Can I be refused a mortgage because I am pregnant?

[ladyofshallots]

We are first time buyers and buying on the basis of my salary although both dh and work, as dh does not have a good credit rating.

I am 7 months pregnant and so far my broker has not disclosed this info to the lender and we have been agreed a mortgage in principle and had an offer accepted on a lovely house.

The bank have asked for three months bank statements which I have printed off today and I have noticed that my health in pregnancy grant has been paid in today and it shows up on the statement. I am now panicking that because I am pregant and therefore will take maternity leave at some point that they will refuse the mortgage.

I'm hoping that I am panicking for no reason as everything else is fine and we manage our income well etc.

Forgot to add, am working up to due date so have a while before going on mat leave - hope to have completed by then.

No - we bought when I was pregnant (though DS was 3 months old by the time we got the keys!)

Oh good - I didn't think that they could refuse me as it would be discrimination, but I am really desperate to get my house! I am panicking about everything at the moment.

I doubt they'll notice tbh but they probably would n't have to say why if they rejected it . Assuming you are still under contract to return then it is probably ok anyway.

I don't know about when you're pregnant but we got asked if our circumstances were likely to change. We'd already said we were buying in order to have more children (already have DSS) so I decided it meant redundancy.

I can't see how they could argue it unless you wouldn't be able to afford it whilst on maternity leave. But, considering we were offered twice what we asked for, I don't think they're being that careful still.

Good luck and enjoy your house!

Old thread but still valid question and a highish google it - yes you can be refused a morgage because you are pregnant. This may or may not be legal but First Direct have just done that to us.

We had an agreement in principle to borrow upto X, but when we phoned to check some paperwork and finalise the morgage they asked if my wife was pregnant. They then refused to lend 20% less than the previously agreed maximum.

Initially they said they couldn't count the mother's income at all unless the return to work date was less than 3 months away but the due date is 2.5 months away so that wasn't possible.

Then they said that even if we sent them a return to work date they'd not give us the morgage as the mother's income will drop too low while on maternity leave.

Having enough additional savings to make 3 years worth of payments upfront does not interest them. Just the fact that for 2 months the income would be a bit low - still plenty to pay the mortgage and live on. At the lowest salary for 2 months we'd be asking for a 4.5x multiple instead of a 3x multiple normally.

As we were already with First Direct in a fixed term mortgage we stand to loose almost as much money buying ourselves out of the old mortgage as we'll lose in reduced earnings over 26 weeks of maternity leave - and we're having to leave a cheaper rate offsettable mortgage. Grrr we have a sale agreed + offer accepted - now off to see mortgage broker and then speak to legal at work.

Barclays refused to port my mortgage while I am on maternity leave, saying that my maternity pay is too low and they consider it as a new application, however my mortgage broker reassured that there are lenders out there who don't take into account pregnancy/maternity.
TrimaranTurtle, good luck with your mortgage.

just been refused a mortgage with HSBC on the grounds of affordability. 90% mortgage, less 2x our wages. Reason being having a baby is an unquantifiable expensive therefore they are unable to work out if we can afford it. Dont know whether to just give up if this is what we will get from everywhere. Also only going to be on maternity stats for 8 weeks, the rest full pay.

Quite a lot of banks will give you an "in principal" and then haggle over what they actually give you. This way they snare you in with a good rate/buying the house of your dreams and then make sure that should you default, they have a big chunk of equity in the house.

I totally understand why they need the equity - what I don't understand is why they aren't upfront and say "We aren't doing 90% mortgages - we need 30% deposit before we even speak to you" or "We need you to be earning 5 x the mortgage payment each month" or whatever their actual criteria is.

@TrimaranTurtle - I feel your pain, Santander screwed us over last minute, admittedly because our mortgage broker was completely idiotic but it would have been relatively easy to sort out if they hadn't been so evil. We ended up having to scramble around borrowing from family to make up the shortfall and we're still paying it back.

Just ask them how their policy wrt maternity leave/pregancy complies with the Equality Act 2010, and watch them splutter. It is illegal to refuse you a mortgage on the grounds of maternity leave or pregnancy. If the bank is clever it will lend based on affordability, where they can in essence make up the rules as they like. But most banks use a multiplier of your salary. If they do this, as long as you have a current contract of employment, a payroll number, and state that you intend to return to work and your employer is happy to confirm this, they cannot then go back and say something fuck-witted like 'oh, but you might decide in a couple of months that you like being a housewife better than your job.'

Ask me how I know

Back in the box that is very useful advice.

I take it you got your mortgage?

this was me - we are living in the house now!