Inherited mortgage-free property - poor credit and CCJ’s

Mb2kmoney

Hi all,
First time poster here, so hope I’m doing it in the right place! I also hope some of you knowledgable folk can offer some advice.

Myself, my partner and out child live in a mortgage-free house that my partner inherited from her father. We would ideally like to do some fairly significant home improvements - and have planning permission granted. However.. this where the problems / our lack of knowledge starts!

While my partner has good credit, I don’t. I have a bad rating and some CCJ’s that frankly I’ve been too scared to try and tackle since my situation had improved (largely since meeting her!)

My main question is... what would be the best route to financing the improvements?

We’ve assumed some form of mortgage would be logical, but this is where I assume my poor credit would likely come in to play and have us turned down? (She doesn’t earn enough herself to be accepted herself either)
She has even mentioned that if a mortgage type option was available and we could release funds in addition to those required for building improvements, wed fast track marriage and do a few other things while we’ve got a young family.

We are a bit lost really. We know we have this great financial asset and are lucky to be in our position, but also need to expand space due to a growing family. We don’t really want to sell and move, but aren’t sure how we can actually do anything!
While I now have a decent salary and stable job, I feel like a let-down and like my poor financial past is going to affect our future!

ACG

Have you spoken to a broker?
Adverse credit comes in many different forms, the devil is in the detail. It sounds like you probably will need an adverse lender (but rates for those start at around 2% up to around 5%) so not exactly expensive but obviously more than the high street.

Mb2kmoney

I’ve not spoken to anyone other than a friend who is an Independant Financial advisor, but didn’t really go in to too much detail.

It’s probably quite an illogical way of thinking, but because of my poor history and circumstances around it all, I find it quite difficult to talk about any of it. Especially to my partner (who is fantastic and knows everything / is as supportive as I could ever hope for!) I just hate the thought that my poor past could affect her and our little one!

So are you saying that there are specific mortgage lenders out there (who are safe and reputable) who would still consider circumstances like mine?

LRmortgage

There are Lenders (reputable) that specialise in adverse or “bad” credit situations, as ACG mentioned above.

A decent broker will look at your credit files and hopefully place you with the most suitable of these specialist lenders.

ACG

On the face of it yes. Adverse mortgage lenders are still regulated and are as reputable as any other bank.

It might be worth speaking to a mortgage broker (Rather than an IFA). An IFA may do mortgages on the side but they typically specialise in pensions and investments.

On a side note, I hate doing mortgages for friends and family. I do not like knowing their private lives and we end up talking work when we are at the pub or whatever. I always pass them to my colleague so she can look after them, I hate mixing business and pleasure.

Thrugelmir

Mb2kmoney wrote: »

While I now have a decent salary and stable job, I feel like a let-down and like my poor financial past is going to affect our future!

With no mortgage to pay you've a great opportunity to put your house in order. Nothing you can about the past. Focus on the future. Things do take time to come together.

Mb2kmoney

Thanks all.
In terms of discussing with a Broker, should I research local ones, or so you recommend any internet based ones? Or, would you recommend going direct with one of the types of lenders you mentioned?
I’m sensing from the replies that the situation I’ve described might not actually be as bad / difficult as I might have imagined?

getmore4less

One thing you can do is get control of the finances look at the problems ensure they don't reoccur even little things like a late/missed payments need to be a thing of the past.

As long as the money in/out is OK it is more about being organised to make it happen at the right time.

Thrugelmir

Mb2kmoney wrote: »

I’m sensing from the replies that the situation I’ve described might not actually be as bad / difficult as I might have imagined?

Time heals as the saying goes. What historic issues, if any, are still outstanding to be resolved?

ACG

Mb2kmoney wrote: »

Thanks all.
In terms of discussing with a Broker, should I research local ones, or so you recommend any internet based ones? Or, would you recommend going direct with one of the types of lenders you mentioned?
I’m sensing from the replies that the situation I’ve described might not actually be as bad / difficult as I might have imagined?

I would personally go with a broker you can speak to rather than an online automated type of broker (habito etc).

We do a lot of adverse, and this is the sort of thing we do on a daily basis. It might not be for every broker as some of them will specialise in other parts of the market but I think so long as you get someone experienced or prepared to do the research you will be fine. Not the easiest of cases to place, but from what you have said certainly doable.

Mb2kmoney

The stuff I know about are two CCJ’s - one around 3k and the other under 1k. Other than that, it’s defaults on historic payments and some active chasing from collection agencies relating to either PD or similar.
The quickest way I could make it all go away would be to sort this mortgage out and sideline 10-15k (somewhat guessing - I need to ‘man up’ and do a proper search to find out what the true picture is) to pay everything off. Is that something that is able to be done in my kind of situation? Eg if I went to a broker with an overview of all good and bad finances, and a plan to instantly address outstanding debt from a mortgage amount?