Advice Request: Late Paying 2x£3 Bank Fees Has Put My House-Buying Plans on Hold

LucasSwan9040

I’ve got a situation that I wondered whether you could offer me some advice on. I’ve been savings for around 18 months to buy a house. I currently rent a place in York for £875pcm and have made payment every month without failure.

In the months leading up to Christmas I was saving well and almost had a 10% deposit. I switched a ‘dormant’ bank account I have to a Lloyds TSB bank account that had a £3 monthly fee. I opened the account, took the £100 joining bonus, it sat empty and I basically forgot it existed.

Fast forward a few months and I log in to check my credit score to find it has dropped from 960 (Excellent) to 691 (Poor). I check my account and find 2 late payment notices for Lloyds TSB on my credit file. I logged onto Lloyds TSB and found that I own them £6, paid it and closed the account with thinking much more of it. My thought process was along the lines of “Surely 6 quid isn’t going to make a big difference to my eligibility for a mortgage”.

Last week, I received an Mortgages decision in principle from L&Cs online eligibility checker and proceeded to book viewings for properties. Last Saturday before going to attend a house viewing I contacted L&C via telephone to make sure everything was still fine and I was ok to proceed. Over the course of the phone call, the operator went through a series of questions including late payments. I explained the situation above and was told that as I have two late payments on my file I was extremely unlikely to be given a mortgage.

I’ve since tried speaking with banks directly to attempt to get a mortgage and been turned down. I’ve also tried an adverse credit mortgage broker and been turned down. All three places have basically told me to wait 6 months for my credit score to recover.

I’ve tried politely appealing to Lloyds on two occasions and been informed that once a credit file is listed it can’t be amended unless it’s incorrect information - ‘to amend it with false information would be illegal’.

So I’m currently left with a 10% deposit for a £200,000 house with no bank willing to give me a mortgage because of a silly mistake involving £6.

Is there anything else I can try to fix this situation, or is it just a case of sitting and continuing to build a deposit?

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions offered.

K_S

@lucasswan9040 How recent is this? What months were marked as missed payments on the Lloyds account?

Unfortunately, as you've discovered, 90% LTV credit scoring is done very strictly at present. If you can wait for at least 3 months and for the credit report to reflect that the Lloyds account is now settled, I would recommend that. By then there should also be a few more lenders in the 90% space as 95% LTV mortgages start being offerred.

Tbh, if the only issue in your case is 2 missed payment markers (I'm assuming they show as 1 and 2 on the credit report?) I'm a bit surprised the adverse brokers told you to go away and come back only after 6 months as based on the limited info in your post, it looks like you should have options before that.