Can someone please advise? What is a 'marker' on your credit file?

[rosieposey]

DH applied for a mortgage today on our dream property. Background is that we took out a new mortgage 3 months ago with the Woolwich as our current lender Nationwide said they didnt want to give us any extra (no idea why) - it all sailed through and we didnt have any problems, one of the agreements to the mortgage though was that we paid of any existing debt which we did.

We made a decision to move about 6 weeks ago, it was always our intention but we were going to wait a couple of years however we found our dream house and thought we would see what happened if we put our house straight on the market. We got an offer yesterday and the vendor for the house we want to buy agreed on our offer this morning

DH spoke to Woolwich and they went through the application with him, they said that his affordability was fine, as was his wages and our ltv with the new property but that there was a marker on his credit file (he is applying for the mortgage in his name only) and it would need to go to the underwriters for a decision.

What is a marker exactly? I checked his credit file an hour ago and his score had gone down by 9 points but i assume that is because of the search that was done today. Absolutely nothing has changed in the last 3 months since the last mortgage was accepted - infact he is in alot less debt now!

The only thing i can think of is that it might be to do with searches? When we first were thinking about remortgaging we went to our mortgage company Nationwide and they turned us down - we subsequently went to Woolwich and they gave us our new mortgage (with the extra that we wanted) on the condtion that any outstanding debt was paid off. So that was one search from Nationwide one from Woolwich and now another one today from the Woowich (well i looked and actually there was more than one from Woolwich - i guess they must do a couple of searches per mortgage application?)

Anyway we have a buyer and our offer has been accepted, the chap on the phone didnt seem to think this marker was a huge problem as we had been accepted three months ago but im worried as we dont know exactly what it is - we went £22 over his overdraft limit on his other account (we mostly use our joint one so this was accidental) last month and it shows on his credit file but not as a late payment or anything - could it be this or do you think its the searches.

We really really want this place and its just so frustrating not knowing for sure, apparently they are sending out paperwork and have asked my husband to appoint a solicitor - once the paperwork is sent back the underwriter will apparently look at it and let us know, im just so worried about this marker and cannot think what else it could be other than the two above - has this happened to anyone here at all or can anyone give me an idea of what a 'marker' is and how we can find out what it is?

Hi, I think it is prob because he went over his over draft. Same thing happened to us when we took out our mortgage. I never found out what the marker was, but thinking back, we did accidentally go over our overdraft by £12 (DPs wages weren't paid in, outgoings still went out). So it must be that.
Our paperwork went to the underwriter and they gave us our mortgage offer the following day, so i'm sure its nothing to worry about. Our mortgage is also with Woolwich

Hi Charl - thanks so much for answering :) Feel a bit better having read your post. I did speak to a financial advisor who we used to actually get the mortgage originally and he said the same thing as you - that it is probably because we went over our overdraft slightly, he said its enough for it to be referred but that he didnt think it was enough to be refused.

I sent them back their paperwork and it arrived this morning (i sent it recorded) so im really hoping that it wont take too long for them to come back to us with an answer as i really want to know if we are moving or not, Fingers crossed!

It basicaly means that the system can't automatically agree and it needs a real person to look at it. This is very likely to be your OD but could also be to do with your very recent mortgage application. Cant see that either of those would cause the underwriter to decline the app though.

LoveBeingAtHome - thanks i reckon it could be either too, i guess it looks a bit odd applying for two mortgages in the space of three months. The thing is they have posted all of the forms and told us to instruct a solicitor as the guy who did the application was happy with everything but like you said couldnt pass it on the computer till an underwriter looked at it.

Got to wait till Tuesday apparently - this is going to be the longest weekend! DH reckons it'll be fine too as we looked at his credit file again last night and it was fine. I just keep looking at photos of this cottage and just want to know for sure if its going to be ours. Thanks for the advice though it is much appreciated and i feel a bit better and more positive having read your replies - DH is the optimist in this relationship cant you tell?

I'll keep um crossed also but you don't need it.