Mortgage deal ending roughly same time being made redundant - is this mortgage fraud?

crazyhaggid

I'm looking for a bit of advice regarding what to do with my mortgage. My five year fixed deal is due to come to an end in September and my monthly payment is going to increase by ~£450 as it reverts to the lenders SVR. During the pandemic due to my OH losing their income we built up quite a bit of credit card debt, so much so that it is impacting my credit rating which at the moment is only 'Good'. I have tried to pay some of it off but the interest is making this hard.  Last year I did try and take out a loan to save on interest but I was knocked back during the soft search due to this rating. I'm due to be made redundant at the end of August with my final wage including my redundancy payment set to be paid mid-way through August.

I'm getting a good redundancy payment that will be enough to settle all our debt and also leave us with a decent bit of money left over. Having worked all my life I was planning on taking this opportunity to take 2-3 months off working to spend time with my kids and also carry out some renovations to our house.

Having to pay an extra £450 a month will eat into my redundancy faster and feels like a waste of money. I was thinking of waiting till I paid off my debts in mid-August, re-mortgaging then and not telling the mortgage broker I was due to lose my job in a couple of weeks. I haven't got a new job lined up yet as all the recruiters I've spoken to far have said I need to wait till nearer the time of my redundancy. There is plenty of work in my sector so I will be able to secure a job somewhere even if it's not my dream job.

I was speaking with Google Gemini about my plans, it suggested by not telling the broker about losing my job I would be committing mortgage fraud. I’m not sure what to do, I don’t want to get in trouble but at the same time I don’t really want to wait till I start my new job to re-mortgage as this would mean wasting £1,350 on literally nothing. I’d rather spend this on the house/kids.

If this was you, what would you do?

kingstreet

crazyhaggid said:

I'm looking for a bit of advice regarding what to do with my mortgage. My five year fixed deal is due to come to an end in September and my monthly payment is going to increase by ~£450 as it reverts to the lenders SVR. During the pandemic due to my OH losing their income we built up quite a bit of credit card debt, so much so that it is impacting my credit rating which at the moment is only 'Good'. I have tried to pay some of it off but the interest is making this hard.  Last year I did try and take out a loan to save on interest but I was knocked back during the soft search due to this rating. I'm due to be made redundant at the end of August with my final wage including my redundancy payment set to be paid mid-way through August.

I'm getting a good redundancy payment that will be enough to settle all our debt and also leave us with a decent bit of money left over. Having worked all my life I was planning on taking this opportunity to take 2-3 months off working to spend time with my kids and also carry out some renovations to our house.

Having to pay an extra £450 a month will eat into my redundancy faster and feels like a waste of money. I was thinking of waiting till I paid off my debts in mid-August, re-mortgaging then and not telling the mortgage broker I was due to lose my job in a couple of weeks. I haven't got a new job lined up yet as all the recruiters I've spoken to far have said I need to wait till nearer the time of my redundancy. There is plenty of work in my sector so I will be able to secure a job somewhere even if it's not my dream job.

I was speaking with Google Gemini about my plans, it suggested by not telling the broker about losing my job I would be committing mortgage fraud. I’m not sure what to do, I don’t want to get in trouble but at the same time I don’t really want to wait till I start my new job to re-mortgage as this would mean wasting £1,350 on literally nothing. I’d rather spend this on the house/kids.

If this was you, what would you do?

I'd do a retention product with my existing lender and avoid all the hassle of trying to do a remortgage to a new lender with all that in the background.

crazyhaggid

kingstreet said:

crazyhaggid said:

I'm looking for a bit of advice regarding what to do with my mortgage. My five year fixed deal is due to come to an end in September and my monthly payment is going to increase by ~£450 as it reverts to the lenders SVR. During the pandemic due to my OH losing their income we built up quite a bit of credit card debt, so much so that it is impacting my credit rating which at the moment is only 'Good'. I have tried to pay some of it off but the interest is making this hard.  Last year I did try and take out a loan to save on interest but I was knocked back during the soft search due to this rating. I'm due to be made redundant at the end of August with my final wage including my redundancy payment set to be paid mid-way through August.

I'm getting a good redundancy payment that will be enough to settle all our debt and also leave us with a decent bit of money left over. Having worked all my life I was planning on taking this opportunity to take 2-3 months off working to spend time with my kids and also carry out some renovations to our house.

Having to pay an extra £450 a month will eat into my redundancy faster and feels like a waste of money. I was thinking of waiting till I paid off my debts in mid-August, re-mortgaging then and not telling the mortgage broker I was due to lose my job in a couple of weeks. I haven't got a new job lined up yet as all the recruiters I've spoken to far have said I need to wait till nearer the time of my redundancy. There is plenty of work in my sector so I will be able to secure a job somewhere even if it's not my dream job.

