Mortgage Preparation Advice - First Time Buyer

_inky_

Hello all,

I'm going to have to buy a flat soon as the house I am looking after is being sold.

My income is £33000 per year and I should have a deposit of £50000 for the flat.

I currently owe about £6000 across two credit cards which will be paid off in the next 5 months or so. I also have around £7000 outstanding with my Student Loan.

I have a good credit history (I think?) having borrowed and repayed quite a bit of money over the last few years and the last *bad debt* I had would be 10 years ago with a shared student house/telephone situation - which was all sorted and repayed promtly.

What I need to know is:

• What is the maximum I could borrow. 1 bedroom flats are between £175000 and £200000 round here - and a bit more for a nice one
• Apart from paying off my credit card and saving as much as I possibly can, is there anything else that I can do in the next 6 months to improve my mortgageability or increase the amount I can be lent?
• What is the best way to find a "Whole of market" independant advisor I could have a chat with.

Thanks in advance,

Tom

herbiesjp

Hi Tom

Welcome to the board

MOrtgage amounts you could look at are between 4 and 5 times your income - so then adding on your £50k deposit on top of this will give you the purchase prices you could look at.

Clearing the credit cards will help to maximise the mortgage amount available.

Make sure you are on the electoral register and this can improve your credit score.

Best way to find a WOM adviser is by referral - ask friends or family if they can recommend someone to you

Do you have an up to date copy of your credit file from Equifax or Experian? Having a look may give you an indication as to how you will score on the various lenders' internal scoring systems

_inky_

Thanks for the advice - I'll get hold of a copy of my credit file and report back

herbiesjp

you can try and get a free copy from http://www.experian.co.uk/creditreport/