Mortgages and balance transfers credit cards

NaughtiusMaximus

Hi all

We'll be looking to re-mortgage towards the end of the year, details are:

Joint mortgage - I work full time, my partner is medically retired, mortgage therefore based purely on my income
LTV ratio - 66%
Mortgage is 4.1 times my income
I exited a DMP in April 2017 - no defaults or missed payments over the past 6 years
My partner has no missed payments or defaults either
I have a couple of balance transfer cards, taken out for the purposes of stoozing, combined balance at the time of application will be around 20% of my annual income. My savings exceed the card balances so can pay them off now if I choose.
Aside from these cards and the mortgage, neither of us have any other debts.

Is it worth paying off the balance transfer cards a couple of months before applying for the mortgage or will it not make any difference given our other circumstances?

kingstreet

The balances will affect affordability, whether you have the savings or not. Typically lenders take 3% or 5% of the balance into account and if you are already at 4.1 x income, you may find yourself with an affordability issue.

There are lenders who will still tax you the cost of the card debt even if you say you will pay it off. The only way to beat that is to repay the debt at least three months before the application.

Some proper planning advice would seem sensible with a broker discussion sooner rather than later.