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 lie too.
Seems like very invasive questioning on their part!

We recently remortgaged. They asked about school fees.
They knew we paid for DD but when they asked about whether DS was going Private from Sept I said no (he is).

How will you answer them when they query why no childcare costs with both of you working when you return to work?

My last application (DH also not on application) saw the mortgage provider question my childcare payments from our joint account - he wanted to put them down as just mine. They can and will question this.

Should be fine as long as you don't have any payments from the past on there. Our bank statements were looked at.

Be mindful of the future - if you think you will want to borrow money (for renovations, new car etc) against the house then you may find they look at your statements again.

Good luck!

In your circumstances I absolutely would do this. If you were already paying for childcare then I wouldn't but only because it would show up on your bank statement.

As long as you can definitely afford the repayments, I wouldn't worry for a second about what you put on the forms. Once you have the mortgage, nobody cares. I had a BTL one at one point, which I didn't use for a BTL (I repaid it 10 years later with a lump sum, in case anyone wonders).

I can't see the harm. We got ours when we both worked. Then I became a stay at home mum. We have two small kids and only one of us works. Although partner earns enough now to cover what I earned too. It's normal to have families after you get a mortgage and they don't suddenly decide you can't have your house. I would lie too as you know itl get paid. X

They go through your bank statements line my line, I wouldn’t lie.

They go through your bank statements line my line, I wouldn’t lie

Can people pls read threads properly- currently OP doesn’t pay childcare- they won’t go through her bank statement after the mortgage has started.

It depends on the lender I think. I remember having to provide a letter from my employer that said I was definitely returning to work after maternity leave. That still wasn't enough. We had to wait til I was physically back to work in the NHS. This was about five years ago so things may have changed. It wouldn't have occurred to me to lie on the application but like a PP I'm in a profession with a code of conduct that I have to adhere to.

Yes, just do it!
I was made redundant when we were buying our house... we “forgot” to tell our new mortgage providers! 😀

Yeah, it’s fine! I sat in the meeting 4 months pregnant and told them our circumstances were not changing for the foreseeable future

I’d fib.
Circumstances change all the time, job losses, employed to self employed, illness, marriage breakdowns, deaths, unforeseen expense, pregnancies, etc.
As long as you know you can afford it, I can’t see the issue.

@FelicityElectricity I believe this has changed as not lending to women on mat leave counts as discrimination under EU law so lenders had to change their rules - currently going through the process and checked this out before starting it.

Mortgage lenders are being much more risk averse now.

Why do you think that is? To spoil the OP’s fun, or because there’s an actual risk to avoid?

What happens if interest rates rise by 2%? We’re heading into a recession, too.

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!

It’s almost as if the credit crunch never happened, isn’t it? It was only just over ten years ago. What were the root causes? Oh yeah, lenders and mortgage advisors enthusiastically selling mortgages to people who couldn’t afford to service them. Loans that were then packaged up as derivatives, which were shown to be almost worthless. Your mortgage advisor is an idiot.

What are the mortgage company going to do about it? Yes, you have the letter saying you’re going back to work but equally you could change your mind tomorrow. Don’t worry about it.

It's fine.

I fibbed to my mortgage provider - I was in one job, but had just been offered a second one, which was a significant pay increase but with what was a technically temporary contract (although almost guaranteed it would become permanent - which it did). I was a single buyer so knew that they would never give me the mortgage with a temporary contract so just provided all my details as per the current, permanent, job I was technically still in, but working my notice period. By the time the house purchase was completed and the mortgage kicked in I had been in the new job two months, but never told them that.

I did check if they needed to know if I changed jobs or someone moved in with me but they said once the mortgage was approved it was up to me what I did as long as I made the repayments.

Banks can make some amendments but basically they are working with a tick box, 'computer says no' system, and real life isn't like that, so as long as you know what you can reasonably afford go for it.

Like a PP, I wouldn't do it because it's mortgage fraud and if I was found out I'd lose my job.

When they're doing the financial checks, banks aren't just checking that you can afford the current interest rate, they're also making sure that you can withstand any rate shock if the interest rates rise significantly between now and if you move onto SVR when the fixed term ends. It's for your own protection as well as theirs.

It’s fine OP. Just be aware that in future applications, they will check through your bank statements. We’ve had this every time we’ve remortgaged. They ask questions about certain spending so they will notice.

But, just do as you say you’re going to. It’s fine.

But how would they know once you have the mortgage and as long as you're paying it on time every month ? They don't surely have the right to then think 'oh we'll just have another peruse through their latest bank statements'

i would do it theonly thing i can think of is if they say will your circumstances changge but seeing as noone knows that you can just say no

if its in their terms bah they can

When we applied for our mortgage, I was early days pregnant. We didn't mention it. We didn't feel it was relevant as I could have not been pregnant, but then be pregnant 2 weeks after the mortgage was approved. You can't account for every changing circumstance. Like you, we knew we could afford it.