Advice please: any mortgage advisers/underwriters around?

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So we’ve recently sold our house, had offer accepted on New House. Our current lender has offered to “port” our mortgage and took us through a DIP over telephone with one of their mortgage advisers with their initial credit check. The DIP was for a loan that’s 3.9 times our joint income (£112k a year), of which the vast majority is our existing loan “ported” at existing low rate and the additional 150k on a new rate. They then emailed us a PDF of the DIP to make offers etc.

Our application is coming up now with existing lender and I am an anxious wreck. Can anyone involved with mortgage advisor or underwriter roles help?

1. Equifax score for me says “excellent” and for spouse says “excellent”. He is at a 900 and I am at a 826. Great!

1. Spouse record super great!

1. Now for me - I am the higher earner between us. But there appears in the report a “satisfied” CCJ for a small amount in relation to a parking fine. It was cleared in 7 weeks BUT - it was sent to an address we had sold and vacated 2 years ago when we moved halfway across England! I had no idea of it till entirely per chance I had looked at my equifax file and got a heart attack and paid it. It’s very evident in the report that the CCJ is dated in a year when the address it was sent to had been sold 2 years ago.

I contacted Equifax and Experian and asked to insert a “Notice of Correction” which explains above in non emotive language. It will take a week to put in and our appointment is for the next week after.

So my questions are -

1. When current lender did the telephone appointment with us to generate the DIP for porting would something like this not have flagged at all for them? Is this something that’s now going to crop and mess all up? To be honest when doing telephone DIP with current lender I did mention this twice and the advisor taking us through the DIP insisted we wouldn’t get through if we didn’t pass their initial soft credit checks and got a bit terse when I kept coming back to it...

1. Second in our application appointment I am thinking of opening with this in all honesty rather than them “discovering” it. Is that reasonable? Is there anything else you would advise doing at appointment?

1. The DIP was for a 10% deposit. FYI this is our current lender as I say who are also doing the government mortgage guarantee low deposit scheme but that’s not what we have applied for. We are able to increase deposit from 10% to 13% but can’t get to 15%. Does it make a difference then if we apply with 13% or will it not provide lender any additional reassurance you think?

Other factors - both in long term FT permanent jobs, loan is about 3.9 times of income, credit utilisation under 10% for me and under 10% for him - and equifax scores both excellent.

But this stupid CCJ is driving me mad...

Is there anything further - in addition to Notice of Correction - that I could do in next week or so - or anything we say in appointment or flag upfront - or the small deposit increase that could help?

@Navigationcentral which lender is it?

How much was the CCJ , when was it registered, when was it satisfied?

Credit scores don't mean much when it comes to mortgages, they look more at credit history (what you've got/had and how you pay), electoral register, etc.

The fact you've been in your jobs a while and are stable there is good. Did either of you go on furlough?

Totally forgot additional question -

Should we try to see how it appears to them during application appointment in terms of them sounding doubtful or not and if slightest doubt not apply? Concern is that if application is sent back declined it ruins our chances with another lender potentially.

We do have a broker who did get us a DIP from another lender but much higher rate than the “porting” DIP we got off our own current lender where basically 75% of loan is ported and kept at super low rate.

Cross post!

spouse had a small 5 hours a week furlough for 7 weeks but obviously back to full pay. Lender asked for extra pay slips for him to show full pay after and before which we’ve already sent them and they’re satisfied on that count.

CCJ was registered in feb 2020 and sent off to a house we sold in spring 2018. We then remortgaged with current lender in July 2020 when CCJ was much newer and they didn’t raise it at all then actually. Not sure if now a year later they will...

It’s NatWest. Current lender since 2018, and then remortgaged for lower rate again in 2020.

It was for something like £250 and satisfied in 7/8 weeks I believe - the day I found out entirely by chance. I mean we’d sold the house where they’d sent it 2 years ago!

@Navigationcentral how much was the CCJ?

Depends on how low the CCJ is but yes i would expect it to cause an issue, if its under £50 you might be ok
If it fails the banks standard policy it is unlikely to be overturned by an underwriter

Interesting that it didn’t cause an issue when we remortgaged with them last year when it was much newer... or that when I specifically raised it with them for our DIP appointment by phone and they did initial credit check - didn’t stop them then either.

Ah well perhaps it will now!

LTV plays a big part, what is acceptable at 75% is far greater than at 90%

I don't work for natwest but I do work for another big bank

Yep. So when we first mortgaged with them for current house they did 95-5 LTV.

Then CCJ occurred. 5 months later we remortgaged with them. This time
Was 93-7 ish.

And now 15 months after CCJ we are applying to port. This rime for 90-10 or 87-13 which is same as 90-10.

