Credit ratings and Mortgages - advice please

robcyb

I've read (many times) all the guides around improving credit scores, and that the 'scores' themselves mean very little in terms of a definitive acceptance rate.

Having consulted my Experian, Equifax, CallCredit (Noddle) reports I can see we have a very clean report. All accounts are up-to-date. We've never defaulted, missed payments and have never made any cash advances on our credit cards.

We've consulted with a mortgage advisor, and have received an agreement in principle for a price we feel we're prepared to pay for a property (with our deposit). The mortgage advisor has now asked for our 'credit score' from Experian to gauge our likely acceptance of a mortgage.

The score he's said would be acceptable is 900 (out of 999) and that 'anyone' can get a score of 850 with Experian. All I can say is that my latest score is 773.

We do have credit cards, and using around 50% of all our available credit. We are currently renting and have not moved for at least 2 years now. On all electoral registers for our full address history, and all records of accounts are accurate.

We have never had issues applying for credit in the past, and have made sure to keep on top of all finances (minimising outgoings, etc.). Our affordability also looks really good according to the mortgage advisor.

Our top of mind questions are:

1. Our score of 773 is way below what our mortgage advisor has suggest. Should we be worried?
2. Is there anything we can do to improve that within the next 1-2 months?
3. If we've received an AIP already - has our score already been 'factored in'?

Thanks in advance!

DCFC79

robcyb wrote: »

I've read (many times) all the guides around improving credit scores, and that the 'scores' themselves mean very little in terms of a definitive acceptance rate.

Having consulted my Experian, Equifax, CallCredit (Noddle) reports I can see we have a very clean report. All accounts are up-to-date. We've never defaulted, missed payments and have never made any cash advances on our credit cards.

We've consulted with a mortgage advisor, and have received an agreement in principle for a price we feel we're prepared to pay for a property (with our deposit). The mortgage advisor has now asked for our 'credit score' from Experian to gauge our likely acceptance of a mortgage.

The score he's said would be acceptable is 900 (out of 999) and that 'anyone' can get a score of 850 with Experian. All I can say is that my latest score is 773.

We do have credit cards, and using around 50% of all our available credit. We are currently renting and have not moved for at least 2 years now. On all electoral registers for our full address history, and all records of accounts are accurate.

We have never had issues applying for credit in the past, and have made sure to keep on top of all finances (minimising outgoings, etc.). Our affordability also looks really good according to the mortgage advisor.

Our top of mind questions are:

1. Our score of 773 is way below what our mortgage advisor has suggest. Should we be worried?
2. Is there anything we can do to improve that within the next 1-2 months?
3. If we've received an AIP already - has our score already been 'factored in'?

Thanks in advance!

Not sure why the mortgage advisor has asked for your score, you sure it was that he asked for ?

The scores have no bearing on loans or any financial products.

MrsTinks

Firstly I can tell you our mortgage advisor and she never asked us for our "score"... what she did was go through ALL our outgoings, income, projected outgoings (ie school for daughter, upgrading cars etc) and she checked a copy of our credit files for any nasties.

Not once did she ask for the score...

As for improving the score... or rather helping yourselves for the mortgage - yes. Pay as much as you can off on your credit cards! Mortgage lenders prefer as little debt as possible from experience!

robcyb

DCFC79 wrote: »

Not sure why the mortgage advisor has asked for your score, you sure it was that he asked for ?

The scores have no bearing on loans or any financial products.

When I presented a copy of my credit report he looked through it and then asked what our score was. He couldn't see it on our report (as it was a statutory report) and then asked what it was.

Having asked why he advised me that a score of 900+ means the chances of being accepted are higher.

robcyb

MrsTinks wrote: »

Firstly I can tell you our mortgage advisor and she never asked us for our "score"... what she did was go through ALL our outgoings, income, projected outgoings (ie school for daughter, upgrading cars etc) and she checked a copy of our credit files for any nasties.

Not once did she ask for the score...

As for improving the score... or rather helping yourselves for the mortgage - yes. Pay as much as you can off on your credit cards! Mortgage lenders prefer as little debt as possible from experience!

Thanks for the advice - most appreciated.

We're currently saving £1,000 a month to 'grow' our deposit should we find a house. Currently our credit cards are both on 0% deals, which is why I prioritised putting the money into savings. I guess we should be redirecting some of this money onto the cards?

DCFC79

Making sure the cards are paid off in full would be a positive, whether it will have much or any effect in the time you require I don't know.

MrsTinks

robcyb wrote: »

When I presented a copy of my credit report he looked through it and then asked what our score was. He couldn't see it on our report (as it was a statutory report) and then asked what it was.

Having asked why he advised me that a score of 900+ means the chances of being accepted are higher.

Mmmmm'kay... well yes it might... but kinda worrying if this is what he's basing it on... he should know better.

So for relevance the husbeast had a default on his file (long story, mail for a joint account went to his ex, she moved and he didn't know as he thought the account was closed after going in to bank with her to close it...) which meant a RUBBISH score. However once it was settled and with our affordability looked at properly then she knew what mortgage we should be applying for (one of the better ones on the market at the time) and it was approved without any drama.

You might want to have a quick consult with another mortgage advisor because to be honest I would have thought he would have suggested what deposit you would need and the possible impacts on your application of unsecured debts... That or ours is just extra fabulous and took a lot of time to make sure we picked the right products... :cool: I'm not a mortgage professional so I can only go on my experience here...

robcyb

DCFC79 wrote: »

Making sure the cards are paid off in full would be a positive, whether it will have much or any effect in the time you require I don't know.

I'm not so sure we could pay the full balances off (at least quickly). The mortgage advisor factored the debts on these into our affordability, and for the AIP. All of those seemed to come through fine.

I guess the best path is to pay off as much as possible, and then apply to hope we would be accepted.

P.S., the only potential 'issue' is that we have 5% deposit as it currently stands.

robcyb

MrsTinks wrote: »

Mmmmm'kay... well yes it might... but kinda worrying if this is what he's basing it on... he should know better.

So for relevance the husbeast had a default on his file (long story, mail for a joint account went to his ex, she moved and he didn't know as he thought the account was closed after going in to bank with her to close it...) which meant a RUBBISH score. However once it was settled and with our affordability looked at properly then she knew what mortgage we should be applying for (one of the better ones on the market at the time) and it was approved without any drama.

You might want to have a quick consult with another mortgage advisor because to be honest I would have thought he would have suggested what deposit you would need and the possible impacts on your application of unsecured debts... That or ours is just extra fabulous and took a lot of time to make sure we picked the right products... :cool: I'm not a mortgage professional so I can only go on my experience here...

It's always good to hear experiences of others, thanks. As per my previous reply we currently have a 5% deposit (close to 10% depending on purchase price). I'm struggling to think of the best way forward. Pay down the debts, or plough the money into savings to get that deposit up to the 10% mark. Not sure if I mentioned earlier, but we are first time buyers.

[Deleted User]

It may be worth changing to a more experienced mortgage advisor.

Where did you find your current one?

robcyb

Deleted_User wrote: »

It may be worth changing to a more experienced mortgage advisor.

Where did you find your current one?

This was a broker that's part of the estate agents we are looking to buy a property through. To be fair we were persuaded to consult with them since they 'prefer' to work with their mortgage broker. It raised some alarm bells when they said that.

We've also found another estate agent saying that if we meet with their broker, we will go on their 'preferred' buyers list which means we get exclusives on properties not even listed on RightMove - again not really a great sign of how they choose to do business.