Single vs Joint Application on Remortgage

Chubba

Hello

We have a mortgage soon coming to the end of the fixed term offer before reverting to the SVR so am looking to remortgage. When going through getting a decision in principle, it asks whether this will be a single or joint application so it has got me thinking which would give likeliest chance of success.

Current background:

• House is in joint names (husband and wife)
• Current mortgage in joint names
• Current outstanding LTV is 45%
• One of us is currently not working
• Other one of us is working but has poor credit score (due to high unsecured debt only and no other adverse factors such as missed payments, defaults, CCJs etc)

Given the above, can I even try for a single application? If so, would this be a better route to give the likelier chance (as one of us does not currently have an income) of getting a successful mortgage deal? Or would that ultimately prove fruitless (with the poor credit score) and therefore stick with the joint application?

Thanks in advance for any advice and guidance.

foxy-stoat

Best keep it joint. If you call your existing lender and ask to refix your rate I doubt they will even run a credit search.

movingtomacc

Which lender are you with and what's the amount outstanding? Have you checked the product transfer options available?

If you are with one of the mainstream lenders and/or the amount outstanding is relatively small, more likely than not you will have competitive products to move to with your existing lender, zero paperwork, no affordability checks, no credit checks, etc.

Chubba

Thanks for the replies.

I'm currently with Halifax and remortgaging with them was my first thought as I knew the process would just be much simpler (I have remortgaged with them twice before). The reason why I'm looking at another lender is because this would be the first time Halifax's rates have increased fairly significantly since my last deal - by 0.8% - so was looking at alternative providers. The one I found was with Nationwide where if successful, would save us 1% a year.

Thanks again

foxy-stoat

Have you tried to get a DIP from Nationwide as joint yet?

[Deleted User]

Chubba wrote: »

Hello

We have a mortgage soon coming to the end of the fixed term offer before reverting to the SVR so am looking to remortgage. When going through getting a decision in principle, it asks whether this will be a single or joint application so it has got me thinking which would give likeliest chance of success.

Current background:

• House is in joint names (husband and wife)
• Current mortgage in joint names
• Current outstanding LTV is 45%
• One of us is currently not working
• Other one of us is working but has poor credit score (due to high unsecured debt only and no other adverse factors such as missed payments, defaults, CCJs etc)

Given the above, can I even try for a single application? If so, would this be a better route to give the likelier chance (as one of us does not currently have an income) of getting a successful mortgage deal? Or would that ultimately prove fruitless (with the poor credit score) and therefore stick with the joint application?

Thanks in advance for any advice and guidance.

I dont know which one is not working and which has the bad credit but here are a few things to bear in mind:

1. A lot of lenders will not allow married couples to do sole applications (Nationwide are one of them who dont allow it)
2. As you are living in the property and are currently named on the mortgage, some lenders wont allow you to continue living in the property if you are not named on the mortgage (santander dont allow anyone with a financial interest in the property to live there without being named on the mortgage)
3. You cant get a mortgage with no income even if youve got perfect history
4. You might get a worse deal if you only have 1 applicant with bad credit. Usually 1 bad applicant and 1 very good applicant is all it takes to sneak a case through the credit scoring.
5. If one of you comes off the mortgage you will also be coming off the deeds. This has an additional cost associated with it.

This is a good case to show why a brokers role isn't just picking the best rate and applying for it. There are a lot of variables that go in to deciding best lender and best route.

Chubba

Thanks for the additional replies.

foxy-stoat - started DIP process with Nationwide before wondering about the sole vs joint application and hence this thread.

Deleted_User - thanks for the list of points made. That pretty much confirms I need to keep with joint application. I've assumed for point 3 that if one person is still getting an income that would be OK.

Many thanks again to all for your time in providing some guidance.