What's so important about the credit report?

There are many hoops to go through and hurdles to jump when trying to secure your mortgage. A good credit report is the first thing to get right before you look at wheteher you can afford the mortgage.

For those of you who take no interest in those adverts relating credit reports where the some bloke is stuffing numbered cushions then you ignore this at your peril. The banks and building societies take great interest in your numbers and more importantantly whether you have kept up your credit commitments. What hope do you have in securing a loan that could last 30 years if you cannot remember to pay your creidt card bill on time?

They will also look at the amount of credit that you have and interesting don't have. It is an irony that you have to have some credit in order to get a mortgage. The lenders are in essence looking for a credit history so if you have been living like your grandparents and never buying anything until you had the savings to do so then you need to rethink your strategy if you want a morgage.

Failing to pay your credit card bill or other credit commitment will have an adverse effect on the magic 1000. But there are some other factors that affect your score that you may be unaware of. One of the most important when looking for a mortgage is the hard and soft footprint. If you ask the bank for a mortgage and run a Decision in Principle or Mortgage Promise which is the precursor to a full application then this will leave a hard footprint on your credit file and lower your credit score. Too many of these footprints will leave your score so wrecked that you will not even pass the initial test. The lenders take the view that you should only run a Decision in Principle with the lender that you want to take a loan with. Using a DIP to find out who will lend to you is not a clever way about getting a mortgage. You need to do your homework. If you don't have the time or cannot be bothered then get in touch and I can help.