To lie about having no childcare to the mortgage lender?

[Toastyapples]

We have applied for a bigger mortgage with the same provider as we need to port our existing mortgage to avoid the early repayment charge. It means that we will need to remortgage that part of the mortgage at the end of next year. I'm currently on maternity leave and this hasn't been a problem as I have a letter from my employer confirming arrangements to go back on the same salary etc.
We are lying in our application by saying we will not have any childcare costs next year when I return to work. We're pushing the amount that they will lend us to the limit, not because we can't actually afford it but because the lenders don't like that my husband is self employed and will loan us far less than we can actually afford. The new monthly mortgage payment is only £50 more than we are currently paying because we have been overpaying for the last 2 years. We know exactly how much childcare will cost and have actually budgeted for a £2 an hour increase in price just in case and a loan that my husband is paying will have cleared freeing up £450 a month before we need to remortgage next year.
We've been very lucky that Covid hasn't impacted my husband and he's worked throughout and I'm NHS so my job is secure. Even in the worst case scenario, I could afford the repayments myself if my husband stopped work to stay home with DS so we do know we can afford this mortgage comfortably before anyone wants to tell me that I'm being stupid applying for a mortgage I might not be able to afford... My worry is not that we can't afford it but that we'll be penalised for obviously lying at this stage about having no childcare costs when I go back to work. We were just going to say that our parents circumstances changed so we had to choose paid for childcare instead.
Will we have problems remortgaging because of this?

I’d do the same if you’re confident you can afford it. People circumstances change all the time and the point at which you get the mortgage isn’t necessarily going to be indicative of your king term affordability anyway.

It’s fine OP you’re overthinking.

I may be giving awful advice and I don't have a mortgage and have never applied for one. However, I would do this. You don't have the childcare costs now and circumstances change post mortgage approval all the time. For all they know, you could be planning for family to care for your child and then that fall through and you need to utilise paid childcare.
I wouldn't think twice about it in your situation. To be Frank, I plan to do this when we do apply for a mortgage.

I'd say it's definitely an area where decisions change. I mean given the current crisis it's next to impossible to predict life so as long as you're sure you can afford it, then yes of do it too. As you say, if questioned how can they prove that the plan want for great aunt Mary to have them.
However you'll likely get told off on here for lying and fraud and generally stealing a mortgage they wouldn't otherwise give you

They may check your bank statements so I wouldn’t lie.

I'd have no issue with doing that in your circs. Once you have the mortgage and move no one will give 2 boots. See also buying cars on finance, moving in with partners etc. As long as there is no payment out of your bank accounts for childcare it won't be a factor.

I’d go ahead if I were you. Mortgage lenders are being much more risk averse now. In the future you could always say your situation changed. When we got a new mortgage we were asked “is there anything that might be happening in your future to affect what you an afford?” (Ie mortgage speak for are you having another baby) I was actually pregnant at the time (not showing) and said no!

Our mortgage advisor basically advised me to have the childcare costs come out of my DH’s account for 3 months, so they were hidden! (He’s not on the mortgage). So, on that basis, I would say go for it - we certainly did. Just make sure there are no obvious regular childcare payments in the last 3 months of bank statements.

Do they even ask this? My last mortgage application was 8 years ago while I was on maternity leave and I had a 6-month old at the time and there were zero questions about childcare costs (nor about maintenance payments for DH’s other children, which was double our nursery fees at the time). But maybe mortgage application questions have become more stringent since then?

I would - circumstances change all the time so if they did come back to you next year and say ‘how’s that childcare thing going’ (highly unlikely) you can just say things have changed.

We lied a few years ago when they asked us if we could see any change in our circumstances happening in the next few years. We said no. I had just found out I was pregnant.

Only do it if you’re absolutely sure you can afford it though.

Once you have the mortgage they won't know/check. I was exactly the same as the above poster I got pregnant afew months after we got our mortgage so our circumstances changed.

I was pregnant for my mortgage and didn't mention it. Also lied about childcare. Managed to make it look like we didn't pay any for the months we needed. Our mortgage is prefect affordable. I'd go for it

As it is in the future it could change anyway, it’s not like it is something which is happening now so just go ahead with it

Like many others we had to tell them about childcare for DC1 as it came out of the bank account but we absolutely did not mention DC2 who was cooking nicely when we were remortgaging for a better rate. DC2 actually born just a week or so after it was completed!

I would definitely lie for this. How can they check? What could they prove? You say that you weren't even sure you would return to work!

Last time we remortgaged I was the main breadwinner but also heavily pregnant and about to halve my income. I didn’t mention it as I knew the remortgage was the right thing for us and affordable. Technically not lying as based my answers on “then and there” not future info.

Go for it OP.

I was expecting everyone to say no you shouldnt do that. I agree with PP I would lie about it, as long as I knew I could afford it then I wouldn't worry about it

It’s fine for you to do this. You can just say that you changed your mind and instead of using family decided to use paid childcare when the time came. Completely reasonable and nobody would query it anyway!

Hello, just be sure there’s no way they can find out x

The woman who was helping me apply for my mortgage was blunt and was telling me unless we changed some facts it wouldn’t go through. One was childcare - I was 4 months away from getting the 30 free hours childcare so I can’t remember what she did but it wasn’t truthful.. I hate lying as it feels stressful but I did what she said, it all went through and I pay less now than I did in rent so no issues repaying!

It’s mortgage fraud so I definitely wouldn’t do this as it’s not right and in case it was somehow discovered. I’m a lawyer, though, and high standards of conduct are expected in the profession.

Just think of it like this - you plan to use family as free childcare, but next year your circumstance changes and you end up having to pay for childcare. Changes in circumstances must happen all the time. I would do it.

We are actually using my mum for childcare for the foreseeable but at some point we’re planning to send DC to nursery (once Covid concerns have died down) for socialisation purposes. We’re currently applying for a new mortgage and I’m not planning on telling the lender, we don’t have a confirmed date for mum to drop childcare and it could be months/years off and even then the amount we will use and pay for will depend entirely on our finances at the time which are all totally hypothetical at the moment. I can’t see much difference between that and your scenario tbh.

This is for the mortgage application your doing now, then it's about your circumstances now and you don't have any childcare costs...

Where's the lie?

I would do it.