Does a poor credit rating prevent a mortgage ?

A common question mortgage advisers get asked is about credit scores and if a bad credit rating can prevent getting a mortgage to buy a house. Here's a typical question:

"I'm interested in seeing if I can obtain a mortgage but am worried my credit rating may be a problem.

Please could I make arrangements to speak to someone in this regard."

So in this enquiry the person obviously has some problem with some form of debt. Perhaps they are young and have to repay their student debt, or perhaps during the boom years of the noughties they overstretched themselves financially and to bridge the gap took out loans on 0% credit cards which they are now struggling to repay.

The subject of debt is of course huge, with many UK workers now on the minimum wage and zero hours contracts, what hope is there for buying a house for people in this position? The reaction has been that many people are now forced to rent houses because they can't afford the deposit to buy a house. The hour prices on the property market are also inflated as many people have chosen to invest in bricks and mortar rather than trust their money on the stock market. This has created a house price bubble as too many people, a second house is their investment and was bought when house prices were high. This keeps house prices (unrealistically) high as no one wants to loose money on their investment.

So, buying a house in todays Britain is tricky. It's tricky is you're in full time employment and have a good credit history. It's even more difficult if your circumstances aren't ideal and you think your credit rating may be a problem. Fortunately there is good news: mortgage advisers like Manchester Mortgages (http://manchestermortgages.co.uk/) are experts at finding mortgages for people with poor credit ratings. Most high street lenders will not consider many people with poor credit histories for a mortgage: this is a mistake. It's a mistake because people are increasingly running short of money and are having to work harder to make ends meet. This produces the follow-on effect that fewer people will be eligible for high street mortgages, this presents a huge opportunity for the likes of Manchester Mortgages and similar companies.

The difference an independent mortgage lender can make is huge, and in my opinion the days of the high street mortgage business model are over: these services are old and out-dated. An independent mortgage adviser will look at hundreds of mortgages from a huge number of different lenders and will also speak to them personally, describing people's credit situations (see the page specific to bad credit mortgages at http://manchestermortgages.co.uk/poor-credit-mortgages/) in detail and filling in a mortgage application with the correct information to ensure that a mortgage offer is given rather than rejected.

So in summary then, having a poor credit rating will certainly cause difficulty in getting a mortgage, and the best way of getting around the problem is to use an independent broker as described above.