Platform Home Loan Advice Please!

chinagirl

Platform Home Loan Advice Please !
Hello. DH and I are tryingto remortgage to consolidate debts and make our outgoings less each month. We have £85k mortgage with Abbey on house value £145k. Abbey won't let us borrow any more, as DH changed jobs, and as Self Employed, they want to see accounts etc, which we cannot provide as yet.
We spoke to an Independant Mortgage Advisor who tried us on a Self-Cert Mortgage with Halifax but application failed as we have a default against us, on one of the loans we are trying to sort out by the remortgage (£10k with Lloydstsb on reduced repayments - long story, but old business debt transferred to a personal loan).We want to borrow £13k bringing our total mortgage to £98k, and after paying off the expensive borrowing, bringing our monthly commitments down so we would then be £200 a month better off.

Mortgage Advisor has suggested Platform Home Loans would take us on, but I know nothing about this company. What does anyone think. Are they ok?
Would really appreciate your thoughts, as we are meeting with the Broker on Wednesday and need to know by then.

MortgageMamma

they are an ok company can't really pick too much fault with them, but if you only have one default then you might be able to get better

Halifax don't do self cert, what your adviser was doing is trying to fast track you, which is something different altogether

chinagirl

Thanks for your reply.
What is 'fast tracking'. I am an innocent when it comes to mortgage terminology, so would appreciate your know-how.
its good to know Platform are ok, as we were worried we wuld be leaving the Abbey to go to some unknown 'dodgy'firm. As long as we know exactly what rate we will be paying and how much the monthly amount will be, we have no problem who we borrow the money off.:rolleyes:

MortgageMamma

Hi

A fast track mortgage is basically a full status mortgage which means you should be able to prove your income, and often people are asked to. Its sort of a loophole brokers use so their clients dont have to go on self cert rates which are usually higher. Some lenders, such as halifax, abbey, woolwich and skipton building society don't ask for proof of income if you have a good credit score and have at least 15% equity in your property. As you have had a past ccj, and your husband genuinely cannot prove his income fast track was probably not the best option, your adviser should have informed you the lender may ask for proof of income at any stage. Considering the CCJ situation he would have been far wiser to try and get you with abbey than halifax as they are better where there has been past minor adverse.

Platform is mostly considered an adverse company, due to what i have said to you above I think it would be wise for you to seek a second opinion on your mortgage, there may be a better deal available.

caleo

Hi

I have a mortgage with Platform. At the time I remortgaged, I was very ill with Post Natal depression and trying to buy my ex out of the property so I could make a complete break.

I don't have a very good credit record (i ended up with alot of the debt) and am on a self managed Debt Payment Plan.

I went with Platform, because all i wanted was to get my ex out of my life. I didn't look into the figures etc.

I am paying for it now! My payments have gone up from £500pm to over £800 pm in the space of 18 months. I am tied to them for the next 18 months and I want to cry every time the interest rates go up, it is making me ill! The penalties are extortionate if we want to pull out early, but I would also struggle to get a remortgage from anyone else because of my credit history.

Whatever you do, make sure you don't just accept the figures, look into it all first!

I hope you manage to get a mortgage sorted out with decent interest rates!

Caleo

chinagirl

caleo wrote: »

Hi

"
I am paying for it now! My payments have gone up from £500pm to over £800 pm in the space of 18 months. I am tied to them for the next 18 months and I want to cry every time the interest rates go up, it is making me ill! The penalties are extortionate if we want to pull out early, but I would also struggle to get a remortgage from anyone else because of my credit history."

I hope you manage to get a mortgage sorted out with decent interest rates!

Caleo

Thanks for your reply. Can you tell me, why your payments have jumped so much, it is a large increase. Was it a very short fixed rate and now you are paying the standard bank rate?

We are due to see another Mortgage advisor tomorrow, in the hope that they can get us a good deal with another mortgage company. I will post up how things went afterwards.
Thanks

caleo

Hi sorry for the late reply!!! Haven't checked for a while.

We were on a discounted fixed rate for short term, and then onto their normal rate, so that was our first big jump. Then it seemed to be every month or so, they were writing to say the payment had gone up. It is based on the LIBOR rate

On the positive side, we received a payment reduction letter about a week after the last interest cut.....which impressed me....a bit!!

How did you get on with the mortgage advisor??

Caleo

MortgageMamma

hopefully there will be another cut in the base rate in the new year caleo and your payments will drop again. its heavily rumoured that there will be....

caleo

Oh I hope so!!! I am paying such a hefty price right now, and on maternity leave! A cut in rates will mean the difference between going back to work in May or August, and I would much rather be able to spend more time with my little ones!!!

lets keep everything crossed!!

MortgageMamma

I hope it works out for you caleo, and hopefully next time you are due to remortgage you will have a considerate adviser who takes time to explain things properly to you. You may not be adverse anymore, or if you are you may be less credit impaired than you were. Here's hoping you get a better deal next time round.

Have a good christmas with your little ones

MM x