FTB Virgin Money Mortgage

NewNewMoney

Hi,

I'm a first time buyer working with a mortgage broker. The broker found me a deal with Virgin Money (VM), it was aligned to how much I wanted to borrow and the deposit I wanted to put down. I was also informed that I passed affordability checks.

Anyway, everything seems to be going well. VM send a surveyor and take £275 for that. A week later I'm informed that actually no, the amount I want to borrow isn't affordable and VM offer me less and expect me to make up for an £8k shortfall. (Because I as a single applicant, clearly have that sort of money laying about).

The reason for suddenly becoming unaffordable is due to the fact that I got a bonus in December 2020, but I did not get a bonus in 2019 because I hadn't been in the company long enough (I've been in my current job for less than 2 years). VM have not included my bonus in my salary calculation which is fine, but because my December payment was higher, I obviously paid more tax, NI and my student loan deduction was higher for December.

What VM have done is averaged/taken the higher student loan payment based on December's extra income/bonus, but have not included the bonus in the calculation, and that is why VM have said they can't offer the original amount requested. Is this not madness? I am absolutely fine if VM don't want to include the bonus, but then surely VM cannot include the additional student loan payment in the calculations too? 

I don't know if there is anything that can be done and I am pretty frustrated, especially as the whole reason I went ahead and applied applied is because VM said I passed the affordability and then VM have changed their criteria costing me £275 and putting me back to square one especially as they will not give me the valuation report which I could use for another lender.

I guess my question is, can anything be salvaged from this?

K_S

@newnewmoney Unless I'm missing something obvious, the affordablity issue due to the one-off inflated student loan payment looks like something your broker should be able to sort out with the BDM. What's the broker suggesting as a next step?

Also, even if Virgin gave you a copy of the valuation report, it won't be accepted by another lender.

NewNewMoney

My broker has said that there's nothing they can do -  they've had lengthy back and forths with VM and VM won't see sense and are refusing to budge, so my broker has said that I should just restart the search again if I'm not going to come up with additional £8k. 

K_S

@newnewmoney Ok, looks like they've tried but it's still a bit hard to understand. I can imagine your frustration.

And in his opinion no other mainstream lender will lend you what you need? Tbf Virgin doesn't have much mainstream competition for 5x income at high LTVs.

[Deleted User]

Was the bonus included on the application to meet affordability? (it shouldnt have been as they need a 2 year average)  Or was it just the student loan thing?  

If its the latter can you just reapply at the end of Feb?  If just using basic pay then Virgin only request the latest 2 payslips.  The valuation should be able to be copied over to the new case at no cost.  

To be honest it sounds like an issue that should be able to be resolved.  Virgin are a decent lender who usually apply common sense to most cases (in my experience anyway).  I dont understand why they are taking this hard line on the student loan payment