Queries - DIP & Overdraft

LJE091

Hello,

I previously asked if it would be worth my bf getting a money transfer to clear his overdraft and make payments to the credit card at 0% instead of just paying interest fees on his overdraft, as that way the debt will start to go down. The reply I got was that we should use our savings to pay this off instead.
In an ideal world I'd love to clear all our debts before buying a house BUT in reality we're currently living with parents and can't stay here for years. We've decided to go ahead and get the money transfer so my question again is, how long should we wait to apply for a mortgage since we've just applied for credit? I know applying for a lot of credit in a short amount of time has an adverse effect on your credit.

Also, does a DIP effect your file and how long do they last once in place? If your circumstances change can you get a new one? It might take us some time to find somewhere to live as there isn't a huge amount within our budget in the area we are looking. In which case we have more time to save and increase our deposit amount.

Thanks for the help

ACG

A money transfer is not ideal, but with some lenders it will not matter.

I normally only obtain DIPs once the cutomer is ready to buy and has made an offer which has been accepted, the reasons for that are:
1) I look over the credit reports, bank statemets etc myself and so I only proceed if I am confident I can obtain a Mortgage.
2) The best lender today, may not be tomorrow.
3) DIPs do expire and the final purchase price may be more or less than the amount we obtain a DIP for, meaning another DIP is potentially needed.

Sometimes estate agents insist on one, in which case we get one, but in the main personally I do not think they should be obtained until your offer has been accepted.