Natwest Mortgage Issues

NikkySC

Hi,

I'm new here, and thought somebody might be able to offer me some advice on the issue I'm facing. As a young person (24), I'm trying to get a mortgage with Natwest.

So I applied for a mortgage, failed the credit check, which was surprising, to find out that Capital One sent a report in Feb for a 200£ credit card (of which I was using a high ratio at the time) to the Credit Scoring agencies. It's actually false, because I'd paid it the day before they sent the report, but it takes two days for it to appear on the account so the report was "half-right, half-wrong" I say. I had actually paid it off before they sent the report, but it hadn't hit them yet, ok, fair enough.

My mortgage adviser has said once it's fixed on the 6th (when Equifax should receive the updated profile), to try again.

I normally check with Experian, but looked at my Equifax, and it's a SHOCKING 190!

Now, I've done as much research as I can, but I can't work out why it's so low!
Faults:
1) I've only just gotten onto the electoral register for where I'm living at the moment (my bad really)
2) I have one missed payment from 20 months ago (which I paid the day after).
3) I've had 4 credit searches on my account in the last 4 months. One for a phone with 02 (approved), one with Barclaycard (ha no chance), another with Capital One (approved), and the 4th is from Natwest.

Now my score reads as 190 on Equifax, but my score on Experian is 660 (which should go up to 831 once I get my 171 points back from this Credit Utilization issue).

So let's talk financials next.
My mortgage adviser from Natwest ASSURED me (he really did say it a lot), that if it failed, it wouldn't matter because it would 100% go to the underwriters.
I asked for:
95% mortgage on a 85,000£ mortgage, of which I'll pay up to a budget of 500£ a month on, making my term 17y7mo.
That 500£ a month is less than 20% of my overall income each month, and my other costs outside of what would be mortgage and house bills are around 150£ each month (I have a laptop on credit at 58£ a month which I've been paying for a over a year now, and also the phone at 30£ a month with tariff) and also things like netflix, etc etc the usual suspects.

So from a financial perspective I'm in a perfect condition to buy a house, as I have the 5% deposit ready to go, and I'm in a perfect situation. So why am I being blocked by a bad credit score? And why is my credit score so low when I only have 3 issues, of which in Equifax, only ONE of those is red?

I have spent the best side of three hours on the phone with Natwest today to get answers and nobody is interested at all.

Any thoughts from anyone? I'm really trying my best to just get this mortgage sorted because renting again would be pointless, I'm throwing money at the wind in the case!

Or am I just a victim of being a young person who only just in the last few months really started to take this kinds of things to thought?

Thanks!
Nikky

[Deleted User]

You're not being blocked by a bad score. Your score is fictitious and has no relevance to any credit application. Ignore it with a passion.

Having limited history, plus not being on the ER and a missed payment doesn't put you in the strongest position, but time will improve that.

You'd be best placed using a broker to place your application. NatWest is perhaps an odd place to start.

NikkySC

Well I went to a broker and I was put through to a 15% mortgage which is not ideal for me because I really don't have the time to be waiting around another 6 months saving up the other 8.5k that would cost me.

But he refuses to look any lower. Should I be taking that as a warning sign?

[Deleted User]

If he's any good, yes. Ideally, you'd spend time building some credit history and raise a bigger deposit.

You're very much on the margins at the moment.

Is he a real broker - or one out of an estate agent?

Shakin_Steve

When you log in to equifax, you should find a list of bullet points, some green, some red. The green will tell you what's good and the red bad. Even though the actual score means nothing, these should give you some idea as to why they give you that score.

[Deleted User]

As already said and it can't be said too often a credit score means nothing, NOTHING at all, I personally would go away save some more deposit build up some positive credit history then speak to a "whole of market"broker,they have access to far more deals.

NikkySC

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll see what I can do.

My broke is an out of an estate agent kind, so I'm not sure if he has full access to the market that a specialised broker would. I'll consult with him again.

I have been offered full an 85% mortgage from Halifax, but I don't have that kind of deposit.

If they've already accepted me and made an official offer, is it worth me maybe trying to see if I can talk them to a 90% mortgage? Then I just need to get that money together.

I know from an interest rate point it ups my cost each month, but I'm looking to have a lower term to reduce my overall pay out in the long run, to hit a budget of around 500£, that way the "mortgage + interest" on 25 year terms won't bother me, and anything below that when I offer a 500£ budget is a bonus. Is that a more sensible attitude to adopt over a "as cheap as possible over 25 years" approach?

How do banks look at having a lower term over a longer one? Also, which banks have been known to be more lenient towards young people? I've done as much research on the subject as possible but it's almost impossible to get any real information out of this kind of thing. Seems the banks keep a lot of things to themselves. No surprises there.

redfox

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Keezing

NikkySC wrote: »

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll see what I can do.

My broke is an out of an estate agent kind, so I'm not sure if he has full access to the market that a specialised broker would. I'll consult with him again.

I have been offered full an 85% mortgage from Halifax, but I don't have that kind of deposit.

If they've already accepted me and made an official offer, is it worth me maybe trying to see if I can talk them to a 90% mortgage? Then I just need to get that money together.

I know from an interest rate point it ups my cost each month, but I'm looking to have a lower term to reduce my overall pay out in the long run, to hit a budget of around 500£, that way the "mortgage + interest" on 25 year terms won't bother me, and anything below that when I offer a 500£ budget is a bonus. Is that a more sensible attitude to adopt over a "as cheap as possible over 25 years" approach?

How do banks look at having a lower term over a longer one? Also, which banks have been known to be more lenient towards young people? I've done as much research on the subject as possible but it's almost impossible to get any real information out of this kind of thing. Seems the banks keep a lot of things to themselves. No surprises there.

You've asked a LOT of very muddled questions. You really need to find a good independent broker to assist you, otherwise this will end in years.

I'll also add that 24 isn't young. You're an adult and all lenders will treat you as one. What "leniency" due to your age are you looking for exactly?

NikkySC

I'm not exactly looking for leniency here. Im not asking for special consideration, so much as I'm wondering if younger people are traditionally having a harder time getting onto the ladder, if it's just an issue with my circumstances. I'm not the kind of person that considers myself a special snowflake, so much as I'm surprised at how they seem to be looking purely at the credit score and not the financials. I suppose I was naive with it all.

Sorry if I've asked a lot of muddled questions, being a first time buyer and having to do research outside of work leaves me with little time to really try to sit and understand it.

I'm just trying to look for advice and it seems I've found some. I'm certainly not looking for a holy grail of a solution that's for sure.

NB: By young people, I'm referring to the way things like the media say, when referring to people under the age of 25 or so, which they seem to consider young people or perhaps it would have been better put as "young adults" if that makes it easier to explain?

Also according to a report from The Telegraph, Halifax claims the average age of "young" first-time buyers is around 27, so I'm definitely in the lower bracket of age for a home owner, so will that negatively effect me because they see me as a "young applicant"? That perhaps might have been a better way to describe it.

Sparx

Look at ClearScore (free) what are the negatives on your file? You're not fooling yourself are you and ignoring any other negatives?

Such as defaults, going over credit card limits, other missed payments, CCJs etc. You sound like you earn good money if £500pm is <20% your income.

What's the problem waiting 6 months and getting a higher deposit? You'll both have lower monthly payments and maybe a lower interest rate.

Side note: try Nationwide, they do great rates oh mortgages and found to be much more efficient, and less draconian than NatWest.

Also look for a mortgage broker with all of market, not an EA they just go for what gets them the most commission.