I was speaking with Google Gemini about my plans, it suggested by not telling the broker about losing my job I would be committing mortgage fraud. I’m not sure what to do, I don’t want to get in trouble but at the same time I don’t really want to wait till I start my new job to re-mortgage as this would mean wasting £1,350 on literally nothing. I’d rather spend this on the house/kids.

If this was you, what would you do?

I'd do a retention product with my existing lender and avoid all the hassle of trying to do a remortgage to a new lender with all that in the background.

do you mean just contact my current lender and ask them what deal I could move my current mortgage to? Would they be bothered about my current debts?

kingstreet

Yes.

No. You wouldn't be asked.

kimwp

Two things that might be relevant that I understand to be true (but double check)-
1. Your credit history is unlikely to look good to a lender for a while (couple of months?) after paying off the debts. 
2. You can apply for a new mortgage about six months in advance

MWT

crazyhaggid said:

Having to pay an extra £450 a month will eat into my redundancy faster and feels like a waste of money. I was thinking of waiting till I paid off my debts in mid-August, re-mortgaging then and not telling the mortgage broker I was due to lose my job in a couple of weeks.

Yes, this would be fraud, don't do this as you have better options.

Just see what alternative products your current lender has available, as long as you are not changing the term or the amount of your loan there will be no new affordability testing.

crazyhaggid

MWT said:

crazyhaggid said:

Having to pay an extra £450 a month will eat into my redundancy faster and feels like a waste of money. I was thinking of waiting till I paid off my debts in mid-August, re-mortgaging then and not telling the mortgage broker I was due to lose my job in a couple of weeks.

Yes, this would be fraud, don't do this as you have better options.

Just see what alternative products your current lender has available, as long as you are not changing the term or the amount of your loan there will be no new affordability testing.

That's a massive load off my mind. I'll create my online account with them and see what they're offering.

nyermen

kimwp said:

Two things that might be relevant that I understand to be true (but double check)-
1. Your credit history is unlikely to look good to a lender for a while (couple of months?) after paying off the debts. 
2. You can apply for a new mortgage about six months in advance

In my history, I worked with credit scoring models.  Can't say what each bank is doing today (and each was different) but FYI, for "behavioural scoring" (different to initial application scoring) generally, they considered "Last 3 months markers" and (less heavily weighted) "last 12 months markers" as particularly important.

In case of interest - my rate switch (term for staying with existing provider) was mid 2024 and it was a simple process, no reapplication and when I last checked, no hard search.

BikingBud

crazyhaggid said:

I'm looking for a bit of advice regarding what to do with my mortgage. My five year fixed deal is due to come to an end in September and my monthly payment is going to increase by ~£450 as it reverts to the lenders SVR. During the pandemic due to my OH losing their income we built up quite a bit of credit card debt, so much so that it is impacting my credit rating which at the moment is only 'Good'. I have tried to pay some of it off but the interest is making this hard.  Last year I did try and take out a loan to save on interest but I was knocked back during the soft search due to this rating. I'm due to be made redundant at the end of August with my final wage including my redundancy payment set to be paid mid-way through August.

I'm getting a good redundancy payment that will be enough to settle all our debt and also leave us with a decent bit of money left over. Having worked all my life I was planning on taking this opportunity to take 2-3 months off working to spend time with my kids and also carry out some renovations to our house.

Having to pay an extra £450 a month will eat into my redundancy faster and feels like a waste of money. I was thinking of waiting till I paid off my debts in mid-August, re-mortgaging then and not telling the mortgage broker I was due to lose my job in a couple of weeks. I haven't got a new job lined up yet as all the recruiters I've spoken to far have said I need to wait till nearer the time of my redundancy. There is plenty of work in my sector so I will be able to secure a job somewhere even if it's not my dream job.

I was speaking with Google Gemini about my plans, it suggested by not telling the broker about losing my job I would be committing mortgage fraud. I’m not sure what to do, I don’t want to get in trouble but at the same time I don’t really want to wait till I start my new job to re-mortgage as this would mean wasting £1,350 on literally nothing. I’d rather spend this on the house/kids.

If this was you, what would you do?

No comment about the specific context as others have covered that but this bit in bold struck me as quite bizarre and it probably should be a new topic so as not to detract from the OP's thread.

Are we really at the stage where financial "advice" from AI is considered a sound proposal?

That is quite scary!

kingstreet

Hopefully it will be more helpful than Dave down the pub, but I won't hold my breath!

BikingBud

kingstreet said:

Hopefully it will be more helpful than Dave down the pub, but I won't hold my breath!

Bur Dave down the pub might be have just opened up a bank after running a very successful van company including well regarded van loan business.

https://www.burnleysavingsandloans.co.uk/

In that case I would trust Dave down the pub!