Looking for mortgage broker advice – Forces Help to Buy + past IVA (fully paid off)

graffers

Hi all,

We’re looking for advice (and possibly broker recommendations) for a fairly niche mortgage situation.

My partner had an IVA, which was fully paid off early, but it remains on their credit file until the full 6-year mark – which will be January 2026. We had originally planned to wait until after it disappears before applying for a mortgage.

However, our deposit situation is stronger than we expected:

• Over £25,000 saved already, plus saving around £3,000/month

• Access to £25,000 from Forces Help to Buy
  So we already have over £50,000 combined, and growing.

We’re now wondering if we really have to wait until January, or whether there are brokers/lenders who specialise in:

• Mortgages with a past IVA still on file (but settled in full)

• The Forces Help to Buy scheme

We know some specialist lenders consider applications before the IVA drops off, depending on circumstances. But finding the right broker who understands both FHTB and adverse credit is the hard part.

So:

• Has anyone been in a similar situation?

• Do you know of any brokers who are good with both Forces Help to Buy and adverse credit (IVA)?

• Any tips on how to approach this or avoid unnecessary hard searches?

Any help or advice would be massively appreciated. Thanks in advance!

kingstreet

There's a couple of high street lenders who work from six years from date of IVA registration and they will be at the top of the rate tables. If you don't wait until then, the lender options are likely to involve higher rates/fees.

graffers

Thanks, we already understand the six-year mark and know we’ll have more lender options after that.

We’re just trying to work out how to find the right kind of broker, should we decide to look into our options now. Ideally someone who understands both Forces Help to Buy and how to deal with a settled IVA. We’re not expecting to apply straight away, but we’d be open to early conversations if the rates weren’t too far off what we could get by waiting.

If anyone’s been in a similar position or has any broker recommendations, we’d really appreciate it.

ACG

Most experienced brokers will understand both of those things. 
Most will have even placed cases with them. 

But you will probably struggle to find a broker who has lots of experience with both as they are 2 separate specialties.