FTB mortgage declined - what next!?
Discussion
I started a thread a while ago re. being a first-time buyer and an offer being accepted on a house...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Long story short now is that I'm no longer wanting to purchase the property mentioned in that thread, and instead had an offer accepted on a different property at £131K.
Having been into a branch of HSBC for a mortgage appointment last Friday, providing all the documentation and supporting evidence, I got a call this Tuesday to say that my application had been immediately rejected at stage one - the credit check. They were unable to advise specifically why but did advise being rejected so early would point to there being something 'seriously wrong' with my credit profile. This has understandably gotten me very worried.
I signed up to to Experian several months ago in anticipation I was going to start applying for mortgages around now, to check all was in order. And everything appears to be absolutely fine. I know the score itself is meaningless but it's consistently been 999/999.
I'm 31 with a 10% deposit want want to borrow £117K.
My salary excluding bonus is £48K so I'm not trying to overreach and the rejection was not based on affordability anyhow
I have no dependents and I have no debts or loans
Both credit cards have no outstanding balance and haven't had heavy use in the past
I have no financial commitments
I've never defaulted on any past payments and any borrowings in the past have been paid off in full, and often earlier than the loan agreements. The last loan I had was 4 years ago
My outgoings are minimal, with direct debits only covering utilities and council tax etc
I have a company car so I've no associated running costs
Student loan is paid off in full
The stumbling blocks that I could imagine might be:
A summons I received for non-payment of council tax a year ago. I paid in full hours after receiving the letter and the summons was immediately cancelled. I rang the local council tax office and they confirmed this, and also confirmed they have never passed this detail on to anyone else. My credit file makes no mention of it so I don't believe it's an issue.
A late payment to Spark Energy (absolute utter scumbags and a shower of b
ds) early this year. Long story short is I'd switched energy providers and Spark continued to bill me. I disputed the bill and they allegedly got referred to a debt recovery firm. The balance was immediately paid in full over the phone. I then got a phone call from them a month or so later asking for payment. After I very politely corrected them, they realised it was 'an error'. Again, there's no mention of this on my credit file.
I applied for a First Direct (HSBC) bank account in January and they requested that I have a professional sign copies of my passport etc to confirm my identity. I couldn't be bothered with the hassle and faffing about and didn't pursue it.
My credit file shows 'U' next to some repayments for old loans - this means 'unknown' - but it then followed by a green 'on time' tick for every subsequent payment. These are not missed payments and there's a separate code for this.
After applying to be added to the electoral role 2 months ago, I'm apparently on there as of yesterday but wasn't at the time of the application. I understand being on the electoral role counts for something when applying for a mortgage.
What are your thoughts? I sent a copy of my credit file to a broker and they couldn't see why it'd be a cause of a rejection.
I'm not sure where to go next with this. What are your thoughts? Go to a decent broker - I've used London and Country at the recommendation of MoneySavingExpert - would it be a good idea to go back to them, and if so should I tell them about HSBC's rejection? Or continue with an application I'm about to make with Nationwide?
Or maybe it's an omen I'm maybe buying at the top of the market and the wheels are about to fall off the whole market soon anyhow!
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Long story short now is that I'm no longer wanting to purchase the property mentioned in that thread, and instead had an offer accepted on a different property at £131K.
Having been into a branch of HSBC for a mortgage appointment last Friday, providing all the documentation and supporting evidence, I got a call this Tuesday to say that my application had been immediately rejected at stage one - the credit check. They were unable to advise specifically why but did advise being rejected so early would point to there being something 'seriously wrong' with my credit profile. This has understandably gotten me very worried.
I signed up to to Experian several months ago in anticipation I was going to start applying for mortgages around now, to check all was in order. And everything appears to be absolutely fine. I know the score itself is meaningless but it's consistently been 999/999.
I'm 31 with a 10% deposit want want to borrow £117K.
My salary excluding bonus is £48K so I'm not trying to overreach and the rejection was not based on affordability anyhow
I have no dependents and I have no debts or loans
Both credit cards have no outstanding balance and haven't had heavy use in the past
I have no financial commitments
I've never defaulted on any past payments and any borrowings in the past have been paid off in full, and often earlier than the loan agreements. The last loan I had was 4 years ago
My outgoings are minimal, with direct debits only covering utilities and council tax etc
I have a company car so I've no associated running costs
Student loan is paid off in full
The stumbling blocks that I could imagine might be:
A summons I received for non-payment of council tax a year ago. I paid in full hours after receiving the letter and the summons was immediately cancelled. I rang the local council tax office and they confirmed this, and also confirmed they have never passed this detail on to anyone else. My credit file makes no mention of it so I don't believe it's an issue.
A late payment to Spark Energy (absolute utter scumbags and a shower of b
ds) early this year. Long story short is I'd switched energy providers and Spark continued to bill me. I disputed the bill and they allegedly got referred to a debt recovery firm. The balance was immediately paid in full over the phone. I then got a phone call from them a month or so later asking for payment. After I very politely corrected them, they realised it was 'an error'. Again, there's no mention of this on my credit file.I applied for a First Direct (HSBC) bank account in January and they requested that I have a professional sign copies of my passport etc to confirm my identity. I couldn't be bothered with the hassle and faffing about and didn't pursue it.
My credit file shows 'U' next to some repayments for old loans - this means 'unknown' - but it then followed by a green 'on time' tick for every subsequent payment. These are not missed payments and there's a separate code for this.
