Child Benefits - Changing claimant from wife to husband

Pa_Ja

My wife is a stay at home mother caring for our 2 year old.
I'm employed and currently looking for a FTB mortgage (Sole applicant). The Child Benefit is in my wife's name.
Would it be straight forward to change the name from her's to mine so I can capture this as an another income or does this present difficulties?

Thanks

sheramber

Your wife would no longer get National Insurance credit.

Mojisola

It's more important for your wife to keep her pension contributions being paid.

Pa_Ja

Thanks for the swift responses.
By me not including Child Benefit, the lending amount is heavily affected (Almost £7k).

Re the above points, are you briefly able to explain the above and the impact it could have in later, or even current life?
Would it not be easy to change the name back to her's after mortgage part has been taken care of or can you not switch names willy-nilly like that?

Thank you

pmlindyloo

Why don't you do a joint application as this would then capture the joint income?

Mojisola

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Why don't you do a joint application as this would then capture the joint income?

And your wife would then be a joint owner of the family home instead of it only being in your name.

Pa_Ja

She's currently not working or planning to return within the next couple of year so that will affect lending amount.

Plus she's been in a debt management scheme prior to us being together so her credit rating would likely make a joint application fail.

Caz3121

Pa_Ja wrote: »

By me not including Child Benefit, the lending amount is heavily affected (Almost £7k).

child benefit is around £1060 per year so it is strange that is making such a large impact. Are you referring to tax credits too?
With your wife not working she will be classed as a dependent so this will also impact the amount you can borrow

Pa_Ja

No, this is strictly child benefit. CTC was not factored in as this is always a dual application.

tomtom256

So you want to conduct what is essentially mortgage fraud rather than look after your wifes retirement finances?

Pa_Ja

No, what I'm trying to establish if something is possible, are there difficulties around this, etc..