To ask how intrusive your last mortgage application process was?

I moved to Halifax when I remortgaged (via a broker), I gave them bank statements from my current account but that's just bills, all my day to day spending is from a separate account and they didn't ask to see that. Though LTV was only 37% so really low.

This was Halifax as a new customer.

Pretty intrusive but I didn't mind. I was remortgaging so it wasn't my first rodeo.

I was asked a lot of questions about my single status at 35 and plans for the next 5 years... as if there's a plan. I start each week not knowing what's going to happen by the end of the week. 🤷‍♀️

Yes, they ask questions about any financial commitments - Sky is a contract you’re obliged to pay for the duration you signed up for, so like any loan or debt they want to hear what plans you have in place if your financial situation changes, such as savings or income protection insurance. That’s what they’re interested in - discretionary spending, unless we’re talking about large and regular purchases which don’t match your declared incomes, isn’t going to be given more than a couple of cursory questions to ascertain that you give the correct answer (“well, if I was unemployed I’d stop buying Starbucks everyday” etc)

When they look at your bank statements they are mostly interested in your salary being paid in and contractual outgoings such as loans. They will also look for dodgy transactions that maybe show illegal activity.

Most have an affordability calculator in the background which defines how much you spend rather than scrutinising your bank statements. They won’t give a monkeys about what you spend your money on as long as you’re not in deficit each month. Most don’t even care about gambling unless it shows a clear problem.
Excessive/ regular cash withdrawals would get asked about as you could be hiding a regular outgoing such as childcare or a debt.

The transactions they’ll really hone in on are anything to do with gambling, frequent large cash deposits and withdrawals, and sizeable purchases which don’t fit your income levels. They’re looking for unusual transactions and risky spending patterns rather everyday purchases, you won’t be questioned about your coffees!

Never had any difficult questions from the lender. It’s dealing with the solicitors after it’s been agreed in principle that’s always been the headache. (No intrusive questions just really laborious).

In my recent mortgage application all they were bothered about was standing orders and direct debits, not every transaction I had made. They're usually just interested in your committed expenditure

We used an independent broker, he asked a few questions to clarify a couple of outgoings on our accounts but wouldn't describe it as intrusive & there was nothing that was a barrier to us getting accepted for the actual mortgage.

Weirdly we had no hassle at all with Santander 3 years ago...we moved and took a five year fix and quite literally the only thing we submitted was 3 months wage slips....no bank statements, nothing else at all, and the mortgage was approved really quickly. We did have a good broker but was incredibly straightforward.

We've been with Santander for 6 years and never had an issue. The brokers we've used get their fee from the lender.

Always used a broker and never been asked anything.

Have to agree with PP, Santander were pricks, utter bastards, we’ve been their customers for ten yrs and they put us through hell when we moved in 2022 despite having a LTV of 0.4 and impeccable rating. It was only the fact we were porting a five year fix at 1.1% that we stayed with them, otherwise we would have gone elsewhere. OP, avoid brokers (waste of money) and avoid Santander and you’ll be fine.

Avoid the Santander is my advice.
We had a 7 week nightmare with them when we upsized this summer. Customer for ten years and they wanted 3 forms of proof that a 37p balance had been cleared, a signed "dear Santander we promise not to buy another sofa on interest free" letter and also a breakdown of where our children are each day as they didn't believe our child care costs even though they were there on our statement in black and white. Finally offered 20k less than the AIP which meant we couldn't afford new house.
There was more and I promise I made none of this up. It was unbelievably petty and pedantic.
Halifax took 3 days to offer what we needed. No hassle at all. Had to pay £5k ERC but worth it to get away from those clowns at Santander.

We did ours through a broker and it didn't feel instrusive at all. Just wanted salary details, details of any ongoing financial commitments and we had to send off bank statements. They didn't even want credit card statements, which was weird as we do the majority of our spending on them for the rewards and pay off every month, so our bank statements are very dull!

We did end up going with our bank, so I guess they 'knew' us already.

I was cautious with my spending for a good 3-4 months prior to applying. Mostly because my income stream isn't the typical 9-5 job, and my pay can vary massively week to week. In the end they took 6 months of payslips, and as I'm paid weekly, that was an arse. But that's just because of the work I do. The standard is 3-4 months worth.

As it happens, I probably needn't have been so cautious. They seemed to have no interest in what I actually spent my money on. I don't think they raised a single query over anything like that. As long as you're not going into the red every month, and your credit score is good, then that's all they seem to really care about.

Didn't get asked anything. Mortgage broker handled it all, just emailed over the statements and that was it.

When porting the tiny remains of my mostly paid off mortgage between houses, I still had to go through a full affordability test. This included a question on what I would do if the interest rate increased by a specific amount, meaning the mortgage payment would be £10 more expensive a month.

No hassle at all
It was a renewal with existing mortgage lender who I also bank with
I have quite high equity, not that long left on mortgage and earn ok
The worst for me was the length of time it took to get an appointment as I wanted to shorten the term and interest rates were rising so cost me more!

This basically but we have LTV ratio of about 0.3 and are only borrowing 1.5 X my salary ( we don't use DH's income as self employed).

I have (recovering) bad credit and it was fine, so you'll have no issues at all I'd have thought. We had no invasive questions or line-by-line bank statement inspections: we fit affordability and clearly weren't spending money on anything they found objectionable, so it was okay.

Unless you either don't really fit the affordability or there's something a lender is likely to raise an eyebrow at, they're unlikely to make you justify every purchase.

Off the top of my head, that's stuff like:

• gambling;
• disproportionately high spending on frivolous stuff (if you've got an issue with affordability, especially - they're going to be less bothered at you spending £1k a month on Deliveroo if your salary is £10k a month and the mortgage is only £500, as a silly example);
• large cash withdrawals or deposits;
• unclear income sources;
• regular payments not declared on your affordability assessment (I've only ever applied via a broker but I imagine it's the same direct to lender, if you do that - they'll ask you to list all incomings and outgoings, and if you haven't declared, say, a £25 a month DD then they may ask what it is to include it in the assessment.

I think the ltv and salary multiple makes a difference plus any unusual outgoings

Never been questioned on spending but i haven't borrowed more than I can clearly afford. Last time we borrowed was 2020 so not that long ago

I don't think anyone will ask anything to that level of detail?