Need to up our mortgage to address cash flow issue - bank refused - what next?

[mulranno]

We have a home with lots of equity (over 700K) and want to up our mortgage from 400k to 500k to deal with a debt elsewhere. Our current bank has refused as 400k is max they will lend at 5x joint salary -- can I go anywhere else?

You could try but 5x joint salary is pushing it in anybody's book! TBH, I;m surprised you even got that!

Oh dear...looks like we will have to sell up then....

Well I don;t know, you just have to phone around that's all!

Try Santander, quite flexible on some stuff.
TBH, I always use a broker, may very well be worth you doing that only costs few hundred quid.

I'd also suggest talking to a broker for alternatives but if you're taking out secured debt to pay for another debt, downsizing and cashing up (especially at the moment) might be the more prudent course of action.

i know this is being really nosy - but how on earth do you afford a £400k mortgage (let alone a £500k) one on less than £100k per annum????

On a salary of 80k between you 500k mortgage is silly esp looking at the news about the economy.

I'm not surprised they refused you, you'd be nuts to take on a debt of that size!

Our joint salary is more than 80k and I think we would struggle to pay that.

I'd also be loathe to replace an unsecured debt with one secured on your home. You need to be careful you don't end up losing that £700k equity by having your home repossessed.

You could speak to an IFA, but you already seem to have an awful lot of mortgage for your income! When our joint income was £75K, our mortgage was £80K!

We both run our own businesses and are paid in dividends which are taxed at source means that our joint income of £97K is net - I think that the bank has calculated that this is gross income.

You need to see a broker to look at somewhere that bases their lending on affordability as opposed to multiples of income.

Phew! Glad you are not as crazy as your OP suggested!!

Yy, you need a broker who wil find you a lender who will apply non standard lending criteria.