Applying for a mortgage after a bad history and a long time!

CG77

Hi all,

Just after some reassurance if possible. I had really bad credit years ago (as bad as it gets due to poor business decisions by my ex husband!) and have been renting ever since. I am now finally in a position to try to buy again and have been recommended a product with Skipton by L&C. They are happy with my history etc and I have a decision in principle and am about to make the full application and send off statements for them to scrutinise etc.

Due to it being so long since I did this before, and doing it all alone this time, this is where i’m nervous..! I don’t go mad, my current account balance is never below about £1800 but because I have been able to afford it, I do eat out, have takeaways, days out with the children, the odd night away etc etc. This will of course slow down if necessary in the new house, but will it put the lender off?

What exactly are they looking for in the statements? I believe they only want one month which happens to be a month in which I had to shell out for high school uniform, shoes, bag, equipment for a child, birthday days out, a summer holiday overnight hotel stay and associated costs etc-typical! If they looked at the month before they would see September was not a typical month!

Am I worrying needlessly? I now have really good credit, no credits cards etc, but am still nervous!

Thank you in advance for any reassurance.

ambc

If it helps, I've just taken a mortgage out with Skipton (they actually released the advance today) and they only asked for one bank statement at time of application. That statement showed all the usual stuff like eating out, plus some one-off purchases, plus a couple of largish payments where I settled a couple of credit cards in full in lieu of the mortgage application. So not really a typical month at all.

As I was led to believe, they only needed that one statement to make sure that the figure on my payslip matched the figure that landed in my bank account for that month.

This was done through a broker though, so YMMV.

amnblog

Baffled why so many applicants working through the team 'recommended' by this site end up back on here with worries.

CG77

Thank you very much for sharing your experience, ambc! I really hope it’s the same for my application then!

Amnblog, as and aside, to be frank I haven’t been hugely impressed so far to be honest-initial lack of promised contact and then a fairly fundamental issue with lack of knowledge on the part of the adviser I’ve been dealing with, which I had to correct him on, and which he continued to insist he was right about but then checked and admitted I was in fact correct (no apology). Just made me lose faith a little but when I asked could I change to someone else, I was told I could, but they’d have to begin the whole process again right from the beginning, which I really don’t have time for! Not ideal... Shame too because there are so many positive reviews of the company.

CG77

Oh and amnblog, I’d really appreciate your thoughts on whether the spending mentioned sounds like it could be an issue in your experience? I know you can’t say for certain at all what each lender looks for but just in your opinion..? Thank you so much!

CG77

Could anyone else advise here at all please? I know it’s silly but i’m tying myself up in knots. I did have a bad experience years ago which ended up in a BR and meant I always thought I would have no chance at ever owning a property. I am now, due to my parents helping out by gifting a deposit, in a position to buy a house on my own.

Skipton apparently only want to see one statement but the broker wants to see the last 3 months worth. The last full month isn’t the best - as I said it shows high spending due to hotel stays for a special occasion, expensive uniform and equipment for new school for my son etc. My maths isn’t the best and I might even have spent more than came in that month, but as I always have approx £1800-£2000 in that account it didn’t matter. I really really don’t want to set myself up to have this mortgage declined. If they looked at the previous month or the October one when it comes to it, they would see much less spending but it seems september is what they will want (last full month) so what do I do? Can I wait so that October is the most recent month they see? Do I not worry about it and just send September? My broker isn’t the most approachable (or knowledgeable) so I don’t want to just go along with the application for it to be declined.

Help put my mind at rest please!

YHM

CG77 sounds like you need a new broker!

I wouldn't worry yourself as sounds like you are handling yourself well at present. How long ago was the BR?

Time2go

TBH I don't think they look that closely at statements only to verify you have no credit commitments you have forgotten to tell them about.

CG77

Thanks so much both - I really appreciate it!

YHM the BR was almost 10 years ago now and the discharge less than 12 months later. There was a repossession as part of the BR too but broker has checked with Skipton and they are ok with this.

My bank account has always been well in credit (have no overdraft facility and have had at least £1500 balance on the account for the last 5 years at least.

I just worry what they will make of the spending and the fact that the bills (rent, utilities etc) don’t come directly out of this account, they go out into my partner’s account in one large payment which covers my bills and more (holiday saving etc). Hopefully I can just explain this to them though and all will be ok?

My past is making me so nervous about all this and I really appreciate all responses!

Lauralou79

Natwest looked at a couple of payments and asked me in our mortgage interview/application. We had declared that we have no credit at all, so queried an argos payment which was just a purchase and not a card. Also a regular payment to a person which was actually my rent. They didn't seem interested in the day to day spending. More checking out credit and wages.