Agreement in Principle? Stressed!

Jeden

Hi all.

So we have put a pending reserve on a new build property for a 75% mortgage (help to buy) and have started looking at getting a DIP from lenders. Our broker who is undertaking the work is confident we will get one, however I have 2 settled defaults, one dating back 6 years (falls off in June for £32) and one for £46 pound that falls off in March of next year, so over 5 years. My other half has a good score with no missed payments anywhere.

My score was good until I logged into experian 3 days before we went for a DIP and they told me to make sure my address history was all added in, which iiy wasn’t. I added in my previous address and it pulled in my credit card (all up to date and no missed payments) however this knocked my score down to fair (almost poor) I did call them and ask why and they said it’s because the adding of another line of credit onto my account has taken it down but should be fine within a month or so. Of course this isn’t good as the property is a new build and we must have the mortgage and everything done within 40 days.

Since then we have been declined at Halifax (who I already had a DIP with before we started looking properly at properties but have since declined me with our broker (I’m assuming due to my score getting knocked down recently!!!) and also Santander.

She has recommended we go to aldermore to set our minds at rest that we will get a mortgage with somebody, as I’m panicking due to us having to pay for the extras that we want in two weeks, which will be money lost should we not get a mortgage.

Once we have an agreement from aldermore she has said she will try more mainstream high street lenders to get us the best rate possible but we have something to fall back on at least.

I guess my questions are; should I be worried about the defaults? And also Aldermore haven’t instantly accepted us and it’s been referred to the underwriter for a decision, is this normal?

Sorry for the long winded post, however I just wanted you all to get the facts to give me an honest assessment. I’m so stressed out it’s unbelivable

Noobie2011

I am no expert but we are ina similar position. First off ignore your credit score as it does not mean anything really.

Each lender has its own criteria and the credit score levels they have are more focused on your conduct and history and income and expenditure etc.

We are using a broker and up until yeaterday we were going with Kensington as both of us have sketchy credit history and I have just started a new job. Our broker then secured a DIP with Natwest on some really top rates and going off experience aslong as everything is upfront and nothing hidden then should be no problem.

In regards to Aldermore we looked into them and our broker also said they were initially happy with us and have referred us but this seems to happen with them and the majority then get accepted.

If you have a broker worth their while you should be okay and also we were declined by Halifax too as it seems they are very strict

Confusedftb_2

Our DIP referred and was accepted within 24hrs... nerve racking though. Now we’re wondering about the application and whether they will go back on it - how thorough are these manual checks? Did they look at our reports in full?

Jeden

Hi noobie, thanks for that.

It’s just so weird we could get a DIP with Halifax then three days later after I’d added my other address we don’t even get automatically accepted for one. Literally nothing had changed other than me adding that other address onto experian, which I had entered in on the Halifax website. Apparently once we’ve been declined on the automatic DIP there’s nothing you can do to get them to look into it further.

It’s just so frustrating as we have so little time to get it organised. The idea of us spending 5k on extras to not get the mortgage is really annoying and to be honest I don’t think we will pay for extras knowing the mortgage may be an issue.

How did you manage to get an agreement with NatWest? Had you been declined for any DIP’s before that?

Noobie2011

Jeden wrote: »

Hi noobie, thanks for that.

It’s just so weird we could get a DIP with Halifax then three days later after I’d added my other address we don’t even get automatically accepted for one. Literally nothing had changed other than me adding that other address onto experian, which I had entered in on the Halifax website. Apparently once we’ve been declined on the automatic DIP there’s nothing you can do to get them to look into it further.

It’s just so frustrating as we have so little time to get it organised. The idea of us spending 5k on extras to not get the mortgage is really annoying and to be honest I don’t think we will pay for extras knowing the mortgage may be an issue.

How did you manage to get an agreement with NatWest? Had you been declined for any DIP’s before that?

I do agree as the reasons why some accept and decline make no sense to me sometimes but I presume they have a system. You can never be certain but your broker should be clued up enough and know roughly why you got declined. We were declined by Halifax also on an AIP a while back as one of the 1st our broker tried

Yeah we are selling a house but luckily enough our new build is not complete until Sept and we are moving in with family so can get all the selling done with no purchase hold ups and we have a bit more time to sort the purchase out although we reserved our house about 4 weeks ago and once we sell our current house(roughly in 2 weeks) I am sure the developer will be chasing us. We may be in the same position with our options in having to pay 50% for them before a mortgage off but I will try hold off doing that as no certainty until an offer is in place.

I am not sure with the DIP for Natwest as we were all set for applying to Kensington in 2 weeks when I got my 1st payslip in new job and then the broker said about getting the Natwest DIP abd we were shocked to be honest. Nerves will be going until we get an offer but fi gers crossed. Just check your broker has access to a big set of le ders as some do not and could hinder you. If you are forced down the more specialist lenders like we were untilnow it seems Kensington, Precise and Aldermore are the main ones

Jeden

I think we will just have to cross our fingers and hope aldermore give us a DIP so we can breathe a bit.

She has said she will get us the best deal possible and getting the DIP with aldermore is literally just so we can relax a bit.

I just can!!!8217;t help but feel deflated at the whole situation. My nerves can!!!8217;t cope.

amnblog

Jeden


A few things to note.


Your 'score' from your Credit Reference Agency has no value to you at all, and is nothing to do with the decline from Halifax.


CRA scores are simply there to help them market their 'services'.


Your response from Halifax suggest there is more here than simply a couple of ancient defaults. Have you missed any payments on anything in the past few months?


Aldermore make manual decisions so you should not expect an instant result.


I see no reason why you will not get lending and your Broker seems to be managing it for you so I would simply allow her to do her job.

Jeden

I!!!8217;ve missed absolutely nothing since those two defaults 5-6 years ago. And I settled them 5 and 3 years respectively.

As I said it just seems a coincidental that we got accepted and then all of a sudden we can!!!8217;t since I made those changes. Unless the balance on the credit card of 500 quid (which is now paid and isn!!!8217;t showing yet) really went against me when the credit card was added from the previous address.

I am allowing our MA to do their job. I!!!8217;m obviously just stressed about the situation as we were agreed previously and now we aren!!!8217;t and thought I would ask for opinions from people who may have gone through similar.

Jeden

*update*

I was so confused by the Halifax declining us on a DIP with our broker I decided to go online and try it myself as I know it is a soft search and instantly we were accepted for more than we require.

There isn’t an option to get a DIP specifically on a help to buy mortgage on the Halifax site. So unless the broker has this facility and they are much stricter with giving DIP’s with a help to buy, i’m really confused as to why he’s said we are struggling to get one.

Any ideas?

amnblog

When Brokers run DIPs they run them as H2B cases.

You are not helping your Broker here.

Jeden

Sorry, How am I not helping my broker?