Removing File/Hard Check on Credit Account

NED11

My partner and I are wanting to buy a house together - we got an Agreement In Principle earlier this year prior to beginning our search. Now we have found a house so I called the bank to begin our mortgage application. They have advised that upon doing a soft credit search, something has flagged on my partner's credit file meaning we no longer pass their affordability criteria.

The only thing that has happened between getting the first Agreement In Principle and now is that at the beginning of June, my partner was organising getting a car on finance. He had to enter into a credit agreement with the car finance company and pay a deposit for them to source the car he wanted and bring it in for them to conduct checks on it. Upon completing these checks, they found that the car had engine faults and did not pass. They therefore had to cancel the credit agreement and refund the deposit to my partner. My partner has since got a car with another company with no issues. My question is: does my partner have a right to have this file/hard check removed immediately from his credit file by the car/car finance company? How do we go about doing this?

ItsComingRome

No right to remove the hard check.  She applied for finance, so a hard search was done. The car not being satisfactory isn't relevant to this.

I'd be very surprised if one hard search would kill the mortgage application however, there are very likely to be other things on there they don't like.

NED11

ItsComingRome said:

No right to remove the hard check.  She applied for finance, so a hard search was done. The car not being satisfactory isn't relevant to this.

I'd be very surprised if one hard search would kill the mortgage application however, there are very likely to be other things on there they don't like.

Thanks. It is the advisor at the bank that has advised to contact the company to remove it and she seemed pretty confident this was possible. There has been nothing apart from this car finance as we got an agreement in principle from them just a couple of months earlier, but he needed a car so had to get finance for another one - could it be the two finance applications that have done this? If so, how long will it take for this to not affect affordability? I was surprised that this is what has killed a mortgage application but it is the credit score that flagged on their system for them to say no. I already have a mortgage with them and even though we have explained the reasons behind it and can evidence it, there seems to be no way round it on their side of things. My partner has always been up to date on payments but it is something like this that has scuppered a mortgage. Not sure where to go from here.

[Deleted User]

Check all three of your files to see what is on each. It won't be a car finance search which has caused the decline.

NED11

Deleted_User said:

Check all three of your files to see what is on each. It won't be a car finance search which has caused the decline.

Thanks. My score is 999 so nothing for me. My partner has a credit card which he pays off in full each month. Has no other loan or finance apart from his car. The only finance he applied for since we were given the first agreement in principle a few months ago is the car. His credit score significantly dropped after the car/car finance company cancelled his agreement which I think is unusual to drop so much but didn't think this would scupper a mortgage as it can be easily explained. Unsure where to go from here and what we can do about it. If we evidence/prove to the bank what happened, would they be able to push the mortgage through? I am going to give them a call again I think.

[Deleted User]

NED11 said:

Deleted_User said:

Check all three of your files to see what is on each. It won't be a car finance search which has caused the decline.

Thanks. My score is 999 so nothing for me.

Not the scores, the history. The scores are not used for anything and don't indicate what you have in your files. His drop in score re the car application is again irrelevant - it dropped because of a change, not because the change was bad.

Remember to also check all three files.

mjm3346

It reads as though he still has a new finance agreement even though one was dropped so his outgoings have risen from when the AIP was obtained?

The_Fat_Controller

As the car was purchased on finance, it could be that has now affected the affordability as far as the mortgage provider is concerned.

The searches are likely irrelevant, but can affect the mythical credit scores depending on how the companies rub their crystal balls. 

MaryNB

NED11 said:

ItsComingRome said:

No right to remove the hard check.  She applied for finance, so a hard search was done. The car not being satisfactory isn't relevant to this.

I'd be very surprised if one hard search would kill the mortgage application however, there are very likely to be other things on there they don't like.

Thanks. It is the advisor at the bank that has advised to contact the company to remove it and she seemed pretty confident this was possible. There has been nothing apart from this car finance as we got an agreement in principle from them just a couple of months earlier, but he needed a car so had to get finance for another one - could it be the two finance applications that have done this? If so, how long will it take for this to not affect affordability? I was surprised that this is what has killed a mortgage application but it is the credit score that flagged on their system for them to say no. I already have a mortgage with them and even though we have explained the reasons behind it and can evidence it, there seems to be no way round it on their side of things. My partner has always been up to date on payments but it is something like this that has scuppered a mortgage. Not sure where to go from here.

When you applied for your mortgage did you enter in the amount he's paying towards the car each month? Obviously your outgoings will have increased between the MIP and application so that would affect your affordability.

If they believe, between the hard check and the increase in outgoings, that he has recently opened another significant line of credit they may be wary of granting you a mortgage so soon. Someone on this forum had their mortgage offer pulled after getting a car on finance before completion. My friend got turned down for a loan after he remortgaged and his bank told him to wait a few months before applying. He could easily afford it but they just didn't want to give him two loans in such a short space of time. 

I've never had car finance so don't know how it shows up on a credit file but repayments on a car could impact on mortgage affordability and could make the bank wary. 

If the bank refers to a credit score fail, that's their own internal scoring, not your Experian/Equifax/Transunion score. 

A_Random_Man

The case could be declining on a debt to income ratio especially if the car is on lease for example if you get a car on lease that's worth £40000 you earn £30,000 and the payment is £500pm, when the bank sees your credit file they see you debt is more than your income and therefore they can decline the case even though you don't owe the £40,000. 

maxximus75

There are many mortgage providers out there.... if your current one won't now accept you, I am sure there are others out there, that will?

As it's affordability, it will be (as others have suggested) because he now has higher outgoings due to his car payments unless, the first credit account is not showing as closed?  If that's the case, it will look as he has 2 x car payments.

He would have to check his credit report(s) to clarify what is showing.... it certianly wouldnt be because of an addition hard search.