Decision In Principle, Please help!

[Coughgate]

Just wondering if someone can reassure me that I haven't been completely stupid! Saving for a house deposit, first time buyers, have around 4 grand saved and hoping to get 20grand within 2020.

When I put in figures etc to see what we can borrow on the online calculators it is ridiculously low!! I know brokers can get better deals etc, so anyway saving without really knowing what we can borrow etc is tricky because i feel like my 20 grand savings target shows no realistic goal, so I went onto London and Country and popped in all my info to get a decision and principle purely to find out what they would lend, it also says it won't go on my credit file, but im obviously still worried I have done something wrong because obviously I know it is premature to get one of these at this stage and it will run out but have I affected any future decisions in principle etc....scared!!! My husband is telling me to not do stuff like this and now im worried I have affected future applications. It was purely to see what they would lend.......

Anyone?

Just don't get anymore until it's the right time! Use the online calculators or do 4.5x household income for a rough guide of the absolute max

Also it is going to be a lot lower than you think, what is your household income?

The online calculators are different to a decision in principle! If you haven't out in a name, address or anything like that, they won't be able to access your credit score . I can't see anything on their website that gives you a DIP - can you post a link to the page you were looking at?

The online calculators will give you an indication of what you could be lent - though if your credit score is bad it might be less, or you might have to pay a higher interest rate.

Thanks, I won't do it again, i did it to get a more accurate result else how do we really know? What if we save a deposit and then we can only borrow say 90k like the calculators say, we wouldn't be able to afford anywhere..... Our joint income is 30k before tax, so 4x that is really low :o

**Don't know why a smiley face came up it was supposed to be shocked!

Just save as much as you can, as having savings will always be better than not having any. Try and work towards earning as much as you can in the next year, any possibility of promotion or new job? Once you have a good amount saved then talk to a broker to see what you can borrow.

www.landc.co.uk/online/eligibility?icid=oef&purchaseOrRemortgage=P&residentialOrBuyToLet=R&offerAccepted=N

I have been emailed a decision in principle certificate too

Also, it depends where you are in the country. £120k won't go far where I live but you may live somewhere cheaper and so be able to buy a house for that amount.

Realistically, 4.5% x household income is the top whack of what you'll get, and that's often got the caveat that it's a more than 10% deposit - so 15-20%.

If the calculator said it wouldn't touch your credit file then it won't, I wouldn't worry about that.

Not sure if that link worked, i did put in mine and my partners details though, omg why am i so stupid?! I think I'm going to ring them to double check everything.

Yes you're right having savings is better than none still. I live in the Midlands.

Well ours was 50k and we were offered 200k! So I would say 90k is a bit under but not that far off we had a 15% deposit too (36k in the end)

I think you're getting worked up for no reason really, if it says it won't affect your credit score, it won't. Even if it did, it's not the end of the world as long as you don't keep carrying out hard searches or applying for credit.

Also, sorry to say but if your joint income is £30k PA then £90k is probably realistic for what you can borrow (or possibly a bit more than that depending on your outgoings - like PPs say 4.5x your income is usually the absolute max).

Hi OP,

Don't panic! I work at a bank (although not one you did the dip with). A dip does a soft search on your credit record, so that means only you and the bank can see it which means you can do as many as you like without it harming your credit score.
Although sorry to disappoint but my bank works on times your salary by 4.25 to get a rough guide on what we could lend you

At top end you can achieve 5x, which is close to what I got for our mortgage (4.83x) with Santander. Others have lower limits such as 4.5x.

This is top end assuming no debts or childcare costs. If you have those, your affordability will decrease.

As a general rule of thumb I would agree with PP that 4.5x income is generally realistically. On 30k, that is around 130k. If its wiping off almost 40k I imagine you have childcare costs or debts?

Thanks everyone for reassuring me, I was starting to feel anxious that I had secretly dented mine and my husbands credit file and I was worried keeping it from him. I know I'm getting carried away! I'm so clueless to all this mortgage business, like I said only just started saving, we have moved our family into my in laws to save for a deposit and not pay rent.

Well the variation is 90-120k depending on which calculator I use on different websites, so even if it was say 120k plus our deposit that wouldn't be that bad!

I was more worried about the search on our file, I rang L&C who said someone will ring me back to try and cancel it was I was like what?? And made me panic even more but now I've read all your replies I feel better. I will not be checking anything nearer the time! Lesson learnt. Thankyou!!