Likelihood of obtaining a mortgage

nkehoe26

I am currently studying a PhD in physics and receive a stipend of £21,500 a year and my wife is a registered carer for our son, receiving carers allowance, UC, DLA and child benefit. Our total yearly income is about £44,500 and we both have credit scores around 700 - 800 range. We are currently renting a house and looking to buy it within the next year, if possible. Would we be able to obtain a mortgage or is there anything we could do in the mean time to improve our chances of obtaining one?

MorningcoffeeIV

What do your credit files show (ignore the pretend scores, just look at the data)? Good solid history? A history of missed payments? Or just very little history?

How much would you be looking to borrow?  What's your deposit?

ACG

The stipend can be used with a very small number of lenders. 
In addition only a very small number of lenders will use the income for your sons disability. 

I am not sure if there is a lender who will use both. You need to speak to a broker I think. 
I would not rule it out, but I also would not say its possible. Certainly worth a try though. 

nkehoe26

MorningcoffeeIV said:

What do your credit files show (ignore the pretend scores, just look at the data)? Good solid history? A history of missed payments? Or just very little history?

How much would you be looking to borrow?  What's your deposit?

I have a good solid history and my wife has a good history but with little lines of credit.
i think our house will be about £160k to £175k and we’ve currently got £10k for deposit and hoping to have that up to £15k to £20k by the time we want to buy.

nkehoe26

ACG said:

The stipend can be used with a very small number of lenders. 
In addition only a very small number of lenders will use the income for your sons disability. 

I am not sure if there is a lender who will use both. You need to speak to a broker I think. 
I would not rule it out, but I also would not say it’s possible. Certainly worth a try though. 

In your opinion do you think having a guarantor on our mortgage would help our chances of getting one?

ACG

Probably not. There are not many guarantor mortgages around so it would reduce your pool of lenders. 

The thing is, it is probably affordable - a guarantor is more for where there is a little shortfall in income. It is more a case of whether or not there are lenders who will accept all of your sources of income.