Mortgage offer withdrawn after exchange, can I still complete next week?

[Miffed1233]

Exchanged contracts Thursday for completion next Friday. Buyer below me and I’m buying ex rental which is at top of chain

randomly bank withdraw offer Friday afternoon, 24 hrs after exchanging)saying credit rating changed therefore affordability impacted. Have a call at 9am Saturday. Wtf absolutely nothing I can think of that would have changed and my Experian score is very strong still. Any advice - is there any way I can still complete in 6 days?!

any solicitors or bankers on here?

When our CC limit has been increased (we never ask for it, they just do it), it does affect how much we can borrow. The banks have always proceeded with us on the basis that available credit is assumed to be potentially used, therefore debt levels have the potential to increase - even if the cards have 0 balance. Maybe if you drop the CC limit it will help?

There is no indication here that the solicitor is at fault. The solicitor is not involved at all in setting the bank’s credit limit or terms of borrowing. Hopefully it’s just a mistake by the bank.

Hope so. But these large conveyancing companies have been known to make serious mistakes.
It was shocking to read upthread that a lender withdrew an offer after exchange because its own criteria changed. Hope it's not that.

The increased CC limit could be impacting. Is there anything else you can think of? Have you spent more on your CC or taken out any new lines of credit (e.g. phone contract, furniture, utilities)?

Good luck!

I periodically get a report that goes up and down with nothing I have done differently, reasons being having a higher cc limit would help but also then that you need to spend on that and pay it back to prove you can manage the higher credit you were offered but didn't really need. The reasons for ups and downs in credit score are contradictory at best. Perhaps use the card and immediately transfer onto it from your current account?

Ok but I didn’t! They volunteered the increase. I guess I should have told them not to and have not accepted it

Christ, what a nightmare, I’ve never heard of this happening? Hope you get it sorted and it’s just an error op xx

"The irony is very same bank increased my cc limit a few weeks ago! I can think of literally nothing that has changed. I’ve not even used the credit card to buy things for the new house yet."

That's probably it. The higher limit will allow you to carry more debt, even though you haven't. It changes the ratio of debt to income, I think. If they ran a soft credit check, it shouldn't have affected your score (it's that way in the US) but if someone made a full enquiry it will usually drop your score. Given that you applied for the mortgage, a cc inquiry might trigger a drop from too many inquiries in the same period.

I don't know how to resolve this, but start with a copy of all your credit reports.

That’s rubbish it’s an offer they can withdraw it at any point.

its like going into a shop, you can get to the till and they can refuse to let you buy the shopping. Or when they get the price wrong and they don’t have to sell you the thing at a lower price, they can just refuse to sell it to you.

the mortgage and the exchange of contracts are different things.

You do realise this is a British website?

The banks just increase it without asking, mine has just gone up to 11k limit which is crazy as I barely use it.

OP I would say it is more likely an error on their part I hope you get it sorted.

Sounds to be the period between mortgage agreement and now is too long and therefore you need to be re-assessed.

Yes but its on to you to refuse it. Lots of people just don't have credit cards. DH and I only have one and we don't allow them to increase the credit limit. Cc companies do that to push you into more debt.

It’ll likely be that that’s changed your credit score.

Please get on the phone to them again and do not give up until you speak to the right person in mortgages and ask for very specific next steps to get this sorted, and a timeline. They may ask for further documentation or further funds even, or it’s going to their underwriters again, or whatever the case may be, but they will have a reason on the system as to what the exact issue will be. Do not let them fob you off either until you’ve been given the specifics of the problem and what can be done to sort it. Even if it’s a simple error on their part, they must advise when it will be fixed as it’s too close to completion to muck about. If it’s with them to do something further, again, timeline query and call them back again the next day. In these moments you have to hound unfortunately. If you are using a mortgage broker, same applies.

We’ve bought a few times and when we bought our most recent house, Santander started to play silly buggers with us during the mortgage process, very long story - so I ended up looking them up on Trustpilot and read some horrendous things they did to buyers and to people who generally bank with them (as not separated out on there). I was so worried they were going to be pulling any one of these same awful stunts with us in the last moments of the process, because it seemed they could! Thankfully they didn’t pull any very last min issues with us but the whole process was painful and more expensive up to that point using them. Could be worth a read if you have time for tips people give on there in dealing with them. I appreciate you may not be with Santander but for your own lender too a look up on Trustpilot could be rather enlightening.

Best of luck!!

Op - were you borrowing quite a high multiple of salary etc? Its usually safer to have a bit of headroom and not max out what you borrow on the mortgage.

Try asking to extend the term to 30 or even 35 years to get it over the line then just overpay.

I am sorry. Hope the bank can fix it. And to all those saying its the conveyancers fault would love to know how exactly bar any additional information. It would be different if there was a mortgage condition unsatisfied- but theres no suggestion in ops post this is the case.

That’s true but equally it’s often advised to have a cc and pay it off each month as it can increase your rating

That is the plan. Want to know exactly what triggered the change -my worry is whatever they do to correct it will
have to go back to the underwriters to reapprove and that will take time. Solicitor previously said it takes 5 days to get funds - I really don’t want to lose the deposit because I can’t complete Friday.

If the bank can’t sort it out today it’s worth talking to a mortgage broker & doing a new application on Monday. Get all your paperwork together in case you have to. When we bought our current house we had everything ready to go and our broker sent it all in on the same day we submitted the application & got the agreement in principle. The survey was done a couple of days later and we had our approval within a week. We were not particularly looking to be fast it just worked out that way but the broker had a good idea it would be quick due to other recent applications.

Property solicitor here.

Banks can withdraw an offer until it’s drawn down even after full offer. It’s in the Ts and Cs have a look at those before you call because sometimes they set out the reasons for this.

What I would say is that dependent on your bank your solicitor can get funds on the same day as requesting them so all is not lost. Hopefully the lender will see sense this morning.

Good luck.

It’s also advised that between getting a mortgage offer and actually completing the sale you make no changes to your financial situation. Don’t get pregnant, don’t get a new car/phone - nothing

Mortgage lenders can have their own odd requirements - an increase in credit limit could absolutely have done it if OP is borrowing close to the maximum they will lend.

Ot takes weeks. The lender do an evaluation. Mortgage companies are slow

I’ve read horror stories of people buying furniture or appliances for their new house on interest free credit between exchange and completion, and that being enough to have the mortgage offer pulled

I would always use a credit card for big purchases for the consumer protection, which presumably looks even worse.

You can get mortgages faster but you get less choice of lender. Ring a broker like london and country. Ime this sort of thing tends to happen when people are close to all the limits/overextended.