Late payment issue?

MickeyDaMouse

I split from my wife a couple of years back. She kept living in our house while I rented and we left the mortgage going while the divorce got sorted. That finally ended at the end of 2016 and we are finally divorced.

My credit file shows no late payments at all in my name ever. I have a high general credit score - although I appreciate this is just a guide and all lenders do their own scores on their own criteria.

I have a decent above average wage coming in and average amount of controlled debt going out.

I'm with a new partner now and we're looking to buy together. She also has a perfect credit record although she's on a lower than average salary.

We've applied for a mortgage through a broker. The lender said they'd consider lending us £40k more than we actually wanted or needed so that wasn't an issue.

The problem is I've just got my latest credit file and discovered that my old joint mortgage ended in December 2016. My ex wife was paying it on her own as she was keeping the house and she was late with the final December payment. She says it was because she was confused about the last payment with it being settled. With this mortgage in joint names till December it now shows as a late payment on my file.

I know I can't dispute the late payment as it was late and despite not paying the mortgage it was in joint names so I'm stuck with it.

Anyone any idea if this will put lenders off me or will they see it's a one off compared to the rest of my history?

lclclclc1234

Hi,

I'm no expert but have had to do a lot of research on mortgages recently due to applying myself.
One thing I have been told is that most lenders won't even consider you if you have a late payment in the last 6 - 12 months.

However, see what your broker says, as you may be able to counteract that with otherwise excellent credit/ large deposit/ affordability

Cheers

MickeyDaMouse

I got the result today.

Mortgage approved

They saw one late payment but the payment was at the same time that the mortgage was closed. So it was understood as a mistake with the mortgage being closed and a final payment.

In case anyone else ends up in this situation and wonders the same, my credit history has no other missed payments in 6 years. No defaults. No CCJs. It's a pretty much perfect history.

Hopefully this will give others with minor mistakes some hope too.