Go your own way

gd55

MrFrugalFever said:

gd55 said:

An update for the end of 2024...

Saving has been going less well the past few months because I've been enjoying shopping and hoping on holidays! Which is absolutely OK.

So my total saved for 2023 is £7,940.55 - short of my £12k target (which was pretty ambitious for my first year of saving and being debt-free).

I am heading into 2024 with a new job so will be able to save more thanks to that, and the goal remains to buy a home - this is likely to be spring/summer.

Don't wish your life away!

Great news on the savings for 2023, considering where you were that's a MASSIVE achievement, please don't underestimate just how much of an achievement that is. It requires turning your life around to do it.

Just a bit of a heads-up with regards to the mortgage bits, I am in the process of application (done stage 1 & 2 already and then the actual hard credit search, valuation and underwrite is next week).

Mortgage Lenders will vary their view on lending to those who have been in an IVA and it works like this;

- X% will accept those who have just finished an IVA (specialist bad credit lenders)
- X% will accept those who have been discharged (IVA completed and certificate of completion received) but only if been discharged for 2 or more years (so 7 years since start of IVA unless IVA continued for a total of 6 due to property involved then it would be 8 years)
- X% will accept those who have been discharged for 3 or more years (so 8 years since start of IVA)
- X% will only accept those who have been discharged for 6 years or more (so 12 years since start of IVA)
- X% will never accept anyone who has ever been in an IVA


This is irrespective of whether the IVA and default accounts have formally dropped off your Credit Files / Insolvency Register.

I had done a fair bit of research on this prior to my application as I was under the impression that once everything had disappeared from my credit file I was able to approach any lender for a mortgage but in actual fact I can't and it would indeed be 12 years since the start of the IVA that would then ensure you are eligible for almost any lender - with the exception of those who won't entertain anyone who's ever had IVA irrespective of when it was (Santander I believe?).

Find a good, experienced Mortgage Broker and explain the entire situation.

If your credit file is now 'thin' because you've been unable to obtain credit during IVA and show that you can spend and pay back responsibly it reduces your chances, hence why lenders consider the completion/discharge date and not the start date.

As you'll now have a 'clean slate' with your 3 credit agency files, there may be little to no credit history on them which means it could be a few years before you'll get top mortgage rates for example.

Hope this helps to clear things up as from my own research it wasn't immediately clear online and I found so much conflicting answers.

Happy New Year to you and your family.

Haha oops!

Thank you, it is indeed a fantastic achievement and I'm proud to have saved regularly and built better financial behaviour and understanding.

Good luck with your purchase, hope it all goes smoothly for you. Appreciate the insight on what the options could be. We had an initial chat with a specialist broker a few months ago so will be going back to him in early spring so we can look at what our options could be based on circumstances then. I have got a good couple of years of credit card use now, so that should look good.

All the best for next year!

gd55

Maxed out my LISA for the second year. 😁

MrFrugalFever

Well done! 

I have maxed mine out and waiting until 7th April to max it again, although the extra won't form part of my deposit towards the property.

I utilised an offer they had on last year too whereby I moved a small old workplace pension across from L&G and they increased my interest rate by 0.5% on the LISA so I now get 4% which is doing quite nicely.

gd55

Just paid off the last bit of my student loan!  Great feeling and means a bit extra in my pocket each month.

vampirotoothus

Congratulations. What are your plans for that money now? V x

gd55

vampirotoothus said:

Congratulations. What are your plans for that money now? V x

It'll be going to the holiday pot instead. 

gd55

Been a few months since my last update. 
All is well. We have enjoyed holidays and shopping and meals out. And we have continued to build the deposit for our house.
This week we got an AIP so we are all set for when the property we want on the new-build estate is released. Exciting!

Sarahwithlove

That's great news about the mortgage AIP. 

gd55

Well, it's finally happening, we're buying a home! We've been ready for a while now, but due to wanting a specific plot on a development we have had to practice patience.

Finally they released the one we wanted at the beginning of March. Our mortgage offer was approved with no issues, all the paperwork has been completed, and we will exchange in a few weeks and complete in the autumn. 

By the time we move in it will be 8 years since my IVA started, and 3.5 years since it finished, so it's taken a while but so glad that everything is now coming together just how we imagined it.

lucielle

Congratulations!
L