but this seems to reduce how much we can borrow by over 30k, according to the Halifax calculator, which is the lender we are leaning towards at this stage.
Any advice is much welcome.
Edited to add that another reason we are thinking of a sole application is an issue with my wife's name. Her surname is 31 characters long. A lot of company systems have 30 character limits. The bank, the electoral register and the utilities all have different variations of her surname.
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Comments
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I called Halifax and a mortgage adviser said that a sole application wouldn't be a problem as long as an occupiers consent form was signed by my wife. The adviser couldn't give any explanation for the drastic reduction in affordability if my wife was added to the mortgage.0
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