Lender asking for information I can't provide. Help!

ambc

Just starting a new thread on this as I'm looking for some specific advice...

I've got a mortgage application going through at the moment, via a broker, which involves a bankruptcy and repossession from over 10 years ago. I've passed the lender's DIP and credit checking, I have confirmation from the lender that I fit their criteria, and affordability is ok.

The lender has now come back asking for figures for both the bankruptcy and repossession. However, it all happened over 10 years ago and I certainly don't have any records of it anymore. I understand that banks themselves also generally don't keep records going back more than 6 years or so, either. And I'm not even sure I could name the financial institutions involved with any degree of certainty, anyway.

I can give vague details about what was included in the bankruptcy, and what I purchased the repossessed property for (and how much deposit/how much equity at point of purchase - not including any increase while I owned it), but as for whether there was a repo sale price shortfall, I have absolutely no idea. It was all handled by the Official Receiver, and I never actually saw any final figures.

So, I've just updated the broker with that info, being as honest as I can be without resorting to making up figures, and have asked for advice from them on how to proceed - but they're not the quickest to respond.

In the meantime, has anyone else ever been in this position - where a lender is asking for historical figures that can't possibly be provided?

Or have any of you brokers ever advised on this kind of thing?

Worrying times!

Thanks.

JaneyLouWho

Do you think you could get in touch with the lender directly, or do you absolutely have to go through your broker? Just wondering if you might be able to present your best case and find out what they really need to know from you by going direct?

ambc

Do you think you could get in touch with the lender directly

It's not something I'd be comfortable doing - not least because I imagine the broker would be pretty PO'd about it.

I never thought this process would be particularly easy for me. But after more than 10 years of flogging myself (mentally, mostly) to get back to a position where there was a chance... however slim... that I could get out of the depressing and frankly destabilising situation I'm in (privately renting a family home and paying someone else's mortgage with zero guarantee that we'll still be living here in 2 months!) I didn't expect to be asked questions that are actually impossible to answer.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

JaneyLouWho

All I can say is I know exactly how you feel.

ACG

Explain it to the broker, te broker should explain it to the lender and then its just a case of seeing what they come back with. Nothing more yu can do. They are unlikely to need exact figures, but they will probably expect you to have a good idea.

ambc

Thanks for the note - appreciated. Also reassuring (ish!) that they're unlikely to need exact numbers.

So, yep, that's the stage we're at. Broker's just said they're going to speak to their BDM and we'll take it from there.

JaneyLouWho

How did you get on today ambc?

The_Real_Cheddar_Bob

contact your OR and hope they still have records. If not maybe the court will

ambc

contact your OR and hope they still have records. If not maybe the court will

I actually did contact the court about getting a copy of my discharge certificate last week. On top of me needing to request this in writing, by post (they wouldn't allow me to call in and drop a letter off), they also suggested that the process of digging through their files to find the details of a 10+ year old case would take a loooong time. And that's just to generate a certificate, never mind produce copies of actual paperwork.

But back to the original question; our broker queried this with his BDM and the reply came back fairly quickly and was along the lines of it not being something to worry about, especially as this info doesn't have much bearing on the decision, if at all.

So, I provided what limited information I could.

Today, the lender comes back to me with a brand new info request via the broker, which asks exactly the same bleedin' question, word for word.

As if this process wasn't already difficult enough. Is someone having an actual laugh?

@JaneyLouWho - have you gotten anywhere with your application yet?

JaneyLouWho

Nothing to report yet - I think they will have recieved all the information today (bank statement, payslip, gifted deposit letter) so I'm hoping to hear something tonorrow or Thursday? Do you reckon that's a tad optimistic?

Frustrating that you are being asked for the same information repeatedly

ambc

Do you reckon that's a tad optimistic?

Who the $&*# knows!! (Sorry, I think I've said that about a hundred times already today - I really need to vent somewhere!) :oD

What's also compounding our application is the fact that we're both directors of our own limited company, as well as also being employed elsewhere. This doesn't make for a straightforward process, especially when I can't seem to be able to get our accountants to provide information in the right format for the lender, or even get the lender to properly articulate what it is they'll accept in the first place. I thought this would be where the broker would be a useful asset, but it's turning out to not be the case, at least with this particular broker. I'm having to do a lot of this stuff myself.

Latest I've heard today is that we're facing up to a further 10 day wait for the accountant to produce some additional documents because the first lot weren't right for the lender, despite being exactly what they asked for.

I'll suspect I'll still be posting here in year or so.