Mortgage, my story. There is hope for everybody!

TheRedStorm30

I'm a first time poster but a long time reader.
My husband and I have been trying to buy a house for about 2 years now. We started off by approaching our local Building Society who said we had some work to do before they would lend to us. We both had poor credit scores, ignorance and stupidity in the past had got us into debt and left me with two recent (2014 and 2015) defaults and my husband had several missed payments and was on a payment plan with one of his credit cards. We also didn't manage our accounts well with the BS. So we started by paying off all the debt and keeping an eye on our accounts, making sure things were paid on time and we still had some money left at the end of the month. We both earn reasonable salaries (£56k combined) so really most of it was just down to bad management. After a year we went back to the BS to see how we were doing. They advised us that things were much better but that we needed another 6-12 months of things improving.

During Summer 2016 we paid off hubbys credit card and managed to get debt free. Then the perfect house for us came up so we thought we'd give it a go. We went in to apply for the mortgage and they said that they thought we may be OK so to give it a go. A week later and I checked our credit files and somehow the credit card company had hit us with a default for the credit card after we paid it off in full. We were devastated and thought that was the end. I rang the BS the next morning to tell and they said just to wait and see what came back. Another nail biting week and somehow we had been approved for a mortgage!!!

Unfortunately two houses fell through since then, but knowing we had the mortgage approved meant we knew we could get there. Today we picked up the keys to our lovely new home and to be honest I still can't believe it.

I think for anyone struggling, working with a local BS can sometimes be a real positive. It wasn't a "computer says no" situation and they really worked with us to get us to where we are. We are over the moon to have this chance. Now to get mortgage free!!!

Good luck everybody, hang in there xx

Thrugelmir

The fact that you took personal responsibility. Learnt from your mistakes and rebuilt your credibility. Wouldn't have gone unnoticed by any lender. Well done for sticking with it. Very easy to give up hope.
:T:T:T

Jb_1982

Nice story... glad it's all worked out, well deserved too!

Kaggs!

That!!!8217;s brill! Well done! Congrats! !!!55356;!!!57312;

amnblog

Good news for you, but focusing on the response of one Lender will never uncover all the options available.

gemmylouise

I hope this is me in 2 years time! I'm just starting the journey of sorting out some previous bad credit mistakes... it's nice to read that your husband was on a payment plan and he hasn't had to wait 6 years to get a mortgage. We earn exactly the same amount as you guys and have a similar story. I think our first trip is going to be similar... wait 12 months. How much deposit did you have if you don't mind me asking? Well done