Heavy gambling and getting a mortgage

Attaboy

I am a first time buyer, looking to get a mortgage. I have a 10% deposit on a property that is costing £30.000. I earn £14,000 a year and have no debt and no credit cards. But the thing that I feel will see my application declined is my heavy gambling. While I have never gotten myself in to debt gambling I do gamble heavily through matched betting and having several accounts open. Prior to posting this I looked back over last months bank statements and see that I have made over 30 transactions to gambling sites. These total over £6k with £7,200 being credited to my account I am pretty sure this will stop me getting a mortgage so my question is what can I do to try and improve my chances of getting accepted?

The property I am buying is from the local housing authority on the right to buy scheme and we have received a big discount due to living in the house for so long. If its a case of going 3 months with no gambling then the offer will fall through as you have a certain time to complete before having to start the process all over again and having to wait a year before re submitting.

Thanks for your help

glosoli

You should really be doing matched betting on a separate account than your main day to day banking account for a start. Is any of your deposit coming from betting funds, or is your deposit totally independant of this?

As a start, you should approach a lender who doesn't routinely request bank statements.

seatbeltnoob

woah, house for £30k, amazing

Attaboy

Yes my deposit is independent of the matched betting. It's in an easy access savings account. I do have funds saved in my everyday account from the matched betting winnings though.

I have read other posts on here from other matched bettors who have said the same thing about having a separate bank account. Just when I started doing this I didn't realise then that I'd be looking to get a mortgage several months down the line.

Yeah 30k for a house, thanks to the right to buy scheme. We qualify for the full 70% discount. The house is really worth £99,950. This is why it's too good a deal and opportunity to pass up. But my naivety with the matched betting I fear will cost me the chance of being able to get a mortgage.

Missymae0

I also do matched betting and have just successfully had a mortgage offer.
I use a pre paid credit card for matched betting so there are no transactions on my bank statements.

debtisnotme

Yes you would have to reapply for the discount if you waited but that's not the end of the world is it? Set up a separate bank account and wait six months to reapply.

Attaboy

I never even thought of a pre paid credit card. I need to do some research on those. To be honest when I started matched betting I never thought it would go as well as it has for as long as it has.

Think I'm going to apply for a mortgage and if/when it's rejected I'll then wait 6 months and re apply as per the advice above. I was rather hoping that due to the house being worth more then what the total for the mortgage would be that the mortgage wouldn't be that difficult to get!

glosoli

The stumbling block may be the deposit coming from betting origins (matched betting or not). It is possible to obtain a 100% mortgage using the discount as the sole "deposit". It would be the route i'd likely choose if I was you.

Attaboy

Sorry to sound dumb but what do you mean by It is possible to obtain a 100% mortgage using the discount as the sole "deposit"?

glosoli

I am assuming it is council right to buy, right?

In that case you can obtain a 100% mortgage for the purchase price, and the difference of the valuation and the purchase price would be your "deposit". You don't have to put down any deposit to the £30,000 purchase price as you would have to in any other purchase scenario.

For clarity, your LTV would be calculated from £30,000 / £99,950 which would be 30%, thus giving you access to low LTV products, and not products at 90% based on what you were saying about if you were to put down a 10% deposit.

ACG

There are a couple of lenders who do not ask for Bank statements as standard - so that could be an option.
Or you could potentially get an unsecured loan for up to £25k. That just means you a are a couple of grand shy of what you need?

Best to get broker involved though as your options are going to be literally 2-3 lenders I imagine. Gambling nd RTB is not easy to overcome.