I WOULD NOT GET ABBAY MORTGAGE,
im ten years ahead with my mortgage from abbey, i pay 3 times my monthly payment too, imagine my dismay getting a letter telling me im £365 behind, because i pay more each month eg £1000 they sent me an arrears letter,
i have £17k spare so paid the lot off, never take out money with santander , abbey or any other of its alternative names,
Cant wait for tesco bank, or virgin or considering bank of china for a new house loan,
all that money wasted on formula 1 racing advertising......F1 now stands for like the PC f1 return ? NOT ON YOUR LIFE,

asajoseph1:

1) I have a spotless credit record, no issues over the last 6 years, and in that time I’ve had plenty of credit that I’ve managed perfectly. However, will the two declined Abbey applications that were made on a joint basis make any difference to my solo application?

2) Will upsizing the mortgage and adding my partner after 6-9 months be a problem, provided we continue to keep the LTV below 75%?

3) Will I be able to get my partner's name on the deed, even though her name is not on the mortgage?

1) Yes possibly, if this is shown on your credit record.

2) Check with mortgage company you apply with, whether in principle this would be ok.

3) You cannot amend the deeds without the mortgage companies permission. If you want her on the deeds, she will need to be added to the mortgage. Again speak to the mortgage company about this.

In my experience it is vital that you have a full and frank discussion with a mortgage advisor. If you ask, they will contact the relevant department in the companies mortgage centre to ask for confirmation that your future requirement are ok in principle. You should ask the mortgage advisor to ensure the mortgage file is noted.

Huckster

Bit of an update here: As we’ve found a property, we’ve decided to try to raise the capital based off my own salary. I’m hoping that our parents will be able to lend us any shortfall (around £40k) on a short-term basis until the default drops off my partner’s credit record in 6 months time, and we can upsize the mortgage. My only questions are as follows:-

1) I have a spotless credit record, no issues over the last 6 years, and in that time I’ve had plenty of credit that I’ve managed perfectly. However, will the two declined Abbey applications that were made on a joint basis make any difference to my solo application?

2) Will upsizing the mortgage and adding my partner after 6-9 months be a problem, provided we continue to keep the LTV below 75%?

3) Will I be able to get my partner's name on the deed, even though her name is not on the mortgage?

Thanks TT Lady.

We are indeed speaking to an independent broker on this, so I guess we're doing all we can. Even he was surprised though at Abbey's attitude to this, given that he'd specifically asked them before making the application. All I deduce is that Abbey's front-line representatives are either very poorly informed, or simlpy dishonest - which is a real surprise.

What I suppose I need to know is whether anyone else has similar experience of this, and whether or not other lenders are so strict - I trust our broker to do the best he can for us, but it's obviously not always that straightforward!

Thanks!

You need to speak to a mortgage broker who should be able to advise you of your options.

4 times joint salary is alot (even with a large deposit) and that may be influencing Abbey to some degree. Barclays only seem to lend 3 times (per their website) and John Charcol (who are brokers) also seem to suggest 3 times is the maximum. If you've got any outstanding credit balances that will affect your affordability as well.

A broker is your best bet.

asajoseph1:

What I really want to know is whether or not all lenders will be so rigid in their criteria?

A default "satisfied" for 5 1/2 years does seem extreme. Look for an independent adviser (IFA) not a tied adviser.

Remember there is a mortgage service on this web site. Not allowed to place the link to the helpful info not obviously available on Moneysupermarket but maybe the munged version will survive......

w w w godirect dot co dot uk / mortgage / income-multipliers . php

Will be a pity if that is removed because the information is interesting and as I said not obviously available on Moneysupermarket (though I still don't know whether its up to date and accurate).

Hey Jalexa, thanks very much for your response.

We've actually done most of this already - we've got copies of her Experian & Equifax reports (bizarrely, the Experian report actually seems a lot more favourable). The default was indeed immediately settled, and this is reflected in the reports we've looked at.

As for a multiple, we're looking for a less than 4 x joint salary, and have a sizable deposit on top (over 25%) - I can't actually find the site you suggest, but surely this seems like a pretty attractive proposition for any lender?

