Kentish Express Ashford & District
Top tips for your very first mortgage
Want to improve your position before applying for a mortgage? Here’s five great tips from the experts.
When you apply for a mortgage, the lender looks at all aspects of your circumstances before making a decision. While there may be some factors that you simply cannot change, there could be many others which could improve your position. Digital broker Mojo Mortgages (mojomortgages. com) has now launched MortgageScore - a service to help customers to better understand how a lender sees them.
Here, Richard Hayes, chief executive and co-founder of Mojo Mortgages, highlights five tips for potential firsttime buyers:
1. Rein in your outgoings
It is certainly true that subscriptions and other regular payments suck up your buying power. Before you apply, it is sensible to try to cut down on as many debts as possible, leaving only the most essential behind.
Try to minimise your outgoings like magazines subscriptions, any streaming services and mobile phone contracts. Outstanding credit cards and other loans should also be paid off in full, if this is at all possible.
2. Go beyond the bare minimum
The larger a deposit that you can fork out, the lower your LTV (loan-to-value) ratio will be and the less risk you pose as a borrower.
3. Get to grips with your credit score
Your credit score represents how responsible a borrower you are, and so lenders check it whenever you apply for credit - including a mortgage. Your credit score improves when you consistently pay back your credit on time and it also suffers when you miss payments. You can use a credit reference agency to check your credit score and credit history. If you find any errors, you can file a ‘notice of correction’ to make sure you can get it fixed.
4. Use a broker who knows their stuff
A mortgage broker will ask you questions about all of your circumstances and will be able to recommend a mortgage that would best suit you.
5. Register on the electoral roll
As a final tip, a simple but effective step to take is to register on the electoral roll. Also, make sure any bills you have are registered to your current address, so everything is easy to trace. Being registered on the electoral roll may help improve your credit score because it allows any interested party to confirm that you are who you say you are and that the details you have provided are accurate. It is very important that lenders are able to confirm your identity to avoid problems with fraud and identity theft. The more security that lenders have in terms of information, the more confident they are in lending money.
More than two-thirds (68%) of people say it takes over a week for a property they have just moved into to feel like home, according to a survey by Zoopla. More than a third (37%) of people deep clean their property on the first day of moving in, while 20% celebrate with a takeaway.