Mortgage Advice in Durham
What is a credit score?
A credit score is a tool that lenders use to measure an applicants ability to afford a mortgage. The higher your score, the more likely it is that you’ll be accepted for a mortgage. Which means that if you have a lower score, your chances of being accepted decrease.
Even though having a good credit score may look good on the outside, you must know that each lender has their own individual lending criteria and it’s more than likely that you won’t meet all of them. So sometimes it’s also down to your circumstances and not just your score.
Matching Lender’s Criteria
Most lenders’ criteria are completely different from one another, lenders have almost developed their own niche market. You could end up matching to a handful of them or maybe only a couple. As long as you end up securing a great mortgage deal that is all that matter though and it’s your advisor’s job to help you do that.
Whether you go with your bank’s in-house advisor or a Mortgage Broker in Durham, your personal and financial situation will be evaluated and then compared with lenders’ and their mortgage products.
We would always recommend approaching a Mortgage Broker in Durham before going straight to your bank’s in-house advisor and this is because your bank can only offer you their own products. If you choose a broker like us, we are able to access thousands of different mortgage deals through our large panel of lender’s. Once we have your details, we will try our hardest to match you to a lenders’ criteria.
If you are struggling to match a lenders’ criteria, it could be down to numerous different things. The most common reason why people don’t meet lenders’ criteria and get declined for a mortgage is because of their low credit score. If this is the case, then you need to try and improve it.
Improving Your Credit Score
Avoid Unnecessary Credit Searches
Having unnecessary credit searches on your file could have a negative effect on your credit score. Lenders’ don’t like seeing that you are repeatedly checking your score, they may think that there is a reason for it and they could even start asking you questions about it during your application process. Even using price comparison websites could damage your score.
On a side note, if you are applying for a mortgage, we strongly recommend that you avoid applying for any form of extra credit in the meantime. Paying back owed credit before your application will look good on your application, however, borrowing/paying back credit during your application will have a reverse effect. If you borrow credit, some lenders’ could think that you cannot afford the deposit and are relying on the credit to help you.
Are you registered on the voter’s roll?
A great way to improve your credit score is to register onto the Electoral Roll, it indicates stability and lenders really like that. It’s really easy to get yourself registered and the fact that it can increase your credit score, you’re missing out if you don’t take the opportunity.
If you are already registered, you should check that all of your information is correct as lenders will easily spot misspellings and an incorrect address.
Don’t Run too Close to Your Maximum Limit
Maxing out your card each month will negatively impact your credit score. If you are using a credit card, a lender would much rather that you pay off the balance in full each month as it shows that you are good at managing your money. If you are exceeding your credit limits or overdrafts, your lender won’t think that you take your finances seriously. This could massively impact your credit score, especially if you get declined by a lender due to this reason.
Check That Your Address is up to Date
When people move home, especially from their parent’s house, people often forget to update all of their address’. When you forget to update your address with a previous credit provider, it can appear that you live in two different properties at the same time. This can hurt your credit score once lenders see this so make sure that you are keeping on top of what address’ are linked with each of your accounts.
Close Down Your Unused Credit Accounts
Do you have any store/credit cards that are no longer in use? If you do, then you should contact the provider and get them to fully close your account(s). Having these accounts open could be doing your credit score more harm than good. However, this could also still have a negative effect on your credit score as the credit reference can’t really tell if it’s you closing the account or the provider. Don’t worry though, it’s a good thing to check up on as if you have lost a card and didn’t realise then fall victim for fraud, you could end up having a worse effect on your score.
Remove Your Financial Link to Others
If you are financially linked to a family member or ex-partner your credit score could be affected without you even knowing. However, if the account is still live, you cannot remove your link just yet. If you want to remove any of these links, then you should get in touch with the credit reference agencies and make a request.
Summary
More often than not, applicants see credit scoring as an unfair way of determining the success of a mortgage application. For example, you may have a low score due to personal circumstances, which applicants think is unfair. As a Mortgage Broker in Durham, we mostly see that it’s people that are Moving Home in Durham or Self Employed applicants who struggle with their credit score. However, if this isn’t your mortgage situation and you still need help with improving your credit score, you know to get in touch with.
Sending an up-to-date credit report to your expert Mortgage Broker in Durham could prove extremely beneficial to your mortgage journey. A great tool that we always recommend to our customers is checkymyfile.com.
Try it FREE for 30 days, then £14.99 a month – cancel online anytime.
The more your advisor knows about your finances the better. Also, there are still some lenders that prefer to operate the old-fashioned way and will manually assess your application. They will still have rules that they stick by about the number of defaults and CCJ’s that they will allow.
A Mortgage Broker in Durham, like us, likes to do things the new way and will always aim to deliver you the same Fast and Friendly Mortgage Advice service that you are all used to. We hope to hear from you soon.
Date Last Edited: April 10, 2024
