Now lenders are tightening their rules, who are the more lenient ones?

[CrapBag]

We are trying with Nationwide. If this sale falls through we need to borrow more than the £34900 they said we can (its a joke, we have over 80k for a deposit).

Our outgoings are not OTT, we don't tend to spend a lot in general but according to Nationwide, they are too much (when we don't smoke, drink, eat out, have sky etc etc). DH has a full time secure job as well.

Does anyone know which lenders are more reasonable now the rules have changed? I have heard that Nationwide are the strictest ones and I can believe it. We may be needing a plan B and obviously we can't apply for the mortgage until we have found a house but we can't know what they are willing to lend until we have applied for a mortgage. A MIP doesn't seem to mean much. We had one for Nationwide for 45k and they turned it down at the application stage.

The buyer at the bottom of our chain was refused a mortgage under the new regulations and apparently has applied to the Halifax who are meant to be more lenient. Agent tells me they've taken on an extra 100 underwriters to reduce waiting time. I've just looked at your other post, and I know the Halifax used to issue mortgage offers on steel frame properties as we had trouble getting one years ago on a different property. Not many lenders like them, so you do have to think about re-sale in the future. Do point out to anyone else you apply to that it's steel frame and ask their requirements? We applied through the Chelsea orginally and they wouldn't event look at it. What you probably need is a structural engineer to test the steel frame to make sure it's not showing signs of erosion.

That is what they are asking us to do now. After we had our homebuyers report done, through Nationwide and they knew it was a steel frame, now at the last minute they want the full structural report done.

Will keep Halifax in mind if this falls through.

Use a broker, they will match you to a suitable lender. Eg London and country mortgages (you can use a fee based broker but probably no point for such a small mortgage).

CrapBag as people have advised on your previous thread, a IMA will be able to advise on the best lendor and how to get you what you need, You could spend weeks applying yourself. Our IMA did a paper application and spoke to the underwriter direct who approved, if it had gone through the online system it would have been refused straight away.

I have phoned London and Country today.

We can borrow more than what Nationwide are willing to lend but still not near where we really wanted to.

Now we have a 3 way decision to make and its tough to know what to do.

Maybe try Loyds. I'm just entering the mortgage market again as a single parent with a part-time job and have been quite surprised at what they will lend me. They handle all of the applications in branch aswell, so you shouldn't find any problem between your initial meetings and the application stage.

That said, it is early days for me and my mortgage so I reserve the right to come back and whinge shamelessly if it all goes wrong!

Good luck to you!

Use a broker. Ours has been brilliant with us! X