Unfortunately (fortunately?) we've now found a property that both I and my partner that we absolutely love, so in an ideal world we really don't want to have to wait another 6 months to re-apply (on top of all of the inconvenience of taking my property back off the market, re-arranging the HIP, etc), unless we absolutely have to. What I really want to know is whether or not all lenders will be so rigid in their criteria?

asajoseph1:

After receiving this incredibly disappointing service from Abbey, I'm feeling very apprehensive as to what our next step should be. Do other lenders apply this hard and fast rule? And how can we take anyone we might meet 'in branch' seriously, when we were so misled by Abbey?

I've quoted the bit about Abbey but I'd put that aside and move on. They don't want your business. A problem with a complaint is that actually your friend's handling is implicated in one of the searches.

I think you need to go back to basics here. STOP applying until you are sure of a certain way forward. Your partner should obtain her credit reports from Equifax and Experian and go through both with a fine tooth comb looking for errors. For example, you say the default is settled, but does the report indicate that?

Google for "mortgage multiples" and follow up likely looking results. One of the hits suggests different earnings multiples for different credit scores. Not sure whether the site is up to date or even correct but perhaps your required earnings multiple is partly implicated in the rejection. BTW a good independent adviser should be on top of that.

Anyway although there has been a brief property price increase recently many commentators expect a further dip, so think about waiting until after February as already suggested.

As an aside, I was wondering if there was any way I could raise a formal complaint against Abbey?

We've been dealing through a mortgage advisor (and family friend) who's been able to speak to lenders on our behalf - initially, he approached Abbey for us, and was given the first declined decision (after a credit check), however he then suggested that it might be worth approaching the branch directly, as they had a reputation for being reasonable, to see if we might be able to press our application further if going direct.

So I went to see an advisor in the branch, explained the precise details of our credit issues, specifically asked whether or not we had any more chance of succeeding with an application if approaching directly, given the previous declined decision, and never really got a straight answer. They then went away, re-submitted our application, and it was declined again for exactly the same reason - Abbey's no-compromise policy of rejecting applications with a default within 6 years! My problem is not so much the fact that we were declined, but rather the fact that our credit records were checked twice by an advisor in the branch who seemed to know absolutely nothing at all about their policies.

It seems like a shocking level of service, to me, and incredibly irresponsible on their behalf - is there anything I can do?

Contact a local independent Mortgage Broker and see if they can find a lender that can help you in the circumstances. Find using http://www.unbiased.co.uk/find-a-mortgage-adviser/

If a mortgage broker is unable to help, you may have to leave buying until after Feb 2010, when the default should be removed.

Huckster

Hi - wondering if I might get some advice!

Recently decided to buy a new home with my partner of 3 years. I already own my flat (which I'm selling), and have a good amount of equity (£135-140k, at a conservative estimate), I'd be looking to have a maximum LTV ratio of 75%, and we'd be looking to borrow no more than 4 times combined salary.

No problem, I figured - I know I have a perfect credit history (checked my Experian report - full marks!), and I earn over 1.5 times the amount of my partner. So I thought that we ticked pretty much every box for a lender, even in these tough conditions. However, it turns out that almost 6 years ago (Feb 2004), my partner had a default on one of her student accounts, which was settled immediately, as well as one or two other accounts that went into arrears. This was all settled up within one month, and since then she's had a very clean credit history, but despite being extremely up-front about this with Abbey, who were were told took a more lenient view in these situations, we were declined immediately.

As it turns out, despite my repeated enquiries and assurances to the contrary, they will automatically refuse credit to anyone with a default in the last 6 years. We were extremely disappointed about this, as we were up front about the default from the very beginning, but we were given no indication that this might be the case by Abbey's supposedly 'very experienced' mortgage advisor.

After receiving this incredibly disappointing service from Abbey, I'm feeling very apprehensive as to what our next step should be. Do other lenders apply this hard and fast rule? And how can we take anyone we might meet 'in branch' seriously, when we were so misled by Abbey?