Does appearance affect you getting a mortgage?

[DeadButDelicious]

I shall preface this by saying I don't think it does but I am prepared to be corrected.

We are thinking seriously about buying a house. Working out just how much deposit we need, what sort of mortgage we could get etc. DH went to see his parents to ask their advice what they would recommend etc.

Somehow the conversation got round to his appearance (I say somehow, it always gets there eventually) and his dad says that he's his own worst enemy and 'if you just cut your hair all your problems would go away' and how no one will give him a mortgage if he rocks up looking 'like that'.

For context, DH is 34 and a jeans and T-shirt kind of guy, has long hair, works in a manual/physical job that means he gets dirty but he does shower etc. He's had reasonably high up management jobs in the past (still had long hair but wore a shirt and tie) and honestly they made him ill. He couldn't handle the stress of it. So he found a job with similar pay, with longer but compressed hours that means he gets more time off to spend with our DD and most importantly doesn't require him to eat, sleep and breathe his work. As a result he's much happier, he goes to work, does his job and comes home and he's a much happier man.

So what do you think? Does someone's appearance, length of hair etc reduce your chances of getting a mortgage? Or is his dad just having a pop? Surely it comes down to credit ratings, deposit etc?

As I said, I believe his dad to be talking out of his backside but I am prepared to be proven wrong.

I shouldn’t think it makes any difference, I’ve obtained mortgages online for past 10 years, no-one from the bank has clapped eyes on me!

I'd guess that the appearance of your application forms, references, bank statements etc would impress the bank loans officer. Your husband's physical appearance wouldn't affect them at all.

Your FIL is talking through his hat. Why did your DH even ask his parents opinion anyway, if they always criticise his appearance ? Surely you can both approach a lender and ask them , instead of your family who are presumably NOT bank lenders.

I always apply online for everything. Haven’t been to a branch in years. If you want to go to someone in person then pick a broker - they will be able to help and shouldn’t be judgemental as they need to retain your business

FIL is talking rubbish. Mortgages are decided by a series of ticked boxes not appearance

i never met anyone apart from a broker when i got my mortgage so no appareance wont come into it

Even if you make an application in person, e.g. at a bank, the lending decision is not likely to be taken by the person you speak to

Anyway it will depend on a whole load of online information including your salary minus outgoings (or other affordability assessment), credit score etc.

So...no.

My DH is a mortgage adviser and it doesn’t make any difference. If it did he’d have no mortgages.. He owns pants dating back to 1990

Earnings, deposit, and your latest three bank statements backing up your application are what matters.

Of course it doesn’t. Banks don’t give a shit what you look like.

I doubt it.

In the past, when a mortgage or loan would be given to you based on a bank manager's perception of you when you went to them, cap in hand, then maybe it would have. But it's all done on algorithms now and I don't think hair length is one of criteria they apply.

I had to see people for my first mortgage in the early 1990s. The rest have all been on-line. They care only about your ability to manage your money and pay your mortgage reliably.

My FIL is of the age when to get a mortgage you had to go into your local branch and speak to the manager and they'd decide from there. If yours if of the same era they don't seem to be able to get this out of their heads (we have just got a new mortgage through an online broker and FIL is adamant we'd have got a better deal having a meeting with our local branch manager)

Honestly @ShippingNews I don't know. He says he wanted to ask the advice of people who'd been through the process. I'd of asked anyone but his parents tbh. Not because they are bad people but because it always turns into 'if only you would cut your hair and wear a suit, then money would fall from the sky'. I honestly do not get it.

DH and I applied in branch for our mortgage. DH dressed the same way he does for work - jeans, t shirt and trainers, I just wore casual clothes too. Our appearance didn’t matter, DHs earnings (100k) and the fact we could afford what we wanted to borrow did.

I could maybe believe it used to matter, perhaps back when PILs first got theirs, but these days aren't most done online anyway? Ours have been. No bank I've ever had a loan from have known what I look like!

Unless PILs have been through the process recently I can't see how their advice will be helpful.

Sounds like FIL thinks that getting a mortgage is still about having a meeting with Very Important Bank Manager where you have to convince him (always him, of course) that you are Respectable People

@DawnOfTheDeadleg They have remortgaged fairly recently (definitely within the last 10 years) and helped his sister when she was going through the process a few years back.

Honestly we never thought we'd have children (infertility) so buying a house was never a pressing issue. It was just the two of us and we liked the relative freedom of renting (if you want to move, you move etc) but obviously since having DD we would like some security and to put down some real roots.

I went into the bank years ago to get bank statements for a mortgage. The woman looked me up and down and told me 'you won't get a mortgage'. She hadn't even looked at my account. I can only presume it was because I looked very young and had DC with me in a pram. I took great pleasure in explaining to her that I only wanted the statements to remortgage my existing buy to let. What a bitch, I wish I had complained.

I realise that the decision would not have been made by the person who actually saw us, but I remember than when my boyfriend (now DH) and I both postgrads first went to the university branch to enquire about a mortgage, he was working in SU Ents and wearing a beer keg costume.

@namechange4052 I bet her face was a picture after you explained what you wanted!

It’s completely irrelevant. Even in a branch, the member of staff just fills out forms and presses enter. Or you can apply online and never see anyone in person at all.

My husband has long hair and we have a mortgage. To be fair he is fairly scruffy for his position. Never judge a book by their cover and all. He's shit hot at his job and highly regarded in spite of his flowing locks. he is office based.

Your FIL is talking out his bottom.

Your FIL is 'old school' when you had to see the bank manager to get a mortgage and appearances would definitely matter!!

I had a mortgage advisor this time around but he was only interested in my payslips, proof of ID and any debts! I never saw my eventual mortgage lender ie building society so they won't know if I'm scruffy, tidy, brunette, blonde or pink with yellow spots!