After applying to be added to the electoral role 2 months ago, I'm apparently on there as of yesterday but wasn't at the time of the application. I understand being on the electoral role counts for something when applying for a mortgage.
What are your thoughts? I sent a copy of my credit file to a broker and they couldn't see why it'd be a cause of a rejection.
I'm not sure where to go next with this. What are your thoughts? Go to a decent broker - I've used London and Country at the recommendation of MoneySavingExpert - would it be a good idea to go back to them, and if so should I tell them about HSBC's rejection? Or continue with an application I'm about to make with Nationwide?
Or maybe it's an omen I'm maybe buying at the top of the market and the wheels are about to fall off the whole market soon anyhow!
Cheers,
Cannot believe how long it takes to get added to the electoral role!
I'm stunned as to how rigid and 'computer says no' the decision making is based on something like that.
Got to admit, the guy from HSBC had me worried and panicking when he said it was something likely to be serious. He also said they no longer make available the decision making tree to mortgage advisors so they're unable to see what would have caused a rejection. But as some of you have said, maybe they'd no intention of lending to me regardless - they're presumably looking for somebody with much more than 10% deposit.
Nationwide's rates are comparable, and most of their FTB mortgages are geared towards as little as 5% deposits, so guessing they're more accommodating.
Cannot believe how long it takes to get added to the electoral role!
I'm stunned as to how rigid and 'computer says no' the decision making is based on something like that.
Got to admit, the guy from HSBC had me worried and panicking when he said it was something likely to be serious. He also said they no longer make available the decision making tree to mortgage advisors so they're unable to see what would have caused a rejection. But as some of you have said, maybe they'd no intention of lending to me regardless - they're presumably looking for somebody with much more than 10% deposit.
Nationwide's rates are comparable, and most of their FTB mortgages are geared towards as little as 5% deposits, so guessing they're more accommodating.
I bank with NatWest and it's the only account I've had since 1999. Any previous credit or loans in the past has been with them.
My address history probably also lets me down. Looking at Experian, I've had 10 addresses in 7 years, all due to moving around with work or landlords wanting their property back etc.
My address history probably also lets me down. Looking at Experian, I've had 10 addresses in 7 years, all due to moving around with work or landlords wanting their property back etc.
T1547 said:
Hi Thenorthener
Very interesting to read your post, I'm in a very similar situation at the moment (FTB, had an offer accepted, DiP from Nationwide and Lloyds, 10% deposit, 30yrs old earning 47k). I haven't gone through the full application though yet as waiting for the chain to complete..
Could I ask did you get a successful DiP from HBSC before applying for the full mortgage?
Cheers
Tim
Hi,Very interesting to read your post, I'm in a very similar situation at the moment (FTB, had an offer accepted, DiP from Nationwide and Lloyds, 10% deposit, 30yrs old earning 47k). I haven't gone through the full application though yet as waiting for the chain to complete..
Could I ask did you get a successful DiP from HBSC before applying for the full mortgage?
Cheers
Tim
Yep, DIP received in HSBC branch and all was looking fine until the knock back.
I've been in touch with Sarnie and taking it from there. I've sent him over a download of my credit file and there's no issue, other than it showing I'm not on the electoral role. But all's good apart from that.
I just have to accept I'm a square peg which won't fit in HSBC's hole!
Anyhow, what Sarnie has recommended is near identical in terms of what HSBC were offering, so I'm no longer too bothered.
I just have to accept I'm a square peg which won't fit in HSBC's hole!
Anyhow, what Sarnie has recommended is near identical in terms of what HSBC were offering, so I'm no longer too bothered.
fredt said:
Robertj21a said:
Just seems odd that people don't ensure that they are on the Electoral Roll. Presumably, they aren't bothered about voting at any time, for anything, and haven't realised that they may be creating problems for themselves in the future (as in this case). Strange.
Why would anyone think that being on the electoral roll would have anything to do with getting a mortgage?
Anyway, I would always always advice to use a mortgage broker, and make sure it is a good one. It saves a ton of hassle and open up possibilities that you otherwise wouldn't have. And it is free (yes i realize they get paid, but they will even if you don't use them. Different discussion)
You're right - I didn't make any link between the electoral role and a mortgage until I started to do my research and then I applied immediately, I suspect only those that don't do their research won't understand the importance of it, relying on just their decent credit history to be enough.
As said, I'm now using a broker and a decision in principle should be received one way or the other on Tuesday.
emicen said:
thenortherner said:
I'd done my homework a while before getting a mortgage, and so yes, I did realise the importance of being on the electoral role, which I why I applied to be added 6 weeks before I applied for a mortgage. For whatever reason, Cheshire Council seem to take adding people in their stride - verbal confirmation was given last week that I was on there as of the 25th of this month. I now have to wait for this to be reflected in my credit file.
I hope they are better than West Lothian.My registration was completed on 28/02, postal confirmation received, have voted in elections since. Still not reflected on my bloody credit report though!
Robertj21a said:
fredt said:
Why would anyone think that being on the electoral roll would have anything to do with getting a mortgage?
Anyway, I would always always advice to use a mortgage broker, and make sure it is a good one. It saves a ton of hassle and open up possibilities that you otherwise wouldn't have. And it is free (yes i realize they get paid, but they will even if you don't use them. Different discussion)
Robertj21a said:
thenortherner said:
I don't know how it can be a make or break in terms of them being sure they're dealing with the right person. They had my passport, driver's licence and birth certificate.
Most credit checks are heavily automated. An entry on the electoral roll is one of the major indicators they look for.Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff