What would make you worry about applying for a mortgage or remortgage – let’s talk about it with L&C Mortgages

[YanaMumsnet]

There are lots of situations that people think would make securing a mortgage or remortgage tricky, such as while pregnant or on maternity leave, going part-time or freelance, or maybe while on probation in a new job. With this in mind, L&C Mortgages would like to find out more about the concerns and risks you are faced with or might even put you off from applying for a mortgage or remortgage.

Here’s what L&C has to say: “At L&C we make mortgages easy. There are lots of myths about how difficult it is to apply for one in certain situations but we can demystify them for you. If you’re looking for a mortgage deal while on maternity leave, are pregnant, going part-time or on a contract we’re here to help you. We search across 90 lenders to find the best deal for you and our qualified advisers use their experience and knowledge of which lenders are likely to be understanding about your situation. Our service is fee free and we’ll be there from start to finish taking care of the paperwork. Our aim is to make life easier for you so we’d really like to know what situations would concern parents or parents-to-be when applying for a mortgage or remortgage.”

So we are asking you, when do you think is the right time for you and your family to get a mortgage or to remortgage your home? Which personal circumstances do you think can be a problem to secure a mortgage? Were you able to secure a mortgage or remortgage in a tricky situation? What was your tricky situation? What advice would you give others in your situation?

Whatever your experiences and concerns are of your family’s mortgage situation, share them on the thread below and you’ll be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw.
MNHQ
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[EagleVisionSquirrelWork]

I've almost always been self-employed and getting my first mortgage was basically going to be impossible, so I put my business on hold for a year and took a salaried job for the sole purpose of getting on the property ladder. For subsequent house moves I've done self-cert mortgages but I think that's harder now (I haven't moved for some time). To be honest, I think it's nonsensical that people who can't get a mortgage big enough for their needs often end up in overpriced rented accommodation that costs more than the mortgage repayments they've been turned down for. I think being able to demonstrate that you've kept up with a certain level of rent payment for a given period of time should be a valid way of demonstrating the affordability of a mortgage.

[torthecatlady]

I wasn't in a tricky position when we first took out our mortgage, we both worked full time and no dependants.

Our mortgage deal is up for renewal in Feb/ March next year. Issues that might arise for us are that I'm on a lower wage than before and we are trying to conceive (I earn about half of what I used to).

We're not in a position to postpone changing our deal, as fertility-wise we are waiting for IVF and could be called in at anytime. I'm fairly sure we will get a better interest rate than we are on now anyway as it is high.

[Daffodil2018]

My situation is that I'm on maternity leave at the moment and will be going back to work in 2020. I am hoping to go back part time but because my husband is self employed and my monthly salary is our guaranteed income, I'm probably going to have to go back up to 5 days a week in 2021, when my DD will still only be 2 years old. This is because we need to move house to a bigger place and will need my salary for the mortgage.

The combination of him needing 3 years' accounts and me being on SMP means we can't move for at least two years anyway. It's all quite stressful and hard to predict what we'll be able to afford by then.

Where we are, I think house prices mean family homes are now only affordable with either two salaries or a large amount of inherited wealth (which we don't have). It puts a lot more pressure on women in my opinion. I would love to work part time until my DD is school age but won't be able to.

[sharond101]

I worry as my income is not guaranteed being self employed even although its consistent.

[JC4PMPLZ]

I think I am starting to get nervous now, as I am getting older and work in a precarious industry,. I have had 2 mortgages - second one nearly paid off. I thought about getting a mortgage to move to a bigger home, but don't think anyone would lend me money now. Times are turbulent - not sure anyone can plan that far into the future now and being in the SE the size of mortgage I would need to upgrade is huge.

[StinkEye]

I locked my mortgage deal for 3 years, about 30months ago - my husbands income has gone down by a third since then, which worries me when it's time for a new mortgage in 2020.

[del2929]

my main worry would be if finances ever changed and we were unable to keep up with payments

[MrsFrTedCrilly]

Health and sickness is always what worries me as when applying for a mortgage preciously my OH was on sick leave. Thankfully all was ok and they went back to work but it’s always something that concerns me.

[redbushtea]

My worries about remortgaging would be about my future income changes, and my age eligibility as I am now over 55.

[Pepperwand]

I am anxious about remortgaging next year (our 5 year fix ends in 2020) as in the past couple of years I have had a baby, returned to work part time and am currently on maternity leave with my second child. I'm therefore worried about affordability checks as my earnings have reduced at the same time as childcare costs have increased. We can afford our mortgage payments but it still makes me anxious about the deals we will be offered!

[QforCucumber]

What worried me is though between us we earn around £10k more than when we bought our house 6 years ago the borrowing rules have tightened and since we have made overpayments to the mortgage rather than building up too much in savings we now, apparently, 'can't afford' the next step house we wish to go for (even though the repayments will be less than our current payment + overpayment) meaning we are stuck in a house we don't want because some online system says we can't afford it.

[jitterbugintomybrain]

I'm self employed so worry that my situation may change

[voyager50]

QforCucumber - I really feel for you - I don't understand why the system has to be so unfair and with no logic - it should allow a human to understand what people can and can't afford rather than a computer.

I am worried that I will not be able to move again as my partner is self-employed and I work part time.

[hairtoss]

I worry that although I earn enough to re-mortgage at the moment, I would like to reduce my hours in the future (my mortgage payments are very affordable) but then I won't be able to remortgage and will be stuck on a standard rate.
Ironic!
I am also worried about Brexit - i think it's a disaster for the UK & Ireland, I imagine we are going to be in recession/no growth for a very long time, and this will have an impact on my ability to get a good mortgage rate.

[thingywotsit]

I no longer work full-time. The combined household wage makes us more than comfortable but on my own I don't feel financially viable and therefore always worry that I will adversely affect the application outcome.

[Gazelda]

We're both 50+ so imagine we'd find it quite tricky if we wanted to remortgage now.

[buckley1983]

I always worry about my credit rating - fortunately there are loads of apps to help monitor this now, but it makes me realise how many things can affect your credit rating.
My fear comes from when we first applied for a mortgage & were declined.. the reason? A student account I had taken out & maxed out the overdraft on & then forgotten about (irresponsible I know, I have learnt my lesson!!) - I repaid the account in full, but as the account had defaulted - this remained on my credit report for 6 years. We had to wait until that had been removed from my credit report before we could get a mortgage together. It really taught me the long-term consequences of my actions.
We're hoping to remortgage within the next 12 months - so I'm trying really hard to avoid any negative factors on my credit report - ensuring all payments are on time, old accounts closed & not applying for any additional credit. Fingers crossed!

[Bawdrip]

We're looking at buying our first property at the moment buy I'm worried about buying now in case Brexit causes a crash.

[bingspando]

Being a blended family with 3 kids- two teenagers and a toddler- we need to up-size and relocate to better location in our mid 40s. We are worried about taking out a bigger/longer mortgage at this age.

[BristolMum96]

My main worry is just keeping up with payments. My other worry is we will never move to a bigger or nicer house as we have already maxed our mortgage borrowing on our first house and our circumstances are unlikely to change to allow us more.

[AgeingDurannie]

I was nervous arranging my current mortgage as I was looking for one based mainly on income from child maintenance from ex. Thankfully the provider I eventually went with was very understanding and after requesting LOTS of old bank statements, copies of our separation agreement, proof of investments etc was able to accommodate and actually I had worried over nothing. They were easy to deal with, and much better than the long, tedious, forever on hold, passed from pillar to post experience with my previous provider.(With whom I once spent over 48 hours on the phone with - not in one go- simply trying to remove consent to lease and revert to residential mortgage on a joint mortgage).

[OrangeSamphire]

The trickiest situation we faced was when moving house, to a cheaper house, with a bigger deposit, and therefore a much smaller mortgage but my income had changed from employed to self-employed. Same amount. Same field.

Couldn't get a mortgage offer...

We had an exemplary credit record and had paid against a mortgage for the previous ten years but even our own lender didn't want to know.

So we had to delay moving. Continuing to pay a BIGGER monthly mortgage amount for another two years, simply because the lenders wouldn't see sense. Totally bizarre.

I never want to have to take out another mortgage again, but our rate will be up for renewal in 4 years. Hoping we'll have paid the damn thing off by then. Mortgage companies don't care about real people with real lives, just tick boxes that a computer algorithm can understand.

[Brown76]

I'm worried about timing the application. When we moved into our property we had a 5 year fix. Since then have had a baby and have a big childcare bill. Mortgage is up for renewal next September when child starts school, but we may have to wait longer to remortgage as we'll have to show 3 months of the lower outgoings. Plus I'll only be able to borrow based on last 3 years accounts (self employed, part time) whilst in fact the start of full time school will mean much more warming potential I won't be able to borrow against this for ages.

[BuzzShitbagBobbly]

I don't generally have worries about obtaining a mortgage, but I do worry about fixing v tracking; and if fixed, ensuring I'd have enough income to meet the "stress test" interest levels of 10 or 15% if that was was happening when a fix expired. Especially now due to brexit uncertainty.

Which is what I have been thinking about very recently as my least deal is coming to an end.

It's very boring but necessary!