I’m currently in the process of selling the family home that I co-own with exP now that youngest DC is at university. I need to take out a mortgage on my own to buy another property; the mortgage here is paid off so I don’t have an existing lender. It’s many years since I went through this process and so I am wondering how to maximise my chances of being approved. Specifically, what should I do/avoid doing in terms of spending for the next 3 months (is that how many months bank statements I’ll need to provide)?
I don’t have any debts or loans/credit agreements and am fortunate to have nearly £3K left per month after utility direct debits etc but I am worried that a lender might expect me to have been saving more than I have given this surplus income. The reason I haven’t is that I have been helping my DC out financially and have also had high legal and medical bills which are hopefully temporary.
Will a lender want to see recent credit card statements too to see a breakdown of my monthly spending on those or is it just current account? Should I avoid giving my DC any financial help for the next 3 months or doesn’t it matter given that my DC are adults and not classed as dependents so I’m not committed to any payments?
Will they want to see statements from all current accounts (I have managed to accumulate 4 over the past 20 years) or just the main one into which my salary is paid? When I’ve looked at my credit history on Experian it shows the amount of credit I have available on credit cards and current accounts but it doesn’t show any positive balances or savings account balances so will they ask for these as well as any other financial investments I have? If they won’t ask about these would it be worth moving money from savings accounts into my main current account to make it look as though I always have a decent credit balance? Usually I move most money out of the current account after I’ve been paid into savings accounts which pay interest but perhaps this doesn’t look great to a lender?