"Material Change" - Mortgage App Disappointment

primrosecottage14

Hello,

I wondered if anyone could help advise me. I had a mortgage application approved by Halifax in December and the most they could lend me was £142,500 at 1.9%. The property I was planning to purchase fell through at the weekend (this was my fault - we pulled out due to constant changes in the chain and no exchange date) and I had to act fast to find another suitable property chain free. I had an offer accepted on Tuesday for a property which is more expensive (I didn't mind stretching as it is more suitable for us) but I am having to put down another £12,500 on my deposit (£45,000 in total). The seller had a higher offer than ours but we managed to persuade him to go with my offer as I am FTB and had mortgage approval etc.

I spoke to my mortgage broker and informed him of the plans and he has come back letting me know that he will need to reapply for my mortgage as the interest rate has risen slightly (understandable) but that Halifax have capped what they will lend me to £140, 625. I am so surprised at this, I have been squeaky clean since my last application - no credit card spending (balance at £0), 2 accounts both up to date (1 sofa finance with £400 remaining, the other mobile contract with £25 remaining). My credit score is showing as higher than average at 629 with a 5/5 credit rating. I really will struggle to come up with the additional £2K odd at this stage since I have already put forward £12,500 more than I was planning to (I was keeping this back for house renovations and furniture, appliances etc as first time buyer).

This is really disappointing for us as my husband had initially been rejected for a mortgage due to a late payment on his account in August whilst we were on holiday so our budget had already been halved.

Please can anyone advise what might be affecting the amount the bank will lend and the likelihood of me being able to borrow the amount needed? I earn £30K and have no other debt.

Thanks so much

ACG

Your budget had been halved because of a late payment? That does not make sense. I deal with people who have defaults, CCJs, bankruptcy and in the main they can borrow more or less the same as someone with no bad credit.

It could be thatHalifax have tweaked their affordability calculation maybe, has your broker extended the term/tried other lenders?

I think there is some confusion or some information missing as some of what you are saying does not sound correct.

amnblog

It sounds to me like fluctuations on the credit file since December which was 4/5 months ago.

Your question should be addressed to your Broker for a clearer explanation.

You may get higher lending elsewhere, but there may be other factors as to why Halifax is the chosen route.

primrosecottage14

Hi both @amnblog & @ACG,

Thanks for your responses.

The reason we had to apply with Halifax being that we had been working abroad for several months from the start of 2017 (I covered APAC for my company and went out to open their Singapore office) and our broker advised Halifax being the only high street lender who would consider us. My husband had a late payment on his file in August (it had gone to a 2, this happened due to bank withdrawing his overdraft whilst we were abroad and we didn't get the letter, he was actually ahead of payments on that loan by £800 and we cleared the remaining £1000 as soon as we realised he'd missed it) but before that had credit issues from missed payments on his phone a couple of years ago, so his credit score wasn't great. Obviously the late payment on a personal loan in Aug had the biggest impact since we started our mortgage apps in Nov.

My broker has said he will look into this for me but unfortunately he's currently on holiday, hence looking for some further reassurance or advice in the meantime. I have checked my online accounts (Clearscore and Noddle) both are showing as stable scores back to December, no change, no credit usage and payments to phone and DFS all made on time. This is why I am so confused :-(

Thanks

amnblog

Clearscore and Noddle 'scores' mean nothing to Halifax, they run their own score.

Quite frankly, if I were your Broker Id be more worried about cash being so tight on this new purchase that 2K is a problem.

primrosecottage14

Hi @amnblog,

I take your point but I'm sure the majority of first time buyers in this country aren't equipped to throw £1000's about unexpected, especially when they've already been working to save a 25% deposit. It may not sound like much and we will have it if we really need it but as I said, starting from scratch over here and it all counts.

Appreciate your comments on Clearscore and Noddle - just trying to find some indication as to what/where the suggested fluctuations might come from.

Thanks