What LTV % triggers manual underwriting?

AlexanderFM1993

As it says, generally speaking, what percentage does one need to borrow to trigger a manual underwriting?

I see that many mortgages don't go through manual underwriting and that they are automatically approved in many cases.

Also, does amount being borrowed matter? (even if a large % is covered by deposit)?

Thanks!

ACG

By manual underwriting what do you mean? 
What is it you are trying to avoid? 

K_S

@alexanderfm1993 There is no general answer to your question. From what I've seen, the likelihood depends on how "vanilla" the application is. For example a like-for-like remortgage based on a basic-only PAYE income at low-LTV is more likely to get an automated decision than a 90% LTV resi-purchase where there's an element of variable income. On top of that you may have internal flags based on the 'credit-scoring' that the lender does.

Just to be clear, the above is just my best guess based on experience, there are no hard and fast rules and even if there were, I wouldn't be privy to them. So even a vanilla case may be manually underwritten while a high-LTV purchase case may go through on automated decisioning.

With most lenders, 100% of all self-employment cases are manually underwritten.

AlexanderFM1993

ACG said:

By manual underwriting what do you mean? 
What is it you are trying to avoid? 

I heard that sometimes people get 'decisions' (not the in principle decision, the actual decision) online without the usual manual checks by an individual. 

Trying to avoid waste of time. Currently trying to get a mortgage with Clydesdale and they have requested so many documents it is unreal and they are taking months (literally) to make the offer. They had to manually underwrite it because it is high LTV and one of us recently became employed at a company they co-founded, so it required a lot of documents. 

Am just thinking that if this doesn't work then we could buy something less expensive and not have the hassle and stress that we have gone through with this bank.

Edi81

AlexanderFM1993 said:

Trying to avoid waste of time. Currently trying to get a mortgage with Clydesdale and they have requested so many documents it is unreal and they are taking months (literally) to make the offer. They had to manually underwrite it because it is high LTV and one of us recently became employed at a company they co-founded, so it required a lot of documents. 

That’s your issue - you are being treated as self employed.

K_S

AlexanderFM1993 said:

ACG said:

By manual underwriting what do you mean? 
What is it you are trying to avoid? 

I heard that sometimes people get 'decisions' (not the in principle decision, the actual decision) online without the usual manual checks by an individual. 

Trying to avoid waste of time. Currently trying to get a mortgage with Clydesdale and they have requested so many documents it is unreal and they are taking months (literally) to make the offer. They had to manually underwrite it because it is high LTV and one of us recently became employed at a company they co-founded, so it required a lot of documents. 

Am just thinking that if this doesn't work then we could buy something less expensive and not have the hassle and stress that we have gone through with this bank.

@alexanderfm1993 As long as the part highlighted in bold is part of the application, and the lender is aware, the application would almost certainly be manually reviewed/underwritten.

Generally speaking Clydesdale and their sister lender Virgin are both taking ages to process applications and documents currently, and Clydesdale underwriters are often very nit-picky, so you might as well keep plugging away and see where it gets you.

simon_or

Sorry for noseying through your past threads but are you still trying to buy the property you're renting from your landlord with a 225k discount with previous applications with Nationwide and Santander that failed?

I'm not accusing you of doing anything wrong here but there are probably multiple risk flags that Clydesdale have to tick off before getting you an offer, hopefully not much longer!

With that profile and application history, I don't think there's any chance of a bank not processing your application manually.

ACG

AlexanderFM1993 said:

ACG said:

By manual underwriting what do you mean? 
What is it you are trying to avoid? 

I heard that sometimes people get 'decisions' (not the in principle decision, the actual decision) online without the usual manual checks by an individual. 

Trying to avoid waste of time. Currently trying to get a mortgage with Clydesdale and they have requested so many documents it is unreal and they are taking months (literally) to make the offer. They had to manually underwrite it because it is high LTV and one of us recently became employed at a company they co-founded, so it required a lot of documents. 

Am just thinking that if this doesn't work then we could buy something less expensive and not have the hassle and stress that we have gone through with this bank.

For you then, I would be very surprised if it went automated at any LTV. 

You have not really chosen the right lender for automated underwriting. But at a high LTV and with the bit in bold, I cant imagine you would get any lenders to automate your application personally. 

AlexanderFM1993

simon_or said:

Sorry for noseying through your past threads but are you still trying to buy the property you're renting from your landlord with a 225k discount with previous applications with Nationwide and Santander that failed?

I'm not accusing you of doing anything wrong here but there are probably multiple risk flags that Clydesdale have to tick off before getting you an offer, hopefully not much longer!

With that profile and application history, I don't think there's any chance of a bank not processing your application manually.

Yes my thoughts exactly! Can't believe how hard it is to get a mortgage though as we both have very steady and well paying jobs. I get the need to do various checks but if anything, running your own company is far higher job security than being an employee! 

ACG

The problem is what you have done looks something like what dodgy people would do. 

Self employed people typically need 2 years self assessments or accounts. The amount of times I see people who say oh but my income jumped or I only have 18 months trading... They then go off and come back and all of a sudden they are employed by the same company. Its mortgage fraud. 

The other one is where they become employed by the company and inflate their wage. Again, mortgage fraud. 

I am not suggesting you have done either of these, but if it looks dodgy you can expect underwriters to take a keen interest and want satisfying it is not dodgy. 

You would have had an easier life no doubt if you had just remained as owners of the business. 

AlexanderFM1993

ACG said:

The problem is what you have done looks something like what dodgy people would do. 

Self employed people typically need 2 years self assessments or accounts. The amount of times I see people who say oh but my income jumped or I only have 18 months trading... They then go off and come back and all of a sudden they are employed by the same company. Its mortgage fraud. 

The other one is where they become employed by the company and inflate their wage. Again, mortgage fraud. 

I am not suggesting you have done either of these, but if it looks dodgy you can expect underwriters to take a keen interest and want satisfying it is not dodgy. 

You would have had an easier life no doubt if you had just remained as owners of the business. 

Yes understood. I have provided them with 2 years history where my former salary (when I worked elsewhere) was pretty much the same as it is now.

When you say it would have been easier if we just remained owners of the business, what do you mean?