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Original poster

I thought everything was going a bit too smoothly.......

18 replies

Toothache · 11/11/2005 12:16

Phoned to finalise my mortgage today. Now apparently they have loads of questions about my employment.

I'm a Contractor. My contracts are 3monthly contracts...... but my project is going on until April 2007. Why all the stigma??????

WHY NOW?

Any advice please. I'm just waiting for the Underwriters to phone me.

Will they increase the interest rate? I really can't afford for the payments to go up anymore.

OP posts:
Original poster
Toothache · 11/11/2005 12:23

Please anyone? Can they refuse me a mortgage at this stage even though I've had a mortgage promise from them?

I'm shitting myself..... I thought the worst bit was over.

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Original poster
Toothache · 11/11/2005 12:54

Someone must have experience of this!!!!

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Passionflowerinapeartree · 11/11/2005 13:22

Oh Toothache, hate to say this but I think they probably can. With things like contractors and self employed they usually want copies of your accounts, I'm not sure how far back though.

I hope it ends up fine for you.

Aimsmum · 11/11/2005 13:23

Message withdrawn

beckybrastraps · 11/11/2005 13:26

I'm afraid they can refuse a mortgage after giving an illustration. My sister had the same experience, and in the end had to go elsewhere. That's not to say they WILL turn you down, just that they need more info. When we were buying our house,we had endless problems with the insurance underwriters, and they finally agreed on the day we were supposed to exchange, but it was all fine in the end. Good luck.

lucykate · 11/11/2005 13:28

my dh is self employed, he usually has to show 3 yrs worth of accounts to back up his income. i think mortgage companies are more open to different sorts of employment now than they used to be, you can self certify a mortgage if you are putting down a deposit over a certain percentage of the purchase price and have an income you can't 100% prove, or are on short term contracts.

good luck, hope it goes ok for you

Original poster
Toothache · 11/11/2005 14:23

Thanks folks.

I got a mortgage no problem the first time and I was a Temp.....and I didn't have any deposit..... AND My contract there was week to week. At least this job is 3 monthly contracts! And I have 15% deposit to put down too.

I thought that would be much more acceptable.
Ho hum, we'll just have to wait and see.

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throckenholt · 11/11/2005 14:25

we went to the Abbey - they were not bothered about short term contracts if we had enough equity in the house. just had to show them a budget to say we could cover the repayments.

Original poster
Toothache · 11/11/2005 14:30

I don't understand why they make you pay more per month if you are a higher risk!!?!?!?! Doesn't matter what your monthly payments are..... if you don't pay them..... the bank get the house. Its just so wrong.

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Tabs · 11/11/2005 15:28

Hey Toothache - pain in the @rse isn't it! We had loads of trouble getting our last mortgage as DH had only been self-employed for about 9 months then (I was still employed at that point), and they normally want 2 years of accounts (or often just 1 year if you're an IT contractor). Do you have accounts for the last couple of years? If they show steady income then you should be fine once they've seen them.

Our mortgage broker could only get us some crappy deal on a fixed stupidly high rate, which there was no way we were going to accept. We ended up contacting the company that DH's existing mortgage was with (that had already turned us down via the broker), and once they looked at us properly and saw the mortgage history (was flexible mortgage and we'd made overpayments) and the fact that we only wanted to borrow about 75% they were absolutely fine.

So my advice is get as much info together in anticipation as you can, make them listen to you and look at your history (assuming this is good!), remind them repeatedly that you only want 85%, and stay calm and rational when speaking to them.

Good luck!

MeerkatsUnite · 11/11/2005 15:59

Toothache,

Are you dealing with the mortgage company directly or did a broker introduce your mortgage application?. If the broker introduced your mortgage application, get on to the firm in question and have words.

Having dealt with mortgage applications myself I woudl think the underwriters just want more information re your income. I would talk with them directly asap, think its a formality. They won't bung you on a higher rate. Hard as it is try not to worry too much.

I don't think they're going to turn you down, think they would have done this before it got to this stage if they were to decline.

I would always advise people to deal with the mortgage company directly rather than use a mortgage broker to package up the application as some (but not all) mortgage brokers in my experience are frankly useless. Tabs's example of bad mortgage broker practise is one such example of why you should, if possible, apply directly to the mortgage company.

Original poster
Toothache · 11/11/2005 16:58

Whats all this about 2 yrs accounts????? They've only asked for my last 2 weeks payslips!

I have only been a Contractor for 3 months. Before that I was PAYE for 2yrs on a MUCH lower part-time salary..... so I hope they don't ask for 2yrs info coz I just don't have it.

I am dealing with Halifax directly, I already have a mortgage with them for my current property.... I bank with them...... I have a Loan with them..... I even have a Halifax One Credit Card.... cannot believe they would make a fuss!

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puddle · 11/11/2005 17:03

Toothache if you do have problems with this it might be worth going through an insurance broker like Charcol, if you need to sort it out quickly and not lose the house. We used them when DP had a problematic work history (lots of temp contract work) and we couldn't get anyone to offer us a mortgage - they came up with a really good deal for us.

You do have to pay obviously but for us it was worth it.

seb1 · 14/11/2005 09:51

Any word on getting the mortgage sorted yet?

Original poster
Toothache · 14/11/2005 10:10

Hiya Seb1 - Absolutely nothing has happened! i've had nothing from the bank through the post and no phone calls.

They were ALLLLL over me when I was searching for a mortgage and now its to be finalised they are just letting me stew!

What do I do now?? Do I phone them again?

The SOLD sign went up on my house this morning, this NEEDS sorted.

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Original poster
Toothache · 14/11/2005 12:44

I know I'm totally boring everyone with this.... but I need to keep updating this for my own sanity.

Phoned Solicitor - Nothing else for me to do until the missives are ready to be signed.

Phoned Bank - Nothing left for me to do, but sign the documents they've sent me and take payslips to bank.

......just makes me nervous all this sitting around assuming everyone is doing what they should be doing!

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seb1 · 16/11/2005 15:00

Hope you get this all sorted soon. Have you got a confirmed moving date

SackAche · 16/11/2005 15:03

Thanks Seb1. Still just sitting around waiting for all the legalities to be sorted out. The SOLD sign went up yesterday though!

We move on 27th January..... I'm hoping the people won't want us out by 12pm coz that'll be pushing it!!!

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