Just a little disclaimer at the beginning on this article, we did not take these applications on. There were no credit checks and we were able to inform the people on the initial phone call or very soon after receiving the paperwork that we would be unable to help.
We often make posts about success stories, but we have recently had a few enquiries where we are unable to help. I thought it would be a good idea to give examples of these as it may help to understand that we are not here to waste your time or ours. If we can not help, we will tell you at the earliest opportunity. We may however be able to give some pointers or suggestions to help you down the line.
Examples where we have been unable to help:
5% Deposit and a DMP
This example we spoke to the customers and they had entered a DMP within the last 6 months. They also had the bear minimum deposit available in order to purchase a property with perfect credit. In this example the 2 issues combined I believe were impossible to overcome. I think a 15% deposit would have been needed or the obvious one, no DMP.
As feedback for the customer we advised a bigger deposit would be needed. Time would not have made much difference as even in 2-3 years we would have still needed a bigger deposit.
RTB, Adverse and Benefit only income
This example we spoke to a person who was looking to purchase their property under the Right to buy (RTB) scheme. The good news here was that they were looking at around 50% LTV so when they mentioned the adverse we were not overly worried. The adverse was a handful of CCJs all registered within the last 3 years. Everything was looking quite positive, the only slight concern we had was the size of the mortgage, we were unsure if it was too small. But that was the only think we needed to check. Until…
The applicant then told us their only income at the time was from benefits.
That unfortunately was the sticking point. Benefit only income even with perfect credit is very difficult to overcome. Once you add in the RTB and the adverse, it was just too much with everything combined.
Summary
With both of these examples we were able to inform the customers that we would be unable to help on the initial enquiry. We see this as a positive as we did not build their hopes up or take too much of their time. We were also able to inform them why their application was not possible.
In the examples above it would have been a bigger deposit and getting a paid job. Whether or not they were doable is another issue, but at least they went off the call knowing what was needed.
Its always nice to have the conversation. We try to add some value even where we are unable to help, so by please even if you think there is a slim chance, pick up the phone. There is no harm in having a conversation.