Mortgage broker - ask me anything

K_S

goldstar88 said:

K_S said:

goldstar88 said:

Hi there,

I'm an Aussie in the UK with 1.5 years left on my Tier 2. I can apply for my ILR in June 2023. 

I'm looking to buy in London as a place to live in. I earn £73,000 gross salary and have £80,000 in cash saved.

A broker told me last year only two banks lend to expats and the multiple I could get was 4.75 with a 20% deposit. Is this still the case?

@goldstar88 How long have you lived in the UK? This can be on any visa/s - working holidaymaker, student, tier 1, tier 2, etc.

A 25% deposit is the sweet spot for folk on a visa. Below that it depends on the specifics.

I’ve been here a total of 6 years. First 2 years were on the T5 and then I got onto a T2. 

@goldstar88 Off of the top of my head, you may have access to at least Halifax and Barclays. With 73k income and LTV no higher than 85% LTV, Halifax will consider lending up to 4.75x and Barclays potentially up to 5x. If your income was 75k+, you could've potentially borrowed up to 5.5x.

Just to be clear, what I've said above are just generic comments based on the limited info in your post. There may be other lenders as well and/or there might be more relevant criteria in the background that mean you may not qualify for the above lenders.

But tbh if you have access to 2+ mainstream lenders that's close enough to having access to the whole market given how competitive the market is.

Definite

A colleague of mine is applying for a mortgage from Halifax, through a broker in Northern Ireland. He has worked for our company (a large corporate) for 12 years and has provided 6 months worth of payslips, P60's etc to the broker. The broker is asking for a custom letter from the company including various things, one of which is the reference number for the mortgage application. The company is refusing to provide anything other than the standard letter, which has everything except the Halifax reference number. The broker is saying that this is not acceptable, which seems nuts to me. I had a mortgage offer from Halifax last year and the standard letter was acceptable, but I know that requirements can change. 

Does this sound like a genuine request or is it possibly a case of a mortgage advisor being overly pedantic? Any thoughts appreciated 

K_S

Definite said:

A colleague of mine is applying for a mortgage from Halifax, through a broker in Northern Ireland. He has worked for our company (a large corporate) for 12 years and has provided 6 months worth of payslips, P60's etc to the broker. The broker is asking for a custom letter from the company including various things, one of which is the reference number for the mortgage application. The company is refusing to provide anything other than the standard letter, which has everything except the Halifax reference number. The broker is saying that this is not acceptable, which seems nuts to me. I had a mortgage offer from Halifax last year and the standard letter was acceptable, but I know that requirements can change. 

Does this sound like a genuine request or is it possibly a case of a mortgage advisor being overly pedantic? Any thoughts appreciated 

@definite First off, I very rarely do NI mortgages so don't know if the process is any different. 

Perhaps I've just been lucky but Halifax rarely ask for employment references, perhaps 1 in 20 clients or so if I had to guess and only where they aren't able to provide the standard docs. Where required, this is what Halifax says they need to see in an employer reference, and it does include the Halifax ref. 
From experience, Halifax accept a template letter as most large employers will only provide references in a set format. Perhaps the broker is inexperienced and just going by the letter of the criteria I've shared above.

Definite

Many thanks - that’s what I thought 

GreenCat80

If I was to get a fixed deal for, say, 3 years, would this mean I would have to wait until those 3yrs are up before I can apply for extra borrowing for an extension/home improvements? Or is it possible to extend the mortgage while it’s fixed? (I need to borrow about 25% ltv to buy out my ex. In a year or two I’d like to borrow maybe half of that again to replace a dilapidated conservatory and kitchen, would that be possible or would I need to wait for the fixed deal to end?)  

K_S

GreenCat80 said:

If I was to get a fixed deal for, say, 3 years, would this mean I would have to wait until those 3yrs are up before I can apply for extra borrowing for an extension/home improvements? Or is it possible to extend the mortgage while it’s fixed? (I need to borrow about 25% ltv to buy out my ex. In a year or two I’d like to borrow maybe half of that again to replace a dilapidated conservatory and kitchen, would that be possible or would I need to wait for the fixed deal to end?)  

@greencat80 Barring a few lenders, most will allow you to take out a further-advance/additional-borrowing during the fixed-term. It will be a second 'part' to the mortgage. If this is important to you, make sure you mention this to the broker or (if direct) check with the lender when you remortgage to buy-out your ex.

GreenCat80

@K_S, wonderful, thanks so much ☺️

neilm20

hello, I am looking to get a first mortgage this year, I have one default that has been settled and due to come off in august. Other than that, I haven't had any missed payments in the last four years. I had some difficulty round about 2016 which is all now sorted, lead to 3x defaults, two of which are settled and no longer on my report and one that as mentioned is due to come off in august.

probably looking at a property in the region of 170k with a 10% deposit.

will the above be an issue or should I be okay?

i have asked the same on another post however this one may be more suitable, thanks.

K_S

neilm20 said:

hello, I am looking to get a first mortgage this year, I have one default that has been settled and due to come off in august. Other than that, I haven't had any missed payments in the last four years. I had some difficulty round about 2016 which is all now sorted, lead to 3x defaults, two of which are settled and no longer on my report and one that as mentioned is due to come off in august.

probably looking at a property in the region of 170k with a 10% deposit.

will the above be an issue or should I be okay?

i have asked the same on another post however this one may be more suitable, thanks.

@neilm20 If the only significant blemish on your current credit report is one 5+ year old default, and 4 years of clean credit history, you should have access to mainstream/mainstream-ish rates at 90% LTV. 

kingstreet

Definite said:

A colleague of mine is applying for a mortgage from Halifax, through a broker in Northern Ireland. He has worked for our company (a large corporate) for 12 years and has provided 6 months worth of payslips, P60's etc to the broker. The broker is asking for a custom letter from the company including various things, one of which is the reference number for the mortgage application. The company is refusing to provide anything other than the standard letter, which has everything except the Halifax reference number. The broker is saying that this is not acceptable, which seems nuts to me. I had a mortgage offer from Halifax last year and the standard letter was acceptable, but I know that requirements can change. 

Does this sound like a genuine request or is it possibly a case of a mortgage advisor being overly pedantic? Any thoughts appreciated 

Here is a copy of our standard employment reference email provided to us by Halifax who usually don't accept employment letters via brokers;-

Hi,

We have been asked to ask you to pass the following to your new employer for their assistance in confirming your income and employment.

Please ask your (new) employer to produce a letter which includes/meets the following requirements;-

•             Addressed to Halifax plc, PO Box 548, Leeds. LS1 1WU

•             Roll number

•             The full name of the employee

•             The employee’s job title

•             Start date

•             Contract status – temporary or permanent

•             Basic salary and details of any additional pay such as Overtime, Commission or Bonus

•             It must have either a company stamp, or be typed on, or accompanied by a sheet of the company’s headed paper

•             The reference must be signed and dated, and the name and position of the person completing the reference be provided.

Once ready, it MUST be sent directly from the employer to employmentreference@lloydsbanking.com with the roll number in the subject heading and please ask them to take care with the spelling of the email address.

Thank you and very kind regards