As a Mortgage Broker who specialises in the more complex and bad credit cases, it never ceases to amaze us how many times we hear from people who have been told that they can not be helped – only for us to be able to get them a Mortgage.
Some of the more complex cases we write a blog post on as we think it is a good way to explain how we can help. Many people worry about discussing their situation and these examples hopefully show that you are not alone and that we have seen
IVA & Bankruptcy Mortgage? – we can help with that
The first case was a Mortgage where both applicants had been in an IVA and then went Bankrupt. The bankruptcies had been discharged 3 years that month at the time of application. We managed to obtain rates of under 3% with a 10% deposit which still now I am really amazed with. The applicants had been told by a couple of brokers they could not be helped unless they had a much higher deposit and even we thought the rates would be more than double what we eventually managed to get them.
DMP Mortgage? – we can help with that
The second case was another first and something we had never really considered until it had hit our desk. Most of the lenders who will consider Debt Management Plans (DMPs) will only allow there to have been one DMP per application. In this instance we had a couple and both had been in a DMP and were therefore falling outside criteria. Prior to coming to us, the applicants had been to another broker who had tried 3-4 lenders and all had been declined before telling them there was not much else that could be done. We picked up the case and our first application went to offer.
Delinquent accounts and missed payments? – We can help with that
The next example, from an adverse perspective was relatively minor, there was a delinquent account on the credit file and also some late payments on a water bill. We had no concerns about placing this case, this is what we would class as a standard case for us. However the reason I wanted to make a point about it being a good example is because we managed to get it through at normal rates, 2.44% with no lenders fee and only a 10% deposit. I think this shows that with a relatively small deposit and some relatively minor adverse (although it was bordering on the realms of not so minor) we can get normal rates. Bad credit does not necessarily mean bad rates. The customer was also given £300 cashback from the lender on completion!
RTB & Defaults Mortgage? – We can help with that
At the beginning of the year we placed a case for a customer purchasing their home under the Right to Buy scheme. The applicants had a couple of defaults in the years prior to applying for the Mortgage. There are not many options out there when it comes to purchase a property under the Right to Buy scheme with defaults, but we managed to place this case. Rate wise, we were looking at around 5.5%. Despite the higher than normal rate, the repayments were more or less in line with their rental payments.
DMP & Debt Consolidation Mortgage? – We can help with that
Our final example was probably the most complex and stressful Mortgage we ever worked on. We quite literally pulled the rabbit out of the hat on this case. The customers were bordering on having to sell up the family home, lose their business and having to make some very tough decisions. I am pretty confident that most Mortgage Brokers would not have been able to help on this case, it is one I feel like we will remember for a long time…maybe even have nightmares about for a long time to come also. I will not write about it on this page, but you can see our post about it here.
Summary
As you can probably tell from all of these examples, there is no standard scenario. There can be similarities between applications but everyone is different. Employed/Self Employed, number of defaults or CCJs, values of them, Bankruptcy, IVAs, DMPs, size of deposit and so on.
I always like to think we have seen it all, but then something else will pop up and give us something new and different to get our teeth into. If you are struggling to get a Mortgage or are concerned about being judged, dont! You really are not alone. Our job is to help you take the next step in your life, get you back on track and put those issues behind you. We have probably not seen everything, but we have seen more than most brokers when it comes to bad credit.