What the f* is going on with our mortgage application?

Rasberrycreamcake

We're first time buyers so I have no idea if this is normal, a problem with the broker we have chosen ("recommended" by the developer), the fact that our case is tricky, or just the way Santander deals with applications.

Our broker got us a AIP really quickly on 22 April, but then didn't actually send off our application to Santander until 2 and a half weeks later. He also ignored my emails about what exactly was going on, finally calling to say that they were doing "extra checks" because my husband is American but wouldn't elaborate on what kind of checks. I thought it was the lender who had to do checks related to immigration status and FATCA reporting, not the broker. He also told me not to stress about going over the developer's 28 days to exchange deadline because they've been having conference calls with the developer - isn't he supposed to keep us in the loop before the developer?

The whole way through the broker has asked so many nit-picky questions about our bank statements, my self-employment etc. and I can't tell if it's that he's doing a really good job and wants to make sure the application is successful, or there's something else going on he's not telling us about. He just comes across as quite cagey and like he's interrogating us and suspicious of us. Is this some money laundering obligation on brokers?

Our case isn't straight forward at all: I'm British but my husband is American and has pre-settled status under the EU settlement scheme, we only have 2 years' UK address history because we were living in Switzerland before, his employer is based in London (remote job) and so are we right now but we are moving to the Midlands, my husband has only been working for his employer for one month, I am self-employed (paid £45/hour) but have earned very little since being in the UK because I had a baby, I get £1000 in child maintenance every month from ex-husband but it's paid into my Swiss account in Swiss francs and I've been transferring it to my UK account using transferwise which maybe looks a bit dodgy, our deposit is from money paid to me by my former Swiss employer (it was a lump sum paid in Swiss francs into my UK foreign currency account), and my one and only freelance client is based in Switzerland. I earned £10,000 in Jan, Feb and March of this year but just invoiced it in one invoice which my client mistakenly paid into my old Swiss account in GBP - they have now agreed to resend the funds to my UK bank account, so it looks like I've earned nothing in the last 5 months.

Can any mortgage advisors give me their opinion on whether it looks like we have a tricky case and our broker is doing a good job being so questioning, or whether our case is so difficult that we probably don't realistically stand a chance of getting a mortgage and we need to wait a year and start again?

Thank you!

K_S

@rasberrycreamcake Definitely a tricky case , primarily due to all the foreign currency transactions and your business not earning for the last 5 months. If your income needs to be considered for affordability, it's going to be a tough ask.

As for the broker "interrogating" you, perhaps he coud do it better stylistically but in substance there's a whole lot of detailed information he needs to get from you to be able to place and package the case properly. And YES we do have AML responsibilities to meet as well. To put it crudely, if anything goes wrong, we're likely first in line to get the blame and bear the brunt of any ramifications.

Rasberrycreamcake

@K_S thanks so much for your opinion, that's what I feared about it being a tricky case. My income does definitely need to be considered for affordability unfortunately, including the child maintenance.

It's frustrating because I was on maternity allowance up until January so not earning, and then I stupidly decided to group all my earnings from Jan, Feb and March into one invoice at the end of March. I have purchase orders from my client (very reputable well-known international sporting organisation) to show that I worked consistently during all three months but the broker seems to ignore these every time I bring them up.

I thought that all lenders cared about was your tax returns, but I guess with covid they now want to see recent consistent business income

Rasberrycreamcake

And unfortunately that's not how my business works. My client will approach me about a project like they have just done - it will take me 4 weeks and I'll earn £7000 (I don't have any expenses to pay out of that), but then I won't invoice it until the end of June so won't get paid until end of July, so that's going to be another gap...

Rasberrycreamcake

@K_S tricky as in we should give up trying to buy right now, and save ourselves the stress? Or tricky as in we should try to find a specialist mortgage advisor and abandon using the developer's one?

I've heard that Santander are very fussy and slow as well, and we don't want a rejection on file. But I guess he placed our application with them because we don't meet the lending criteria of others (3 year UK address history, no foreign income, etc.)

K_S

Rasberrycreamcake said:

And unfortunately that's not how my business works. My client will approach me about a project like they have just done - it will take me 4 weeks and I'll earn £7000 (I don't have any expenses to pay out of that), but then I won't invoice it until the end of June so won't get paid until end of July, so that's going to be another gap...

@Rasberrycreamcake Well, that by itself isn't uncommon, it's just a matter of explaining it properly. I get plenty of SE clients who deliver jobs (consulting, website development, etc) that take many months and only get paid a small advance upfront with the rest on delivery.

K_S

Rasberrycreamcake said:

@K_S tricky as in we should give up trying to buy right now, and save ourselves the stress? Or tricky as in we should try to find a specialist mortgage advisor and abandon using the developer's one?

I've heard that Santander are very fussy and slow as well, and we don't want a rejection on file. But I guess he placed our application with them because we don't meet the lending criteria of others (3 year UK address history, no foreign income, etc.)

@Rasberrycreamcake There simply isn't enough information to be able to say. Given that you already have an application in and it looks like it's being processed by Santander, there's no harm in waiting to see what the outcome is. There is no such thing as a "rejection on file". The only thing on file is a hard check by Santander which has already been incurred upon application. Whether it's accepted or declined makes no difference on your credit files if that makes sense.

Rasberrycreamcake

That's reassuring though that he is just doing his job properly in terms of preparing the case and meeting his obligations, so thanks for explaining that

Rasberrycreamcake

@K_S Okay, thanks, that's useful to know that the hard-check has already been done, so yes makes sense to wait it out with Santander. I had read online that once you are rejected by a lender, it makes it really difficult to then be accepted by another lender

K_S

Rasberrycreamcake said:

@K_S Okay, thanks, that's useful to know that the hard-check has already been done, so yes makes sense to wait it out with Santander. I had read online that once you are rejected by a lender, it makes it really difficult to then be accepted by another lender

@rasberrycreamcake I hear that far too often, there's no substance to it. In all my years of broking, I can confidently say that I can't recall one client who's had to forgo their pursuit of a mortgage simply due to the impact of one application being declined and the hard-footprint credit check associated with a full application. It's not uncommon at all to have a decline (either due to going with the wrong lender, not packaging the case properly, not knowing about something adverse on your reports, property being down-valued, etc etc).

Rasberrycreamcake

@K_S that's so interesting to hear. There's so much out there that makes it sound like you're completely blacklisted if you have an application declined