Know Your Credit Rating Before Applying For A Mortgage

It’s really easy to just assume that when you want to apply for a mortgage that you’ll just find the right house, fill in the relevant forms and hey presto, you’re on the mortgage ladder, right? No.

There are a lot of boxes to tick when it comes to a lender granting you the mortgage that you require to purchase that dream home. The answer isn’t ‘well I’ll just keep applying until I get accepted’ as the more credit checks you have in a short period, the higher the chance this will get you refused credit anyway.

The very first thing you should do when it comes to seriously considering applying for a mortgage it to check how your credit ratings stands and how a lender would look at this.

So here is a quick checklist to help you tidy up your credit file and improve your chanced of getting accepted for a mortgage.

1. How Healthy Does Your Credit Score look? Although the 3 main credit agencies all use different ratings they are equal in their measure of stating how good your overall credit score is. The 3 main credit reference agencies are Equifax, Experian as CallCredit.

2. Are you on the Electoral Roll at your current address? If not, why not? Get on the electoral roll as soon as possible to give continuity in residency.

3. Are you financially linked to someone else? Being linked to somebody else financially can in fact have a bearing on your chances of getting credit. You may have held accounts with an ex-partner, if these are no longer in use, ensure they’ve been closed. You may wish to apply for a Notice of Disassociation to ensure that your credit file is updated to reflect that you’re no longer financially linked.

4. Close any old accounts that you no longer use that are still listed on your credit file.

There are options to keep an eye on your credit, free of charge, and this is always advisable. If you have your eye on the ball, it’s easier to make any changes and improve your score should you need to.

Once your credit file is looking good then it’s time to start looking for the perfect mortgage. This is where we can help. We provide free mortgage advice and take the hard work out of the application process. Give us a call today on 03333 44 85 11 or email us at enquiries@onlinemortgagecalculators.co.uk