You will potentially have the problem of standard procedures and yes it is a CCJ.instead of paying it which doesn't make a lot of difference, you should have applied to the court for a set aside as you had no knowledge of the proceedings. The cost would have been £255 but would have reset the proceedings at which point you could have just laid the private parking charge, or defended it. Either way there wouldn't have been any CCJ on your record. I suspect it is too late now but you could ask the court

Looking at Natwests criteria they only mention disliking IVAs and Bankruptcys in the last 6 years and that they'd consider unsecured loan arrears at underwriters discretion. A one off mistake like the CCJ may well be considered but your problem will be, if there is one, the loan to value because the higher the ltv the stricter the underwriting.

Personally I'd call a whole of market broker beforehand to get an idea of other options.

As an aside it is moot that you remortgaged with them after the CCJ was registered because you essentially rate switch and they don't do all the formal checks they would on first application.

you should have applied to the court for a set aside as you had no knowledge of the proceedings as an aside I didn't know this was a thing.

Yes should have asked court to set aside but at the time - in my 4 weeks postnatal state I just paid it within an hour. Called court yesterday and could still apply to set aside from credit records but will take a few months. So have for the moment inserted an explanation in credit file as nothing else to do really.

Do you all suggest we don’t go ahead with the current lender full application to port mortgage then and go back to broker for more DIPs in addition to DIPs broker already raised?

Thinking of options here

1. Option 1: go ahead with scheduled application with current lender - be absolutely upfront with CCJ issue and hopefully have a notice of correction on file and offer 13% as opposed to 10%. PROS: great if goes ahead. CONS: leaves massive dent in file if rejected in addition to toppling move plans .

1. Option 2: cancel forthcoming appointment with current Lender with whom with got porting DIP. Go back to broker and ask broker for more DIPs with potentially bad credit lenders, saying we don’t wish to try a high street lender at all. PROS: possibly less chance of a decline and CONS: higher monthly payments and early repayment fee for current lender who we would leave.

Rock and hard place (although lucky in many ways to have such problems).

Which route to take?!

@Navigationcentral no I don't suggest more DIPs but I do suggest calling a whole of market broker who can guide you on a mortgage. It may be Natwest will be absolutely fine but I've always broked, and lenders do give brokers more leeway sometimes. So my advice is call a good brokers first.

When is your appointment with Natwest

17th May!

@Navigationcentral in that case call a whole of market broker (decent one) to put your mind at rest because its going to drive you mad, and I don't think there will be a major problem.

Thank you. We currently have two DIPs - one sourced by broker with smaller high street lender. Another sourced by us by approaching current lender.

Whichever we pursue entails taking that leap of faith and risking a decline.

Money Saving Expert has a good mortgage talk forum with many underwriters/brokers giving advice. Maybe try posting there for additional advice?

Not a broker but have a mortgage with NatWest (got it two years ago) We had to declare no-one had a CCJ or DMP as part of it. We ended up going ahead with the mortgage just in my name, as I had no issues or CCJs etc for speed/ease in where we were in the process of buying.

But we also spoke to a specialist broker who had lenders willing to lend to those with good credit now but previous issues - from memory the rate was 1.6%pa, so really good and on a par with NatWest. Out LTV was 90% also. So I’d recommend speaking to a whole market broker ASAP for advice. But given you have good credit, it was a small amount, and a genuine error, I’m wondering if you’ll be fine and the underwriters will be able to override it

As others have said, pursue the set aside process. Was your car still registered at the old address? As in had you not changed your info with DVLA?

Your mortgage provider may distinguish between the fact that this ccj is not in relation to a failed credit agreement. That’s the argument I would pursue if they are considering your application.

My address was changed belatedly with DVLA (oversight) but around two months before the CCJ was registered. So I am not entirely sure why it was sent there.

Our broker has known and worked with us for years now and did get us a DIP with a bank. Obviously the porting DIP we got ourselves offers better rates.

At this point if we are to cancel our NatWest appointment and return to our broker should we ask for more DIPsor pursue the brokers DIP? Abandoning the porting DIP offer entirely also doesn’t feel wise....

@Navigationcentral is your broker whole of market? If so have you told them you applied to Natwest to port, if not, why not? Mortgage brokers cannot give you best advice if you are not honest with them.

Plus I'd be surprised if you had to go to an adverse lender for £250 ccj as a one off.

Oh no no our brokers and us had already discussed the porting prospect and she did say we could approach directly as the DIP with brokers till end of April was a hard print with NW. we’ve also told her they’ve given us a porting DIP and will speak to her KM Monday again.

Regarding what sort of brokers they are - and I quote “ a mortgage brokerage offering highly competitive mortgage solutions selected from the many lender schemes in our whole of the Market Panel of lenders.”