Single application vs joint

barrysmith2480

Hi all
My wife and I are planning to buy a home next year and have a good amount of a deposit saved , we both have a less than ideal past with money hers a lot more recent than mine.  Now i was planning to apply for a mortgage in my name only , i have much better credit, my poor financial past is around 11-12 years ago so far less recent and i earn 50k a year so assumed that would be enough on its own for what we are looking for.  My wife has consistent poor credit not paying bills credit cards etc all of her life and only in the last 12 months stopped that, she only works part time and earns circa 10k.

Ive read online that because we are married many providers would not allow me to have a solo mortgage is this true ? also if we apply together will her credit ruin any chances.  Im thinking because of my past my options may already be a little limited to other ppl and i dont want this extra factor to now be a further hurdle in the way.  We will have a 20k deposit and only want to borrow 150k ish which really should be achievable but it just feels every time we get somewhere things from our past put barriers in the way. 

Any advice would be much appreciated.

K_S

@barrysmith2480

- there are lenders who will not allow non-borrowing adult occupiers (such as your wife)

- there are lenders who will allow non-borrowing occupiers but not accept any contribution from them towards the deposit

- there are lenders who will allow both the above scenarios.

- there are lenders who insist that married couples need to make joint applications

- there are lenders who will not allow leaving off your wife because of poor-credit

There are all sorts of permutations and combinations as you can see above and lenders who can potentially cater to them. But based on the limited info in your post, if you can up your deposit to 15%, you should have options to borrow 150k in your sole name with a 50k salary.

barrysmith2480

Thanks based on what you said one question pops in my head , how do they determine if my wife contributed to my deposit ? We have a joint current account but my wife doesnt use it other than to transfer some of her salary to it from her own current account towards the living costs.  At the end of the month i simply save what we havent spent typically £700 , how do they go as far as to determine what % of that money came from her ?

I must admit i find the whole process somewhat confusing , ppl need homes but they want to know so much about u last time i purchased a house in 2006 they didnt ask me anything whatsoever about where my deposit came from etc.  What difference does it make if u have the deposit and its not illegal then you have it.  They can look at my accounts and see ive been paying 1k-1.5k rent a month plus all bills never missing anything for years but it just always feels like its not good enough for the bank.  

K_S

@barrysmith2480 I see where you're coming from but unfortunately lending criteria has tightened a LOT since the 2007-08 financial crisis and lenders are free to set their own rules for they will lend. If you haven't gone through the mortgage process since 2006, it's understandable that you are surprised by the level of information required.

When it's time for you to buy, I would recommend getting in touch with a broker who can look at the whole picture and place your case with the right lender to maximise the chances of a positive outcome.

Rosemary1982

Hi, we were in the same position. Husband had bad credit at the time and was self employed so thought best to keep him off mortgage.  Abs credit was old but still showed on his credit report.  We applied for a mortgage in my name only with NatWest, this was in late 2018.  No issues.