Joint remortgage with partner unemployed

Hi,
I've been looking for an answer to my situation but not found anything useful so I hope somebody can give me some answers.

My wife and I have a joint mortgage on our home and are approaching the end of our 2 year fix.
Since taking out the mortgage my wife has been made redundant so she is a full time mother.

Will we run into problems if we remortgage with a new lender because of the fall in our household income?
I am able to pay our current mortgage and support my family on my sole income. We would be moving to a cheaper mortgage as well since we have more equity in our home (through mortgage payments and price appreciation) so our monthly mortgage payments will be less than they are currently.
We are just a bit concerned that the bank will not lend us the amount we need based on my income alone. I tried using those calculators on the various bank's websites to see how much they will lend us and the figures are £30-40k less than the amount we need!:(

Thanks for any information!

p.s. apart from the mortgage, we are otherwise debt free and credit card spend is paid off in full each month.

Comments

  • marliepanda
    marliepanda Posts: 7,186 Forumite
    JKT15 wrote: »
    Hi,
    I've been looking for an answer to my situation but not found anything useful so I hope somebody can give me some answers.

    My wife and I have a joint mortgage on our home and are approaching the end of our 2 year fix.
    Since taking out the mortgage my wife has been made redundant so she is a full time mother.

    Will we run into problems if we remortgage with a new lender because of the fall in our household income?
    I am able to pay our current mortgage and support my family on my sole income. We would be moving to a cheaper mortgage as well since we have more equity in our home (through mortgage payments and price appreciation) so our monthly mortgage payments will be less than they are currently.
    We are just a bit concerned that the bank will not lend us the amount we need based on my income alone. I tried using those calculators on the various bank's websites to see how much they will lend us and the figures are £30-40k less than the amount we need!:(

    Thanks for any information!

    p.s. apart from the mortgage, we are otherwise debt free and credit card spend is paid off in full each month.

    From what you said, it seems unlikely. If it's with the same lender, maybe. But mortgages are based on income and yours currently isn't high enough for the loan you want.
  • Lilla_D
    Lilla_D Posts: 359 Forumite
    Third Anniversary
    Your wife being a full time mother is not a problem as such. However, not having enough income to borrow the amount you need is. If you can't remortgage to another lender, then you could still do a rate switch with the existing lender. They may not offer the cheapest rate on the market, but you won't have to go through the full application process from scratch to get a better rate.
    I am a Mortgage Broker
    You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a Mortgage Adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.
  • JKT15
    JKT15 Posts: 2 Newbie
    our wife being a full time mother is not a problem as such. However, not having enough income to borrow the amount you need is. If you can't remortgage to another lender, then you could still do a rate switch with the existing lender. They may not offer the cheapest rate on the market, but you won't have to go through the full application process from scratch to get a better rate.

    I was afraid that might be the case.
    I was hoping that as it's done on affordability too, they can see I am paying off my current mortgage comfortably so I can easily 'afford' to pay less on a cheaper rate.
  • Thrugelmir
    Thrugelmir Posts: 89,546 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    JKT15 wrote: »
    I was hoping that as it's done on affordability too, they can see I am paying off my current mortgage comfortably so I can easily 'afford' to pay less on a cheaper rate.

    Affordability at current levels of interest rates are one matter. Another is if interest rates were to rise. Lenders are guided to act cautiously by the regulatory authorities.
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