Small Building Societies - good for awkward situation?

thewinelake66

DD and her partner have found a property they'd like to buy.

He has a Lifetime ISA, and it seems that there's a good chance that they could get the nominal price to be £450k. However, he is currently a PhD student, so on a stipend. Even though he earns more than DD (who's got a "proper job") the rules that lenders work on assume that he's effectively unemployed.

One thing is that they have a very large deposit (even without using the LISA) - so LTV would be about 20%. Even so, computer is saying no before someone with a brain can assess their application with the big players (eg Nationwide).

I think what they'd like to do is get a joint mortgage - on the basis of her income alone (although he'd make the payments) - but really need to go to a smaller lender who can see the situation for what it is.

So just wondering if there are any recommendations for where to find such lenders - or even a broker who can help them. As I live near Saffron Walden, I tried the Saffron Building Society, but they are not a retail outfit - they only sell via brokers. However, they gave the impression that each case is judged on its merit by an RI (Real Intelligence) human being!

ACG

Building societies are great! I love them. 
I also describe them as how my grandparents went for a mortgage, they talk to you about situation and make a decision that way. 

Some are better than others. I wasnt aware Saffron were intermediary only - every day is a school day! There is (or can be) a little more work involved as everything is done manually. So as long as you go into it knowing there will be more questions and it will take a little longer, it should help with the anxiety levels. 

I cant name specific lenders as it will come down to the finer details which we dont have. But I am sure if that is the only issue, they will be fine. 

thewinelake66

Just wondered if there's a list of small lenders somewhere. A google hasn't yielded much. Although might be worth asking ChatGPT!

thewinelake66

Re. Saffron - that's really odd. I was told by someone in their intermediaries team that they were intermediaries only, but revisiting the website, I think they were wrong. I get that the intermediaries flavour of Saffron is intermediaries only, but that's not what I was asking!

ACG

Probably not as lenders update criteria regularly. And there will also be additional criteria beyond that might affect things, for example they may accept stipend income but only as a secondary income. 

The devil is in the detail. You probably would be best using a broker as they can do the leg work for you, but there is nothing stopping you looking for the smaller building societies and checking criteria yourself - it will likely take a little longer though.