Background - My credit history is nigh on perfect. Partner has bad history, she ran into difficulties back in 2008 before we met and was forced to pass it all to a debt management company.
She settled this debt in April 2011 and became debt free. In an attempt to start re-building her credit, she first took out a pre-paid credit card which she no longer has and is currently using two high interest, credit builder style cards.
Partners annual basic income is 19k. Mine is also about 19k, but last tax year with overtime I earnt 35k. On track this year to earn slightly less but still over 30k.
First ever application for mortgage was in Feb 2012 with a 15% deposit, rejected due to credit scoring. Second attempt was in Sept 2012, rejected again due to credit scoring. Both times we applied through London & Country and only with mainstream lenders.
L&C advised higher interest lenders such as GE may have considered us, but feeling disillusioned with it all, we walked away.
Roll forward to now and we're thinking about it all again. Probably wouldn't apply again until Easter time and still only have 20% deposit, but saving quite rapidly now. (Anywhere from £250-£1000 a month depending on overtime available).
Bad thing is, partner still has two defaults on credit file. One will drop off in October this year, the other doesn't drop off until Oct 2014.
So questions are:
1) Is it worth considering an application with a higher interest lender with the view to switching this in a couple of years when partners credit file is clear?
2) Is it even worth applying again whilst she still has the two defaults on file? I'm assuming she will be considered high risk until these defaults disappear no matter what she does with re-building credit. Would it be better to just forget the idea, save as much as possible and try again after Oct 2014?
Should add that I had a large amount of debt from age 18 (now 31) but always managed it well, played the system and never defaulted etc hence my good credit history, but also never saved as I was an idiot and living the high life I couldn't actually afford. Have been debt free for well over a year now and am brutally frugal with money these days! We are very lucky to have a large portion of our deposit coming from partners dad.
I know only we can answer these questions and make a decision for ourselves. I'm just looking for advice and wandering what others would do if they were in our situation?
She settled this debt in April 2011 and became debt free. In an attempt to start re-building her credit, she first took out a pre-paid credit card which she no longer has and is currently using two high interest, credit builder style cards.
Partners annual basic income is 19k. Mine is also about 19k, but last tax year with overtime I earnt 35k. On track this year to earn slightly less but still over 30k.
First ever application for mortgage was in Feb 2012 with a 15% deposit, rejected due to credit scoring. Second attempt was in Sept 2012, rejected again due to credit scoring. Both times we applied through London & Country and only with mainstream lenders.
L&C advised higher interest lenders such as GE may have considered us, but feeling disillusioned with it all, we walked away.
Roll forward to now and we're thinking about it all again. Probably wouldn't apply again until Easter time and still only have 20% deposit, but saving quite rapidly now. (Anywhere from £250-£1000 a month depending on overtime available).
Bad thing is, partner still has two defaults on credit file. One will drop off in October this year, the other doesn't drop off until Oct 2014.
So questions are:
1) Is it worth considering an application with a higher interest lender with the view to switching this in a couple of years when partners credit file is clear?
2) Is it even worth applying again whilst she still has the two defaults on file? I'm assuming she will be considered high risk until these defaults disappear no matter what she does with re-building credit. Would it be better to just forget the idea, save as much as possible and try again after Oct 2014?
Should add that I had a large amount of debt from age 18 (now 31) but always managed it well, played the system and never defaulted etc hence my good credit history, but also never saved as I was an idiot and living the high life I couldn't actually afford. Have been debt free for well over a year now and am brutally frugal with money these days! We are very lucky to have a large portion of our deposit coming from partners dad.
I know only we can answer these questions and make a decision for ourselves. I'm just looking for advice and wandering what others would do if they were in our situation?