AIP now lower

leypt1

Hi all,
We'd applied for an AIP with hsbc back in June and the bank indicated that they'd lend us £340k with a 10% deposit
Unfortunately the house hunting process has taken so long for various reasons that our AIP certificate has passed its 90 day limit. We decided to reapply with Barclays as they currently seem to have the best rates - this time with a 15% deposit as we've managed to save up enough to get over the line.
However now our AIP offer is only £326k! A nasty shock
Is this to be expected in the current climate, or are Barclays just being particularly stringent? 
What should we do next? We are thinking of approaching a broker to help us with the AIP- we had consideed it previously but tje brokers we'd approachef told us that going direct to HSBC was basically the only option at that time 

In case relevant we are both first time buyers looking to borrow about 4.8x joint income

Thanks very much! Very stressful

DC89216

I found Barclays to be the worst when it came to the amount offered. Along with Halifax and Lloyds. 

leypt1

DC89216 said:

I found Barclays to be the worst when it came to the amount offered. Along with Halifax and Lloyds. 

Thanks, that's slightly comforting. Do you have any thoughts on better lenders?

csgohan4

try some of the brokers on here, the one you've approached doesn't sound good, palming you off to one of the strictest lenders around is not helpful. Was it EA based btw?

leypt1

csgohan4 said:

try some of the brokers on here, the one you've approached doesn't sound good, palming you off to one of the strictest lenders around is not helpful. Was it EA based btw?

Thanks - we made the decision to go to Barclays ourselves tbh - probably a mistake! The issue before was that HSBC was the only lender doing 90% LTV and broker applications were at that point much slower to process than direct for some reason. The broker was a trusted recommendation from an ex estate agent sibling!

KAP0365

Different lenders have different criteria - what you get with one won’t necessarily apply to the other. E.g Halifax told us they’d lend £300k on top of our 34% deposit, but three other banks would lend an extra £560k on top (we didn’t borrow that much!). It depends on each lenders’ risk profile, but anything less than a 25% deposit is subject to stricter rules at the moment I think. We went with NatWest in the end as we bank with them but they won’t accept under 25% deposit I don’t think. First time buyers also typically get risk profiled differently to movers as there’s less precedent to base a decision on (we weren’t FTBs). 4.8x income is quite high for FTBs, unless maybe in London? You might be best speaking to a broker for more advice.

Also keep in mind that an AIP may give you a certain amount but after full checks on application it might be much less. 

leypt1

Thanks very much all - we decided to get back in touch with our broker who has very kindly squeezed us in on Monday morning!

Thrugelmir

leypt1 said:

In case relevant we are both first time buyers looking to borrow about 4.8x joint income

Depending on circumstances lenders are reigning back to 4.5x. That's under guidance from the FPC. Who recommend that no more than 15% of a lenders mortgage book is at this level. Given that not so long ago many lenders were nearer 10% overall. Has required a correction to be made. 

haras_n0sirrah

There are some lenders still going to 4.75% - barclays went down to 4.49% a little while ago