First time buyers, mortgage advice

mazzyp

Hi there, wonder if anyone can offer some advise.
My husband & I are trying to buy a house, we only have a 5% deposit but were given a mortgage in principle, had our offer accepted, started to get really excited! Then yesterday Santander refused our mortgage application.

I checked my credit file and my score is fair but I've got some late payments showing on the file. I've not had any defaults or CCJ's and the only credit I now have is a credit card which I clear the full balance every month.

Is it pretty much game over for us? Our financial adviser seems to have disappeared into the abyss and we don't know where we stand. Any advice?

LadyGMadameToThee

The late payments probably scared them off. Satander is supposedly very difficult to obtain a mortgage with. Definitely don't throw the towel in yet. Look for another lender who may charge more but are more likely to clear you. We are currently waiting for approval from the Post Office but if they reject us we are going to try Nationwide or the Yorkshire Building Society. Remember that every single lender has their own unique criteria and lending requirements.

SHM87

A good financial adviser will look at your situation and place an application with a lender that you have the best chance of getting approved with. Perhaps you need a new FA/broker?

Lilla_D

As above, if your current broker can't help, you should look for another one. Late payments are not necessarily a show stopper, but it depends on how many you had, when and on what type of commitment. The score is not important, it's the details that matter.

Just to note, when asking for a 95% LTV mortgage, lenders tend to be stricter with their assessment than as if you had even 10% deposit instead of 5%.

In cases like yours, you are likely to fail if you try to apply direct, as you will be just trying your luck blindly. In addition, lenders will start rejecting your application once they are the 3rd or 4th lender you ask purely because of the number credit searches you collect...

ekumi00

Try Halifax or Nationwide. (Halifax first soft credit check) - I know people with defaults and missed payments who have been accepted.

Lilla_D

With all due respect, that's bad advice, ekumi.

Just because someone else was accepted with defaults and missed payments, it doesn't mean that OP will also be accepted. There are so many details that can make an application succeed or fail that you can't just grab one aspect (without even knowing the details of the aspect) and say that OP should be fine. OP should seek professional advice, where all the details can be reviewed properly and a suitable lender can be chosen. Advice doesn't normally cost anything, so why go blindly when you can get help?

mazzyp

Thanks for the advice Lilla, our broker has reappeared and is trying through a company called Aldermore!?!

I had a few late payments over a year ago and annoyingly one for £5 earlier this year, all catelogue stuff which has now been closed and all accounts cleared!

Keeping everything crossed, I really don't want to loose the house we found!

MrMortgages

Aldermore are a lot more forgiving of credit blips like yours, the expensive rates will reflect this unfortunately.

mazzyp

We've got an agreement in principle with Aldermore so now just waiting to see if they'll give us a mortgage which our broker says we'll have a decision in two weeks. I'm willing to pay the higher rates if it gets us through the door but I'm just not hopeful. Guess it just wasn't meant to be ��