My mortgage journey (First Direct and Nateest)

steve866

I finally exchanged contracts today with completion due next week, can’t wait to move. I am in temporary accommodation having sold my previous properly at the end of June. I originally listed my property in June 2019 so it’s been a long process, with various things falling through. The house we are moving to now is considerably better than some that fell through, so perhaps everything does happen for a reason. 

I wanted to share a couple of experiences I had with mortgages in case it helps others. I applied for a mortgage in principal with First Direct in the middle of April. I earn commission paid quarterly which I wanted included in my application. The commission over the last few days has been more then my base salary so a significant part of my borrowing. They were happy to take this into account for the AIP. The amount I wanted to borrow equates to 6.3 times my basic income or or 3 times my latest P60 figure (so I don’t think I was being unrealistic). 

Fast forward to June when I had my offer accepted, I went through the full application process. After a week they called me to give me a ‘revised offer’ which was ~4.7 times my basic salary. They stated that they would not lend on any commission/bonus payments due to Corona. I was a bit miffed that they didn’t let me know they had changed their terms before I applied, but I guess that’s too be expected. I notice the website doesn’t have a box for bonus/commission figures in the borrowing calculator, I’m not sure if that has been removed or was never there in the first place. 

I then applied directly with NatWest, who I have banked with for many years. I was very nervous after the First Direct news but I eventually got the offer I needed after providing lots of additional documents and speaking with the underwriter. I applied for a 2 year fixed product. I noticed online that prior to ‘completion’ it said “this is your chance to change anything, e.g the initial term” I enquired about changing to a 5 year fix and they said I would need to start the whole process from scratch, however if I had applied through a broker they could change it at this point.

I guess the moral of the story is:

-First Direct was no good for me based on my paying including bonuses 
-NatWest are more flexible if you use a broker 
-I should have used a broker in the first place.

I am still very happy with the end result!