Out of date Experian blocking mortgage

Gabby1234

Just before applying for our mortgage we cleared all of our credit card debt (we were making use of 0% credit cards). We now have no outstanding debts other than our current mortgage. We did this on the 24/4 but it is still showing on our Experian report. The mortgage company have declined the amount we want because of these amounts but have told us we will pass all of the affordability without them. We have asked Experian to remove the amounts and they have said that they can't until the info is sent from the credit card companies which can take up to 60 days. We have asked credit card companies to manually 'push' the updated into through which they have said they will do but that can take anywhere up to 3 weeks. Our chain is pushing for completion by the end of June so we have no time to waste on this. The mortgage company have given us two options - wait for Experian to clear or appeal the refusal. If we appeal the decision we have to send the evidence of clearing the credit cards (not a problem) and 3 months bank statements of all current accounts. Our mortgage advisor has basically told us that when they start going through the accounts in this detail they rarely reverse the decision and his advice is to wait it out. Has anyone any experience of how we can get these details updated quickly? We believe that if we have to wait our chain will fall apart which is so frustrating as we're being penalised for debts we don't have. This has come off the back of 3 weeks of being messed around by the mortgage company with conflicting advice & incorrect information so we are behind everyone else in the chain already. Help! Thank you.

kingstreet

Which lender, please?

Santander or Platform by any chance?

The credit system has never updated in real time and even if your credit providers did so, mortgage lenders don't take an updated data feed every day...

I can't imagine this being an issue with any other lender. You would simply enter the highest balance in the last three months and tick the "to be repaid on or before completion" box. The lender concerned would then ignore it for affordability purposes.

ACG

The credit agency can only go off the information supplied by the credit provider.

Find a new lender?
You could have the solicitors start the searches now - that will save time, but risk losing money if you do not get an offer issued.

Gabby1234

Thanks for the replies.

Yes - The lender is Santander. I guess they have a reputation for this sort of thing then?

I have been with them for over 20 years and have a good interest rate at the moment and was hoping to port it but I'm starting to think this won't be possible. As they have already run a credit check (we can see it on the Experian report) will it have a negative effect on our credit rating if we try someone else? This is so frustrating for us - we have a perfect credit score, low LTV, never missed a payment etc and we are being made to feel like we are some dodgy prospect because of credit cards that we have already paid off!!!

kingstreet

Santander takes into affordability consideration any credit commitment it can see in effect over the last three months.

Unless you paid something off in February it will affect an application today.

Suspect a new lender is required and you would best getting broker help to avoid you tripping over lender criteria again.

Summer12

We are having exactly the same problem with the Nationwide. DIP referred, 50% LTV, 0 currently outstanding but credit files show differently as only paid off a month ago. It's frightening that these big lenders can't see more up to date info.

kingstreet

Summer12 wrote: »

We are having exactly the same problem with the Nationwide. DIP referred, 50% LTV, 0 currently outstanding but credit files show differently as only paid off a month ago. It's frightening that these big lenders can't see more up to date info.

With Nationwide and other lenders who operate the same way, you simply enter the highest balance in the last three months and mark the commitment to be repaid on completion. You can't afford to assume the lender is seeing the latest data as the credit system doesn't update in real time.

You can't do that with Santander as they assume any repaid credit still visible in the last three months will be re-drawn in future.

Summer12

We went into branch to complete (what we thought would be full application). Nationwides advisor entered all the total previous months balances then checked the to be repaid box (even though it actually has been repaid) and still referred decision. Luckily the bank statement I supplied shows them being repaid. We also have a gift playing part of the application so I assume that doesn't help. Still waiting to hear 3 days on...

kingstreet

Ah. Sorry.

Can only tell you how brokers approach the situation.

A refer would usually be indicative of a low credit score (lender's, not Experian's 999 etc).

Summer12

Maybe due to the amount of credit we did have access to, despite all being repaid and accounts closed now. It's a shame as we've been a customer of the Nationwide (mortgage) for 25years so lots of history to refer to and with no late/missed payments on any account ever but this seems to be meaningless these days. Good luck Gabby1234.