Mortgage offer withdrawn after exchange, can I still complete next week?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

No advice OP, but this sounds horribly stressful for you and I really hope you get it sorted. Xx

I’m a mortgage adviser….

Just last week, I had to deal with a complex case, client didn’t disclose all credit cards.

the reduced mortgage was based on the fact he had more credit than he declared, it had nothing to do with the amount of credit he could’ve had on that card.

So for example he had £4k more than declared, his loan was reduced significantly, his option was that he paid back the £4k and they reinstated the mortgage. If it was based on the availability of credit, he would’ve had to close the account……. Which he didn’t, he just paid back the amount owed.

The bottom paragraph, of your post makes no sense to me.

But yes I’ve got a good knowledge of affordability, credit score, etc.

I think Halifax are known for having some idiosyncratic affordability rules.

I pay my credit card off in full every month, and have done ever since I first got one almost 30 years ago. I have a high credit limit as a result, but never actually go over 10% of my available credit. I had no other debts of any description (I was mortgage-free before buying my current house). “Excellent” credit rating.

Halifax made it a written condition of my mortgage offer that I could not do any spending whatsoever on my credit card for the two months prior to releasing the funds. It was honestly bizarre (and a pain in the arse as I had to take the card off Apple Pay etc).

This is so stressful for you - I can’t believe they’ve done this without immediately explaining what happens next.

I hope you get answers soon!

A lender can withdraw at any time up until completion but it’s very rare and usually based on something significant like a huge credit score drop because of hard searches, additional borrowing etc., or missed payments on other borrowing or bills. Of none of these things have happened they may have made an error? Unfortunately you will still be liable for the 10% deposit - or whatever has been agreed, so hopefully it can be resolved. Keeping fingers crossed for you.

That's america she's not in america the rules are different

Are you sure your mortgage offer has not just expired?

OP clarified that he hadn’t

And I’ve known 2 sets of people have house moves fall through on moving day - both with moving vans packed up outside the houses they were selling. One the vendor pulled out and one their buyer pulled out. No wonder buying/selling houses is one of the most stressful things you can do!

This must be so stressful, I hope it resolves

Something similar happened to a family member in Autumn 2022.

He had secured a very advantageous five year fixed rate at a time just before borrowing costs began rocketing.
The lender tried to pull the funds between exchange and completion by revisiting some minor technicalities around the leasehold which the lender claimed could affect the valuation.
There can have been no justifiable concern given that the mortgage was for less than 65% of the property price.
The issue had been covered by the buyer’s
solicitor and signed off by the lender weeks beforehand and was documented.
The solicitor and the estate agent had never experienced this situation before.
The suspicion was that at a time when the lender was going to have to pay more on
the money markets to finance mortgages they were reviewing high value / low interest mortgage offers.
Surely if this practice goes unchallenged it will undermine confidence in the conveyancing process.