Refused additional borrowing on mortgage

H89

I'm after some advice please.

We've just been refused additional borrowing on our mortgage due to 'credit score fail'. No other information has been given. We've checked both our scores and there's nothing in them that can explain it. It doubly frustrating as we had passed the credit score check and were just waiting for decleration to sign in the post for Halifax to release funds. And whilst we were waiting (they never arrived and we did it online) the month changed and so Halifax rechecked our score and it came back as a fail at that point because one of scores had apparently dropped. It got rechecked yesterday and we failed again. It's very puzzling and worrying. We don't have debt apart from student loans. No hire purchase, credit cards, ccjs etc. And have paid our motgage on time for the past 7 years. Nothing changed from the first check to the second. And in theory we should be able to borrow a lot more based on our salaries than we are trying to. Our advisor appealed it twice with the underwriters but they said no. What are we missing? And what steps should we be taking. Yesterday halifax told me to go through our credit report with Experian and see if they can spot anything we might be missing. We are going to appeal it but I'm almost certain that will fail. After that we're going to leave it a few months to reapply but obviously we need to get to the bottom of what has caused this. Any advice please?

MaryNB

They don't see your Experian score they only see the information on your file and they do their own scoring that you are not privvy to.

Did you check transunion as well (use credit karma for free access)? When I got my mortgage Halifax checked transunion and experian. 

Strange that you passed before and have now failed. That only usually happens if you take out credit (e.g. car loan or furniture on finance) just before funds are released.

H89

Yes we've checked them all. There's nothing. It's so weird especially as everything was apparently good to go. We haven't taken anything out no furniture nothing. We pay everything up front no loans or finance. Halifax just said Experian were our best bet to discuss with them anything they could see. I'm assuming because they are easier to get hold of than any of the other ones. Will try transunion too though thank you. It's just so frustrating. I'm beginning to think they probably changed their scoring criteria and that's what has failed us. But what on I have no idea. We are as low risk as they come but now our scores will def be affected as we've been refused credit. Think we'll appeal and then leave it for a bit if that fails( which I think it will). We have enough saved to do some of the renovations. And will save up for the last bit. But I would still like to understand what went wrong as it is just so odd. Have Halifax suddenly got much stricter? 

The_Fat_Controller

You may have failed because of the affordability if interest rates increase.
They won't stay this low forever.

H89

But surely then we wouldn't have passed the first time, there wouldn't have been this sudden change? We got our original mortgage(albeit 7 years ago) with Halifax on one income and now we are a 2 income household. Our LTV is low like 70:30. We weren't asking to borrow a huge amount. Under 30k extra. So plenty of wiggle room for interest rate increases...I think I'd be able to believe it if we hadn't passed first time and we weren't just waiting for decleration to sign for funds to be released. That's how close we were to sealing the deal. What changed from March to April? And it leaves me worried for the future when we come to sell. If we can't manage to borrow such a small amount when things have changed (for the better) so much in our circumstances since we first bought. 

ThisnotThat

If their lending criteria changed, it would presumably change overnight.

It does seem unusual for them to check you again at that stage, which would tend to indicate a change in criteria, followed by a credit check to see if you fit the new criteria.

Just an FYI but "check your credit files" is a generic fob off response.  There may be something in there but it could be almost anything else.  They tell you this because they don't want to tell you exactly why you were rejected (to prevent people from telling them what they want to hear on future applications.)

Thrugelmir

Been on furlough, taken a SEISS grant, BBL or payment holiday on the mortgage? 

The answer lies in your circumstances not the credit score. 

H89

Thrugelmir said:

Been on furlough, taken a SEISS grant, BBL or payment holiday on the mortgage? 

The answer lies in your circumstances not the credit score. 

I know, which is what makes it so confusing. We haven't done any of those things you've mentioned. We have no debt, hire purchase, ccj etc etc. And our circumstances changed for the better as I went from stay at home mum to working full time. I think we might just have to accept it as one of these things, with what's going on in the world right now, lenders are rightly probably more risk averse. But we were hoping to move in the next 18 months. So we are worried what will happen then.

Edi81

Tighter lending criteria especially depending on what the £30k further advance was for. 

ThisnotThat

OliRichards said:

Firstly, it is definitely a good idea to check your credit report for the source of that drop in your score. If you want a truly complete picture of everything impacting your score at the moment I'd recommend checking your statutory report with Experian; you can order a stat report for free on their website.

I wouldn't want to speculate too much regarding the source of that drop until you've seen it for yourself, but there is a possiblity that the first credit check that halifax performed to assess your eligibility actually caused your score to drop enough that you were no longer eligible when they checked a second time. If that is the case, it's pretty disgusting that they've rejected multiple appeals but as I said, this is just conjecture until you've see your full report.

 If you do end up having to wait a while before applying again, it could certainly be worth looking at some low-risk options for improving your score in the meantime. Maybe have a look at some dedicated score building accounts like Portify? I mention them because they've been getting great reviews but in any case, there are services out there geared specifically towards improving credit scores without piling on interest and unnecessary extra services!

No, there is no chance at all that Halifax wouldn't have known that they'd already checked them.  They'd be able to see their own check on the file.

Also, Halifax don't give two hoots about the OP's score.

ratrace

Could see it as a blessing the are stopping you from getting in to 30k's worth of debt. the last grant is being paid soon plus furlough coming to an end. there will be a lot of job losses. best to save at least half for whatever you need the cash for.