Single parent mortgage

[Autumn29]

Hello, I am looking for some advise from those of you who are single parents rhat for a mortgage. Who did you get one with? Did they take benefits into account... And how much could I realistically borrow as a single person working pt. X

I have mine through Halifax. My tax credits, CB and CM were all taken into account. How much you can borrow depends on your total income, and you will need to declare any debt you already have.

Halifax have an online calculator you can use, and I'd assume most of the big lenders do.

You'll likely need a deposit though.

I’m not sure about benefits and pt working, I’d say that’s quite a barrier unless your borrowing amount is quite low but I got our mortgage and bought our house without my DH at all. He was newly self employed so they wouldn’t even look at him. Mortgages very often are only based on a single person. The only think the bank cares about is risk.

Went to a IFA who said Halifax as they took my CB and Tax Credits as income. Second option would have been Nationwide.

Thank u so much. I should have a deposit of 50,000ish. I shall look into Halifax I was hoping with pt work and my tax credits being taken into account it should make it possible.

Mine is with Nationwide. Although I wasn't buying I was taking the ex off. They take my income, ctc, cb and cm in account

Barclays took all mine into account and it was decribed to be now based on month by moth affordability rather than overall yearly salary

I had real trouble moving my ex from our joint mortgage with nationwide who refused to help and led me having to pay off the full mortgage with them. Having gone through the process and I would suggest using London & county mortgage brokers feee online to compare host of lenders It cuts having to use individual banks/ building societies calculators. If you gather all your income debts etc they will do a search and advise on the likely amount you can borrow etc if your income is very low and you cannot get a mortgage on your own you may need to ask a family member if they are willing to go on the mortgage as a guarantor.

Thank u. So if my income is low and they go down as a guarantor would this affect any mortgage they may have?

Yes it can if they already have a mortgage already depending on the lender they may say another mortgage is unaffordable (it all depends on the disposable income) in my case my parents were mortgage free. Also it may have other implications legally which you may want to consider. I.e if you couldn’t meet the mortgage then they are liable for it and ultimately their security I.e. other house with existing mortgage could be at risk should both mortgages be unaffordable. If in doubt seek independent financial advice.

Thank u, their disposible income would cover both mortgages as theirs is low... I would only be borrowing max 100,000 so would insure it was cheaper than renting and I could cover. X

I went with HSBC and my tax credits weren't taken into account, BUT to compensate for that I listed lots of my bills as optional (paid for with tax credits) and only the main power, food, council tax etc as mandatory monthly payments.

The logic was yes, I pay £30 per month phone/Internet etc but that is with my tax credit money and if I stopped getting tax credits, I'd cancel my broadband/TV licence/whatever else over my dead body will I cancel my broadband. They were fine with that fudge, and I got my mortgage.

Thank you MonaChopsis, can I ask a bit more about your personal situation such as was u working part time? And how much were they willing to lend you? X

I got a mortgage through Santander last year. I work pt and they took all my tax credits and child benefit into account. I did have to pay a 10% deposit. I went through an independent financial advisor, their fee was £250 but I had £250 cash back when the mortgage was completed so it covered that.

Heads up warning about Chelsea. They wouldn't port my mortgage for the same amount to another property. I'd overpaid it for almost a decade, good credit rating, stable PT job and never missed a payment. They really weren't keen on lone parent risks.

Congratulations Topsyturvy1 that great. May I ask how many hours u worked, I will only be working around 10 hours atm cos I'm still caring for my child and she doesnt go to school full time yet. I wud have a deposit of £50-60 but the online calculators are showing I can only borrow £40-45 and that isn't enough to buy anything. We're u offered a decent amount from the bank? And wad the financial advisor through an estate agent or something? Sorry for all these questions. Thank u megletthesecond I will stay clear xx

I work an average of 32 hours a week, term time only. My salary was mid-teens at the time, I had a quite a high deposit (6 figures) and was offered up to £80k... So enough for me, but not a massive amount compared to what couples can get! Having children definitely capped the amount the bank were prepared to lend me.

Thank u. So me being offered 45 on the calculators is probably accurate as my work hours are significantly less than u. I doubt I will have enough for a place around here. Do u know if u get offered more if you have someone guarantor for you. Thank u for sharing ur details xx

Autumn29, I would hazard a guess that a guarantor wouldn't make that much of an difference unless they were also contributing to the mortgage, because its about affordable repayments more than anything else. However, I don't know for sure.

It's not the being single that's the issue in my experience. I was previously loaned £140k as a single applicant.

Working part time shouldn't make that much difference as long as your salary is enough.

But the real absolute git in my experience is that they ask for childcare costs. To give you an idea, since DD I put my details into the Nationwide calculator (as I already have a mortgage with them that I would like to port) and without declaring childcare costs the calculator says they'll lend me £90k based on my self-employed income. But if I fill in the childcare costs box with £400pcm the amount they will lend me drops to £11k

I agree with INeedNewShoes. Childcare was what did it for me with each provider. On final check of my application it was always the childcare costs the drastically lowered my offer meaning that no where would give me anywhere near what I needed.

Thank you, I don't pay for the childcare which is why I only work 10 hours. I am awhile away from applying for mortgages anyway, but just wanted to see that it cna be done. Thank you x

NatWest - they took into consideration my exH’s payments despite them not being through CSA and direct payments to my account. It is possible, maybe not flooded with mortgage offers but they are out there.