Mortgage broker - ask me anything

James831

Hi there,

I am currently buying a flat and obtaining my mortgage with Barclays.

I have a decent deposit and all has been smooth sailing so far with regards to affordability. The property was valued two days ago and the valuation has come back and I have spoken to Barclays and checked the tracker and it says it is processing and I should receive a Mortgage Offer soon once everything is okay.

However - I am really scared with an issue on my credit report.

I had an excellent credit score with all my bills always being paid on time etc. - however I missed three consecutive payments on a Credit Card from August to October 2021 - it was unknown to me at the time due to me being overseas that these payments were missed, and when I tried to challenge it it was too late. This affected my credit score and was really stressful as the payments had not been missed due to affordability, it was an administrative error!

When I tried applying for Agreement in Principles back in April time these were rejected because of the payments issue - so I decided to wait a while again and found a new property I love - put an offer in in October and went through a Broker and all has been smooth sailing with getting my AIP. My credit score has considerably improved as it has been a year since the payment issue on my credit report and it is now in the 'good' category across all the agencies.

As part of my mortgage application, I can see on Credit Karma and Experian that a Hard Search was done in October 2022. I haven't wanted to draw attention to this but when I ring Barclays directly for updates and ask subtly if all the credit checks have been done, they say 'as far as we can see, yes', and they say there is nothing outstanding - but it is still vague.

However, this is playing on my mind. Does anyone know if Barclays (going through a broker) complete another credit search prior to exchange and prior to the mortgage being offered? I am so anxious about this coming back up now - but I guess because they haven't raised it as a potential issue yet it shouldn't be new information at the final stage? Otherwise they wouldn't have wasted their time doing the valuation?

Can someone share their thoughts? Thank you!

K_S

@james831 Any impact from the information on your credit report has already been accounted for when the DIP and full application are submitted. I wouldn't worry about it. Good luck!

Glogan418

Hey,

Me and my long term girlfriend are in the process of buying a house. We are using a broker and they are great, but Nationwide went the full way with our application then rejected it at the last minute due to "a large appetite for unarranged overdrafts" but the broker and I went through the finances of both me and my other half as I have not even used an unarranged overdraft and nor has my other half. I even sent through the credit reports for my accounts and my girlfriend only has the one.

So the broker is going to their business manager (not sure what that means) but has also recommended I apply to NatWest as banks are better. The new rates are better with NatWest and I passed a AIP I did with them on Sunday the 8th. 

My questions are is it normal to have these sort of rejections and what does it mean if my broker is passing this case to his business manager?

Also is it true banks are better than building societies for this sort of thing? 

I trust my broker as he was genuinely confused about their reasoning and really supporting of what to do moving forward. Maybe I shouldn't but then again I work in Software Dev not Finances so I got to trust them. 

K_S

@Glogan418 This looks like an underwriter decision to decline the application based on subjective reasons. Doesn't happen a lot but does happen once in a while, especially when combined with other factors in the background (eg: FTB, high-LTV, background debt, etc.).

The reason they've given - frequent use of unarranged overdraft will most likely come from your bank statements (where it shows a negative balance on some lines, even if it's only for that day) or your credit report.

If the broker can't figure out what Nationwide are referring to re the OD, then they might have raised the case with their Nationwide BDM (their contact at Nationwide for any issues).

Glogan418 said:

Hey,

Me and my long term girlfriend are in the process of buying a house. We are using a broker and they are great, but Nationwide went the full way with our application then rejected it at the last minute due to "a large appetite for unarranged overdrafts" but the broker and I went through the finances of both me and my other half as I have not even used an unarranged overdraft and nor has my other half. I even sent through the credit reports for my accounts and my girlfriend only has the one.

So the broker is going to their business manager (not sure what that means) but has also recommended I apply to NatWest as banks are better. The new rates are better with NatWest and I passed a AIP I did with them on Sunday the 8th. 

My questions are is it normal to have these sort of rejections and what does it mean if my broker is passing this case to his business manager?

Also is it true banks are better than building societies for this sort of thing? 

I trust my broker as he was genuinely confused about their reasoning and really supporting of what to do moving forward. Maybe I shouldn't but then again I work in Software Dev not Finances so I got to trust them. 

Glogan418

K_S said:

@Glogan418 This looks like an underwriter decision to decline the application based on subjective reasons. Doesn't happen a lot but does happen once in a while, especially when combined with other factors in the background (eg: FTB, high-LTV, background debt, etc.).

The reason they've given - frequent use of unarranged overdraft will most likely come from your bank statements (where it shows a negative balance on some lines, even if it's only for that day) or your credit report.

If the broker can't figure out what Nationwide are referring to re the OD, then they might have raised the case with their Nationwide BDM (their contact at Nationwide for any issues).

Glogan418 said:

Hey,

Me and my long term girlfriend are in the process of buying a house. We are using a broker and they are great, but Nationwide went the full way with our application then rejected it at the last minute due to "a large appetite for unarranged overdrafts" but the broker and I went through the finances of both me and my other half as I have not even used an unarranged overdraft and nor has my other half. I even sent through the credit reports for my accounts and my girlfriend only has the one.

