Remortgaging but husband has bad credit - advice please?

CraftySquirrel

Morning all! I am about to remortgage. I currently have a mortgage in my name only, as my husband does not work for health reasons. He also has a poor credit rating with 2/3 of the big agencies (1 he still has a good one).

When we bought the house, we were not "financially tied", but now have a joint account for our food shopping. All the bills including the mortgage go from my accounts.

Husband is now extremely anxious about whether or not we will be able to remortgage on a decent deal, and in particular whether we will be able to release any of the equity in the property. I've got an appointment with a broker to discuss our options, but for our sanity, wondering whether anyone can tell us if his bad credit file will have a bearing on my ability to get a mortgage?

All of my googling on this has been useless as it's always about marriages where the mortgage is joint! 

If anyone can advise me in the meantime, it would be very gratefully received.

born_again

Credit score means nothing. History does.
So does husband has missed payment markers?

CraftySquirrel

born_again said:

Credit score means nothing. History does.
So does husband has missed payment markers?

No - he hasn't missed any payments at all, but credit rating shows as poor.

Mark_d

Long story short...your husband's credit rating will affect your credit score due to the linked finances and possibly also because your husband is financially dependent on you.  This will likely affect remortgaging but you might be ok if you can agree a new rate with your existing mortgage lender rather than needing a remortgage.

It sounds like money might be slightly tight for the two of you as a couple.  I think a bank would be taking a lot of risk if they were to allow you to release equity.  And wherever risk is high, the interest rate you get will also be high

RedFraggle

Mark_d said:

Long story short...your husband's credit rating will affect your credit score due to the linked finances and possibly also because your husband is financially dependent on you.  This will likely affect remortgaging but you might be ok if you can agree a new rate with your existing mortgage lender rather than needing a remortgage.

It sounds like money might be slightly tight for the two of you as a couple.  I think a bank would be taking a lot of risk if they were to allow you to release equity.  And wherever risk is high, the interest rate you get will also be high

If the husband has no adverse markers it's irrelevant what his credit score is because lenders don't see it. There is no impact.

OP - if you remortgage with a new lender they will perform affordability assessments so if money is tight it may be problematic. If you remortgage with your existing lender no affordability assessments take place. 

CraftySquirrel

Thanks all. I have now spoken with our broker as he happened to call this afternoon, and his view is it is unlikely to affect either rates or ability to borrow. 

Thank you for concern Mark - money is actually fine for us at the moment, we are just sorting out the arrangements for best rates etc.

ACG

I am not sure the answers here are quite right (not to say they are wrong). 

The answer is "it depends". 
You say your husband doesnt have bad credit but a bad score. The score is worthless but it can indicate problems. It is important to understand why it is low. If there is no reason then it should not be a problem.

Some lender will credit check your financial associates, some wont. Some will need it to be a joint application because you are married, most probably wont with it being a remortgage rather than a purchase. 

It is impossible to say you will be fine or you wont. But I do think there will be options. You might not have the pick of lenders if his credit report isnt great. But I think it should still be high street rates.