How to be in best position

workerbee92

So I'm looking to buy a home (first time buyer) in 2-3 years. I'm saving in a Help to Buy ISA for the deposit and am looking at buying a property for under £100,000 (totally viable in my part of the country for a 3 bed terrace) and I'm wondering what I can do to make sure I am an attractive borrower.

I will qualify as a maths teacher in 12 months so with any luck I will have a decent salary behind me and I'm hoping to have a 10% deposit saved in that time (I'm single and no dependants. Rent and bills under £500 a month). I started saving in January and am at £2200 so far (£1800 in HtB)

The kicker is that in my younger years I was an idiot with money. I have a number of defaults, the most recent was August 2016 (for a while £16 to EE when I forgot to pay it off at the end of my contract. I mentioned I was stupid, right?) so my credit history isn't the most desirable.

I do have a credit card with Capital One with a limit of £200 (interest is 29.9% I think! I can never remember as I just never pay interest) which I pay off in full every months (minimum payment on the day of statement as that's always £5 which is always affordable, the rest within the next couple of weeks) which I am hoping will have a positive impact on my file. I don't have a phone contract as I'm cheaper on GiffGaff as I always buy my handset outright so I have literally nothing else on credit.

What else can I do to increase my chances of a good mortgage? Because of the way the contract world here, I wouldn't be moving house until July 2021 at the earliest when the majority of my defaults will have expired (or whatever the term is) some are still unpaid but I'm planning to sort that out within the next 12 months if not sooner so there is no chance they will convert to CCJs at the 6 year mark, just need to get my head out of the sand as it's the biggest ones that I have left.

Is a 90% LTV with a 3.5x of income likely if I have no existing debt (excluding student loans and the credit card I clear in full each month)?

And what can I do to increase my chances?

Thanks.