Mortgages, Credit Reports & Credit Checks

What do you (and your advisor) need?

How important is your credit report when you’re getting a mortgage? Having a good credit report can be a great asset to take into your application process. Alternatively, having an imperfect credit score in itself is rarely enough of a disadvantage to get you a big cross on your application, but understanding where your weaknesses might be could be enough to help your advisor get you that stamp of approval – especially if you’ll need a specialist lender.

When you’re looking at getting a mortgage, your advisor will need to understand and assess your credit profile, including any debts, CCJ’s or other marks on your profile that can affect your eligibility. While there are options out there for those with imperfect credit, it’s important that we understand your credit history from the earliest stage, to best match you to a specialist.

For this reason, we ask for a copy of a credit report that your advisor can review. This will also help us match you with the most suitable advisor.

Who do we recommend?  

We partner with and recommend CheckMyFile to our customers as it combines data from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Different lenders use different credit reference systems to review and assess your profile so this gives an incredibly good insight into what lenders may see when reviewing your mortgage application.

What Happens If I Have A Bad Credit Score?

When you first see your credit report it can be a bit overwhelming (and sometimes stressful) but your Mortgage Buddy advisor can take a look at it for you and talk you through next steps. It may be that a default on a payment is an obstacle for your application now but in two months time it will no longer be an issue. This is the kind of valuable information your advisor can offer you, and help you plan your next steps. Whether that’s for now or in the future.

If a mortgage is possible now, your advisor will help you with the next steps, finding a lender and securing a deal to help you get into your new home.

What Do Bad Credit Lenders Do?

The idea of a bad credit mortgage didn’t really exist before the 2007/08 Financial Crisis. Before the crisis, banks tended to lend to almost anyone, meaning that mortgages were often given to people who couldn’t really afford them. After the crisis, banks became more cautious with their lending, but there were still people who needed mortgages and had no one to turn to. At this point, new lenders emerged with different ways of working. They grew able to offer mortgages to people with adverse credit when some lenders wouldn’t (or couldn’t.)

What this now means is that there are lots of reputable new mortgage lenders that might be able to lend to you. Each lender is different, however, and so there are many details to consider before getting your bad credit mortgage.

This is why we started Mortgage Buddy, to match you with a specialist (should you need one) who knows who to approach and to take the legwork out of finding your ideal mortgage.