Preparing for a mortgage application

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My partner and I have started looking for a property to buy. He is a bigger earner than I and he has a property to sell that is mortgage free. We have seen a solicitor regarding financials as he is a widower and I want everything he brings to this relationship ring fenced for him and his kids as I would hate for him or anyone to think I am after his money. I am savvy and know how to protect myself and my son so no advice needed there, purely how to get myself into the best position for a mortgage application.

I am 40. I left my last relationship 5 years ago and rented a house for myself and my son (rented with the ex too but did have a house previously that was sold in 2018).
I have been a student for the last 4 years, living on student finance, a bursary a tiny amount of UC and child maintenance. I have worked very hard to pay off a lot of debt during this time, taking advantage of all the financial help I have had as a student and a small inheritance I had. My previous partner was financially abusive and I wracked up (gulp!) £35,500 in loans and credit cards by the time I left him! This is now around £7k so I am very proud of my achievements.

I have now qualified in my chosen carer and I am due to start my employment on 30th September. So how can I improve my credit score over the coming months? It has always been good, never ever missed a payment or defaulted and been handed credit left, right and centre, but since I have paid down and closed all the credit accounts over the last 4 years, my score has dropped slightly.

I have a normal current account where my student loan was paid and all my DD's come out of. I do not use this one for spending, it has a £250 OD but never goes into debit.

I have a student bank account with a £2k overdraft that I have been in and out of. It is interest free and currently in credit (and I intend it to stay that way). In here goes a tiny amount of UC, my child maintenance and child benefit. I use this account for food, fuel and general spending. Should I change this back to a regular bank account? If so, should it have an overdraft or not? If I keep the student (about to turn into a graduate account) should I remove some or all of the overdraft facility?

I have a credit card with my bank. It has zero balance but I use it from time to time. It has a £4k limit. Should I be using this for monthly expenses and then paying it off each month? or leaving it with a zero balance?

I have a loan for £7k, paid in full every month and never missed a payment.

I am aware for a mortgage I will have to provide bank statements. What are they looking for? Just good evidence of income and spending within budget? Will they want to see all accounts? I can definitely work on making them look less like I have an eating out and coffee habit!

Once I start earning again I will have around £550 per month left over after all bills and expenses so should I be saving this or paying off my loan faster? The payment is £130 but it has 4 years left to run.

Any advice would be much appreciated as I don't want to have any problems when the time comes to apply for the mortgage. I imagine it will be at least 6 months at the absolute earliest.

Is there anything I haven't considered regarding preparing for the application?

Thank you in advance and I apologise it is long!

AFAIK (am in middle of purchase as sole buyer):

The conveyancer & lender do money laundering checks. They want to see 12m of recent in come & 12m of statements for the accounts that hold the money; how they look for ill-gotten gains I don't know, I moved funds around a lot & that didn't seem to raise an alarm, but my name changes (got divorced) bothered them, that was bit of faff to document.

The estate agent also needs to see proof of funds (screenshots sufficed) before they recommend your offer be accepted.

If I could do 1 thing different, it would be to get my formal agreement in principle in place before I even offered, but I'm not sure that's ever possible. The AIP took a month in my case, after offer accepted.

It sounds like your partner will get more scrutiny since they will provide most income & desposit. Am glad you know how to protect your interests & investment.

Since you talk about your past financials so much... do you have a CCJ lurking in your or current partner's history?

Never even missed a payment in my life. Same for him. His house is mortgage free so will be about 65% of the upfront cost.

What worried me is how my credit score has dropped now my credit is much lower and how can I make it better? By using and paying off my CC each month?

We are going 50/50 on the mortgage.

There are lots of things that help your credit score, I closed a couple of credit cards and my rating went down, I also reduced the credit limit and that counted against me. It was better to have it high and use less than 25%. Don't apply for new accounts/cards as each credit check counts against you. Make sure you are on the electoral roll, never get cash off a credit card. There are lots of things that you can do, I'd suggest a google.

For mortgage purposes a credit "score" is meaningless. It's a number dreamt up by credit agencies. If you get a full Equifax report that shows the last 12 months repayment history on all your credit then this will show how they have been conducted & will be what lenders use.

Also the vast majority will only request your last 3 months pay slips & corresponding bank statements. Lenders are firstly looking to see that the pay slips match the bank statements (ie, that the pay slips are fraudulent) and that any credit on your credit file is being serviced from your accounts.....and vice versa that there are isnt credit coming out from your account that isnt on your credit report.

HTH.