Category: Mortgages

How to Improve your Chances of Getting a Mortgage

Many people like the idea of buying their own home. Most people though, will have to borrow the money to be able to do this. They will need to take out a mortgage. However, not everyone is offered a mortgage and therefore you will need to make sure that you have a good chance of getting one. A lender will look at a selection of things when they are deciding whether they want to lend you money. You should think about these and make sure that you do everything you can to look good in their eyes.

Regular income

A lender such as Omacl will want to see that you have a regular income coming in so that you will have the money available to pay for the repayments on the loan. They will also want to see that you are in a secure job. This means that you should have a permanent job and have had for more than three months. This is because you will be free of a probation period and you will be in a secure job. If you are self-employed, freelancing or in a temporary job, then you will not have a secure income and so that will put off lenders as they will worry that you may get into the situation where you cannot afford to repay the mortgage.

Mortgage lenders will require a deposit before agreeing the loan.

Large deposit

Most mortgage lenders will require a deposit and this will vary but is likely to be around 10% of the value of the house. This is a lot of money, but the more you have, the more likely you are to get a mortgage. The lender wants some help with paying for the property. They want to only lend a proportion of the value. This is because if you cannot make the repayments and the house has to be repossessed by the lender and sold, they want to make sure that they will able to get their money back even if the house value is lower when it is sold. Having a large deposit will also show the lender that you are able to budget and put money by to save up and that will help them to feel confident in your money management skills.

Do not spend all you earn

A mortgage lender will also want to check your day to day spending. They will look at your bank statements and see how much you earn and spend in a month. They will want to see that you have enough money left to cover the cost of the mortgage repayments. Therefore, if you can cut back your spending a bit, you will be able to show them that you will be able to manage. If you are paying rent, then they will allow for the fact that this will no longer be a cost, but you should still try to show that you have money left over so they can see that you are capable of budgeting.

Good credit record

A good credit record is essential. They will be looking to make sure that you have no long term outstanding debt or anything like this. It can be a good idea to take a look at your credit record to make sure that it is correct and there is nothing on there that makes you look bad which is not right. Also see whether there are any debts on there and think about whether you should be paying those off to give a better impression. You might be better off using some of the money you have saved towards the deposit to repay debt, but obviously you may need a certain amount of deposit so you will need to plan this carefully.