So the broker is going to their business manager (not sure what that means) but has also recommended I apply to NatWest as banks are better. The new rates are better with NatWest and I passed a AIP I did with them on Sunday the 8th. 

My questions are is it normal to have these sort of rejections and what does it mean if my broker is passing this case to his business manager?

Also is it true banks are better than building societies for this sort of thing? 

I trust my broker as he was genuinely confused about their reasoning and really supporting of what to do moving forward. Maybe I shouldn't but then again I work in Software Dev not Finances so I got to trust them. 

That is the odd thing as nothing in my bank statements or my other half has a negative balance. It is frustrating as I bank with Nationwide so they have access to my savings and bank details. 

But thank you for the reply. Hopefully NatWest works out moving forward, if so the product I have applied for is a 95% and I understand 95% LTV is unfavoured by a lot of banks so maybe just tighter lending criteria. 

MalMonroe

Hello, 

I just have two smallish questions -

My daughter and I are thinking of applying to buy the council flat we both live in on a right to buy basis. We are entitled to the full council discount as we have both been here for 17 years now. We are not in London.

Will my being older (early 70s, she early 40s) be very detrimental? We were hoping for a 10 year mortgage - maybe 15 years if possible. 

She has an outstanding credit card balance of £2k on a 0% BT card - would that affect any application for a mortgage?

Many thanks. 

K_S

MalMonroe said:

Hello, 

I just have two smallish questions -

My daughter and I are thinking of applying to buy the council flat we both live in on a right to buy basis. We are entitled to the full council discount as we have both been here for 17 years now. We are not in London.

Will my being older (early 70s, she early 40s) be very detrimental? We were hoping for a 10 year mortgage - maybe 15 years if possible. 

She has an outstanding credit card balance of £2k on a 0% BT card - would that affect any application for a mortgage?

Many thanks. 

@malmonroe If your income isn't required for affordability, then you should have RTB lenders who will disregard the age of the older applicant. If your income is required for affordability, then it might get a bit more complicated, but that'll depend on the numbers.

For the purposes of a mortgage application, for the lender, a 2k balance on a cc will equate to a monthly commitment of around £60-100. Whether or not that's sizeable enough to impact your affordability will depend on the numbers.

James831

K_S said:

@james831 Any impact from the information on your credit report has already been accounted for when the DIP and full application are submitted. I wouldn't worry about it. Good luck!

Thank you so much!!

Just one other question - I have been doing some more research today for other interest rates - obviously wouldn’t want to start from scratch again because I’m at the final stage. But I’m seeing other lenders offer FTB rates approx 4.5% fixed - which is a lot better than my 5.04% rate. Bare in mind mine is a Help to Buy Application.

I checked out Barclays and their HTB best rate is the one I got at 5.04%. Do you know what other lenders are still doing HTB mortgages? As I said I can see lots of cheaper rates with Halifax, Santander etc but it doesn’t say whether or not these are eligible under Help to Buy.

Any advice? Thanks!!

celly5460

JMA74 said:

Wightknight said:

I have recently been accepted and received an offer from NatWest… when I first applied the rate for a 5 year fix was 6.39% two weeks ago I noticed that they had dropped their rate from 6.39% to 5.89%… I phoned my mortgage broker and they approached NatWest, who switched me to the product with the lower rate. Today I note the rate has dropped again to 5.25%… a difference of about £80 a month… legal are nowhere near exchange or completion, am I pushing my luck by asking to move to the new product again?

Not at all.  Just an admin exercise with them.  They issue the offers immediately to the solicitor through a portal so don't even need to wait for post. 

On brokers side we just upload a memo with the new product details and get a new offer once its been processed.   They are only working on 3 days at the moment. 

Direct process may be different but it will still just be admin, no further assessments

Morning! Rates have dropped again to 4.78% for a five year fix with Natwest so if you have not yet completed, I'd request for another amendment. 6.39% to 4.78% is fantastic especially in these times. 

K_S

@james831 A lot of lenders have pulled their HTB purchase mortgages due to the scheme ending soon. Not sure off of the top of my head where Halifax and Santander stand.

Might be worth asking your broker to check. Good luck!

James831 said:

K_S said:

@james831 Any impact from the information on your credit report has already been accounted for when the DIP and full application are submitted. I wouldn't worry about it. Good luck!

Thank you so much!!

Just one other question - I have been doing some more research today for other interest rates - obviously wouldn’t want to start from scratch again because I’m at the final stage. But I’m seeing other lenders offer FTB rates approx 4.5% fixed - which is a lot better than my 5.04% rate. Bare in mind mine is a Help to Buy Application.

I checked out Barclays and their HTB best rate is the one I got at 5.04%. Do you know what other lenders are still doing HTB mortgages? As I said I can see lots of cheaper rates with Halifax, Santander etc but it doesn’t say whether or not these are eligible under Help to Buy.

Any advice? Thanks!!