Mortgage and maternity leave

[pinksupergirl]

Hi
I'm currently on oml and am not due to return until 30th Nov when I will have had a year off (I think my work had to assume I would take my full entitlement which I do want to do), however, me and hubby want to get an extra £10k on mortgage (for an extension) but when I've spoken to Nationwide today they said no because we can't get it with only hubby's salary and they won't take my salary into account unless I know for definite how much I will earn when i go back. I tried to tell them it seems ridiculous because how do I know what I'll be earning, if I'll go back full or part time etc but it made no difference. I'm so annnoyed. Our current mortgage is only about 60% or so of the current value of our house so it's not like we're asking for loads of money!!
Can anyone offer any advice? i didn't think they could discriminate against you whilst on maternity leave but it certainly feels like they are.

They can do what they like, your not entitled to borrow any money.

That is the point, if you don't know what you'll be earning how are they supposed to know if you can afford it?

But I don't understand how they expect me to tell them exact figures? Do we just have to wait until my maternity leave is finished when I'll know if I'm back at work, how much I'll be earning and how much chilcare costs will be and how much in tax credits we'll get?

Pretty much, there was another poster a while back who wanted to get a mortgage while on ML, bank said no, they can't be sure you will go back IYKWIM Just as they would accept the word of a man on a sabbatical.

If you have had no discussion with work beyond when you are likely to return, then you just tell the mortgage company that you plan to go back on the same terms as before. Any change to your working hours and hence pay after mat leave is for you to discuss with your employers and until you have then legally you are entitled to return on same package, therefore that is what the mortgage company should base their mortgage offer. Don't be nice and tell them you aren't certain of your plans etc. especially if you yourself don't know what that might be like.

I had this with our remortgage. Knew I wanted to go back part time, but had not yet had the discussion with work and knew that there was a possibility they would say I had to do full time. Plus I could still have changed my mind. I therefore said that there was currently no reason for my salary to change post-mat leave. There was no reason to say otherwise as nothing else had been decided/discussed.

It's no different to somebody who remortgages knowing that they might be looking for a new job in 6 months time, but doesn't tell the mortgage company that now because there is nothing concrete that has changed.

If you have however discussed part time hours with work and a flexible working request is formally being assessed, you may need to let the mortgage company know that.

But like YesYouMust says, they can still then choose not to lend if they don't believe you, or their policies state that they won't take account of salaries of people on mat leave etc.