AIP accepted, then declined

Sol00

Hi

I’ve not posted on MSE for a long time, but I hope someone could help. 

I applied for an AIP from the Halifax through a broker a few weeks ago.  This was accepted and the KFI was emailed to me with all the details. This is for a new build home which I have reserved. 

I have missed payment markers on my credit files from last year for my car finance. The payments weren’t missed, they were late due to changing job and pay dates.  I meant to contact them earlier to ask if they could remove these, but forgot until I checked just after the AIP. At this point I emailed the finance company to ask if they could help by removing them from my reports. 

I asked the broker over the phone if missed payments from my car finance would affect the full application. The broker thought it’d be ok as the credit search was done and he couldn’t see there being a problem.  It was at this point he did a second AIP to confirm, which resulted in it being declined. 

The reason I need some help is that from this point onward I am getting a bit confused as to what the broker is doing and how I can try to resolve this. Halifax is obviously difficult to get a hold of at the moment due to Covid-19. 

On Wednesday last week, the broker said he would submit a full application and appeal it if it’s declined. He took my card details for the valuation fees and said he would make a full application and let me know the results. 

Later that day, I received an email from the car finance company agreeing to remove the markers.  The reports were updated instantly. 

I emailed the broker to let him know. He advised he would ‘rescore’ the application and let me know the outcome. That was last Thursday. 

Today, I emailed for an update as I checked Equifax and TransUnion and there were no searches, hard or soft, carried out. I pointed this out to the broker and he advised they were done on Friday and that the application was declined and he was planning an appeal later today. 

I’m getting really frustrated at the lack of communication and, with my lack of knowledge of the process, I’m unsure of what I can do to move this on. I was thinking of persevering with Halifax myself to see if there’s anything I can do as I am a customer of the bank and I have a few questions:

- As the original AIP was approved, would a full mortgage application, that was subsequently declined, be appealed based on the approved AIP, resulting in a good chance of a successful appeal?
- As the second AIP was declined, would an appeal only be based on this, resulting in a pretty slim chance of a successful appeal, if any?
- Does the second AIP supersede the original one, and does the original AIP exist?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. 

Thrugelmir

Has the Halifax revised it's lending policy in the last few weeks? 

Sol00

I’m not sure. I’ve searched online for information, but all I could find is that they withdrew mortgages above 60% for a week or so, but it’s all back to normal now. 

kingstreet

Halifax only takes its CRA data feed once a month, around 11th - 14th so unless that date has passed, Halifax will still be seeing the old data and the outcome is unlikely to be different. It would have been sensible to wait for the markers to be removed then wait for the data to update so you had an improved chance of success.

Sol00

kingstreet said:

Halifax only takes its CRA data feed once a month, around 11th - 14th so unless that date has passed, Halifax will still be seeing the old data and the outcome is unlikely to be different. It would have been sensible to wait for the markers to be removed then wait for the data to update so you had an improved chance of success.

The initial AIP was approved, though, so I don’t know if that was the reason.

I found out from my broker that he didn’t do a second AIP, but it refreshed when he went through the illustration with me over the phone on 7th May. He said it happened to another client recently as well, so thinks there may be some changes in background with Halifax that’s caused the updated decisions. I found some information online yesterday about Halifax changing its affordability criteria recently https://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/news/halifax-updates-affordability-guidance-for-furloughed-workers/ Don’t know if this is part of the reason or not. 

jenks48

Sol00 said:

Hi

I’ve not posted on MSE for a long time, but I hope someone could help. 

I applied for an AIP from the Halifax through a broker a few weeks ago.  This was accepted and the KFI was emailed to me with all the details. This is for a new build home which I have reserved. 

I have missed payment markers on my credit files from last year for my car finance. The payments weren’t missed, they were late due to changing job and pay dates.  I meant to contact them earlier to ask if they could remove these, but forgot until I checked just after the AIP. At this point I emailed the finance company to ask if they could help by removing them from my reports. 

I asked the broker over the phone if missed payments from my car finance would affect the full application. The broker thought it’d be ok as the credit search was done and he couldn’t see there being a problem.  It was at this point he did a second AIP to confirm, which resulted in it being declined. 

The reason I need some help is that from this point onward I am getting a bit confused as to what the broker is doing and how I can try to resolve this. Halifax is obviously difficult to get a hold of at the moment due to Covid-19. 

On Wednesday last week, the broker said he would submit a full application and appeal it if it’s declined. He took my card details for the valuation fees and said he would make a full application and let me know the results. 

Later that day, I received an email from the car finance company agreeing to remove the markers.  The reports were updated instantly. 

I emailed the broker to let him know. He advised he would ‘rescore’ the application and let me know the outcome. That was last Thursday. 

Today, I emailed for an update as I checked Equifax and TransUnion and there were no searches, hard or soft, carried out. I pointed this out to the broker and he advised they were done on Friday and that the application was declined and he was planning an appeal later today. 

I’m getting really frustrated at the lack of communication and, with my lack of knowledge of the process, I’m unsure of what I can do to move this on. I was thinking of persevering with Halifax myself to see if there’s anything I can do as I am a customer of the bank and I have a few questions:

- As the original AIP was approved, would a full mortgage application, that was subsequently declined, be appealed based on the approved AIP, resulting in a good chance of a successful appeal?
- As the second AIP was declined, would an appeal only be based on this, resulting in a pretty slim chance of a successful appeal, if any?
- Does the second AIP supersede the original one, and does the original AIP exist?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. 

I had a similar situation where morgage declined due to things on my credit report which had been cleared off. Barclays were only seeing the old report before the lockdown .my broker then sent my Experian report which I printed  up to datei showing all zero balances. Once they had that they were ok. So application is now approved pending valuation. 
Good luck.

Sol00

That’s good news. Thanks