My husband and I are trying to get on the property ladder - we've been renting for 9 years and want to make our first property purchase. We've visited a couple of developments and had a discussion with an mortgage IFA.
During the discussion, he advised he would place us with Abbey (Santander) even though out situation was unusual. (He is self-employed, 4 years with 3 years accounts showing a solid increase in income of £8K to £10K each year, and I am employed by him). We were told that the lender would only take his income into account.
Initially told that Abbey wouldn't look at the case based on the last 2 years figures alone. They then requested the year before and then suddenly they said they would look at it using last years income (brilliant!). So after some backwards and forwards - our IFA got to working on the agreement in principle. He then come back to us and said abbey declined due to a low credit score. So we ran a credit check Equifax and was suprised to see that the score was in the green (Good) and there were just 2 defaults on credit cards from about 6 years ago (but the cards are now settled).
Our IFA then said he would try with Halifax as they offered a similar rate and would also look at the application based on last years figures. They also came back declined after the agreement in principle was submitted, but they failed to give a reason why.
We are now stuck as we don't really know what the reason for the decline(s) were, and therefore don't know what we need to do to rectify the situation, despite being led to believe there is no problem with income, and as far as we can see, there should not really be a reason why it's failed on the credit score.
Has anyone else had any problems with trying to get a new buy mortgage? Any advice? We're tearing our hair out - it's so frustrating.
During the discussion, he advised he would place us with Abbey (Santander) even though out situation was unusual. (He is self-employed, 4 years with 3 years accounts showing a solid increase in income of £8K to £10K each year, and I am employed by him). We were told that the lender would only take his income into account.
Initially told that Abbey wouldn't look at the case based on the last 2 years figures alone. They then requested the year before and then suddenly they said they would look at it using last years income (brilliant!). So after some backwards and forwards - our IFA got to working on the agreement in principle. He then come back to us and said abbey declined due to a low credit score. So we ran a credit check Equifax and was suprised to see that the score was in the green (Good) and there were just 2 defaults on credit cards from about 6 years ago (but the cards are now settled).
Our IFA then said he would try with Halifax as they offered a similar rate and would also look at the application based on last years figures. They also came back declined after the agreement in principle was submitted, but they failed to give a reason why.
We are now stuck as we don't really know what the reason for the decline(s) were, and therefore don't know what we need to do to rectify the situation, despite being led to believe there is no problem with income, and as far as we can see, there should not really be a reason why it's failed on the credit score.
Has anyone else had any problems with trying to get a new buy mortgage? Any advice? We're tearing our hair out - it's so frustrating.