LOOK GOOD TO A LENDER
How best to prepare yourself to get the mortgage that’s right for you -
Make sure you manage your finances well - Good conduct of your bank account is a major factor in whether a lender will agree or decline your application
Don’t go over your overdraft limit - Another big red flag to lenders
Don’t apply for any more credit - i.e. loans, credit cards, car finance/lease, store cards, interest free. Doing this can have a major impact on any application from both an affordability and credit score point of view
Avoid pay day loans at all costs - Simply seeing these on your bank statements or credit file can lead to an automatic decline from a lot of lenders
Regular and frequent online gambling transactions are another thing lenders don’t like to see on your bank statements
Running quotes for insurance on one of the numerous online comparison sites can also have an impact on your credit rating so should be avoided
Obtain a copy of your credit report, this won’t impact your credit rating. Checking your credit file in advance can be vital to ensuring you get the right mortgage deal
Get on the voters role - Not being registered at your property can have a major impact on your credit rating and could lead to you being declined
Lenders also don’t like it if you have numerous credit cards that are up to or very near their credit limits
Don’t miss any payments - Banks & Card/loan providers will sometimes agree for you to pay something a few days late but often this will lead to them recording a missed payment on your credit file which may mean you are declined for a mortgage
Having no credit can sometimes be as problematic as having bad credit – If you have never had any credit lenders have nothing to gauge how well you pay it back. Getting a small credit card and paying for things such as shopping or petrol and then paying it straight off will help improve your rating
GET YOUR DOCUMENTS READY
As a minimum we will need:
Proof of ID and address (Ideally passport and driving license)
Last 4 months bank statements - These must cover the full month and show all regular expenditure and income. If you have more than one account showing these, we will need 4 months’ worth for all accounts
Proof of income – Last 4 months pay slips for all jobs and 3 years SA302s & tax year overviews if self employed
Proof of deposit (if you are buying a property)
These are the very minimum you will need, depending on your situation there could be more needed but your broker will confirm that
OTHER USEFUL BITS
We will need a full 3 year address history. Make sure this is as accurate as possible and includes all your previous addresses during that period and you provide the post code for each
We will also need a full 12 month employment history (Where applicable), again as accurate as possible with the correct dates and explanations for any gaps
We will need details of any credit commitments you have i.e. loans, credit cards, car finance/lease, store cards, interest free. For each we will need to know exact balances, monthly payments and who the provider is - If you don’t know this information you can either ask the debt provider or get it from your credit report
If you want to consolidate any debts within your remortgage we will need an up to date statement for each showing the interest rate
