What to Take with You When Requesting a Mortgage

When you are requesting a mortgage, whether it be from a bank, a lender, or your mortgage broker, you should always go prepared with as much information about your finances as you can. Once you know that you are thinking about a mortgage you should keep a folder of all your financial literature, such as bank statements, pay slips, and any other payments or any debts that you may have. It is important that you also take with you any negative information you may have about your finances as well, it is no good hiding these. If you have had a bad credit history, the adviser will no doubt have seen it all before, you shouldn't feel ashamed, but they can only help you if you are honest with them. You should tell them everything about your past financial history and take proof of this, for example if you have a CCJ against your name you should take this, or if you have ever had any warning letters from the bank regarding any of your accounts. By going prepared to an adviser you will have a better chance of coming away happy. It may also sound obvious, but you bring with you some form of identification with your photo on, such as a passport, just so they know you are who they say you are.

Requesting the Mortgage

It is important that give the adviser as much information as possible because this is what they will base their search on. A lot of advisers will ask you about your credit history and they will base your initial mortgage offer on this. If you tell the adviser that you have no other loans or do not have a bad credit record this could dramatically offer what offer he gives you. It will not be until the adviser carries out a credit search on you that they will realise that you have not given them all the information they need. If you supply all the correct information from the start then there is less risk of you being disappointed and you will also not be damaging your credit score by them carrying out so many checks on your credit history.

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What you Don't Need to Take

Remember that if it is your first visit to an adviser you will not need to go equipped with everything you own, just stick to your basic financial records. If you already have your heart set on a certain house you do not need to take any information on this, as it will be too early, but you could ask the adviser what price range you should be aiming for. You will also need references when it come to getting a mortgage, but you won't need these until a latter stage.

There is no harm in taking as much information as possible when you are requesting a mortgage, it is better to be over prepared than under prepared, however this doesn't mean that you have to drag your back catalogue of bank statements and pay slips, the past three months should be sufficient and head you in the right direction.

The Next Step

Now that you have read through the advice above, you might want to put it into practice. Our Remortgage Savings Calculator lets you see whether switching your mortgage could save you money: compare your current rate against a new deal to find your monthly saving, after any early repayment charge. Try it now →