In This Article
What is credit scoring on a mortgage?
People who are often confused about credit scoring on a mortgage and a person’s own credit score.
When lenders credit score on a mortgage, this means that they use their own individual scoring system to assess whether they can accept an application.
Lenders who offer do not share how their system works, and how a person’s circumstances contribute towards the score.
Lenders use their own individual algorithms built into the systems to filter the applications that they want, and the ones that they don’t.
They often use a points system at the initial stage that an applicant has to hit, to pass to the next stage. This would be the full application stage.
When a mortgage lender uses systems like this, they are assessing your deposit source, the loan to value of the application, whether you’re employed or self-employed, your income, whether you are a first-time buyer or not, your debts, your credit, and more.
All of these factors go into the system contributing towards internal points. If the application does not score enough points, it may fail.
It can be very difficult for the mortgage adviser to know whether this would happen or not, with lenders not sharing their algorithms.
In some cases, the mortgage is declined due to their credit scoring system, but the underwriters may be willing to have a closer look, to agree the case.
To find out more about lender’s credit scoring systems, and how they may affect your application, you should talk to an experienced mortgage adviser about your individual situation.
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What credit score do I need to get a mortgage?
Regarding your own personal credit score, many people wish to know what it needs to be in order to get a mortgage.
The truth is, it varies across different lenders, and even the credit reference agencies score people differently.
As a result, in addition to a person’s own credit score, lenders are more concerned about the individual events that have taken place leading to any bad credit.
For instance, if looking at an Experian report, and it is showing as fair, but with no adverse events on the credit file whatsoever, many lenders will be more than happy with this.
However, if you have a person with a credit file showing ‘good’ but with adverse events, such as a county court judgement or debt management plan in place, this will be outside of the criteria of many lenders.
Your credit report is not always a fair reflection of the events that have taken place.
It is possible for someone that has managed their credit in an acceptable manner to show a low score, but on the other hand, there are people that have mismanaged credit and had difficulties, showing a high score.
This is why lenders use this credit score as a guide only. They’re more interested in the applicant’s individual events to understand how a person is managing their finances.
How can I improve my credit score?
Trying to improve your credit score is never a bad idea.
It may not be quick, but there are usually things that you can do if your credit score is showing a low number.
For instance, check that you are on the electoral roll, if not, you can add yourself to it online.
If you are near the thresholds of your card and loan facilities, reducing this debt may improve your score.
For example, if you have a credit card that has a limit of £5,000, with a balance of £4500, this is at 90% off the facility.
If you do this across a number of your facilities, it shows creditors that you were close to the maximum.
Also, if you have any unpaid arrears, defaults or county court judgements, satisfying these may improve your score.
Negative events like these can heavily impact your mortgage application, so paying them off does not always mean you will qualify for the mortgage.
However, it always looks better than unsatisfied adverse credit, so repaying them should ultimately improve your credit file.
Being aware of your credit conduct is recommended. Think about how much you are borrowing in unsecured credit, as lenders look at your personal commitments and debt to income ratio when you apply for a mortgage.
They don’t all have a set rule of what is acceptable and what isn’t, but keeping this on the low side would usually help your chances.
If you want to know more about your credit history, you can go to Check My File, and sign up for a free trial.
Do all lenders credit score?
Not all lenders use a credit scoring system for assessing mortgage applications.
However, all of them will review your credit file in order to decide whether they are willing to accept your application.
Credit scoring for a mortgage involves using an algorithm to filter applications, rather than a human initially doing it.
There are some lenders that do not use point systems at all, and use a human approach to the underwriting of the mortgage.
In this case, they would look at the full details of the situation, along with an applicant’s credit file to see how they have handled their obligations in the past.
If the scenario is acceptable to them, along with the income and expenditure meeting their calculations, and the credit history of the applicants being within criteria, they would likely offer you a mortgage.
It tends to be the smaller building societies and specialist lenders that approach underwriting without a credit scoring system.
You can ask your mortgage adviser which lenders do not use an algorithm to filter applications, if you are concerned that your credit score is low, despite no adverse events taking place.
If you would like I NEED ADVICE to match you with an experienced mortgage adviser, please complete the form below.
Do lenders credit score for bridging loans?
Most bridging loan lenders do not use a credit scoring system for assessing their applications. With bridging loans being of a specialist nature, and the lenders generally being smaller than the large mortgage lenders, they would usually use human underwriting.
Again, like mortgage lenders, they would still need to know about your credit history, which would not be using a machine to make decisions for them.
They would be looking at the full situation, your experience, your bridging loan exit strategy, and credit history, to make a decision.
Bridging loans are a specialist product, so you should always take expert advice.
If you would like an adviser to tell you about your options around bridging finance, please complete the contact form.
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What credit score do I need to get a mortgage on a buy to let?
Like with residential mortgage, buy to let lenders work in a similar way.
Most of the larger buy to let lenders will use a credit scoring system that works off the lender’s individual algorithm.
This means that they will scoring the case on points, before allowing it to pass to the next stage.
Buy to let mortgage lenders will also not share the exact details of how the algorithms work within the system.
The system will however be looking at an applicant’s full situation, taking into account their loan to value, income, overall indebtedness, number of mortgages, whether they are experienced as a landlord, whether they are employed or self-employed and more.
If an agreement in principle was to decline, due to the lender’s credit scoring system, the lender may still be willing to look at the application in more depth, with an underwriter reviewing it.
Not all buy to let lenders use a credit scoring system, and some will review each case manually with an underwriter making the decision.
Again, an applicant’s credit history will still be assessed, but with a human deciding the outcome, rather the lender’s system.
How would I find out my credit score?
Your individual credit score will vary across the different credit reference agencies.
However, looking at this, and individual entries on the credit file, will give you a good idea of how a lender may see you as a borrower.
For instance, if all entries are green, this will mean that you have satisfactorily paid your creditors, which is always a good thing.
If you see orange and red marks across the report, these would usually be missed payments and defaults. These would show a lender that you have not always paid your creditors on time.
As each credit reference agency shows data in a different way, you would need to refer to their own guides in order to understand the report.
This includes Experian, Equifax and Transunion.
A recommended credit report provider is Check My File, as this shows data from the last 6 years for three major credit reference agencies.
Check My File will offer you a free 30-day trial which you can cancel at any time.
I have missed payments. Will it affect my credit score?
If you have missed payments on your credit file, this will likely affect your score giving you a low credit score.
Individual credit scores do not always reflect the adverse events and can be inconsistent. However, for the most cases, if you are not paying your creditors successfully, this will have a negative impact on your credit file.
You may still be acceptable to some lenders, as they use a different credit scoring system.
If you have adverse credit, you should look for a mortgage adviser with experience in placing these cases.
Bad credit comes in many different forms such as bankruptcies, individual voluntary arrangements, county court judgements, arrears, debt management plans, defaults and more
With this subject being a minefield, and lenders all having their own criteria on what type of adverse credit they can accept, expert advice is highly recommended.
Conclusion
When it comes to credit scoring for mortgage applications, lender systems are all different, so what is acceptable with one, may not be with another.
For your own individual credit score, there is no certain number which you need to achieve to qualify for a mortgage.
More importantly, lenders will be looking at the individual events that have taken place and matching them against their own criteria.
Rather than trying to guess whether your credit score would be acceptable, it would be recommended to get a copy of your credit file and speak with an expert.
An independent mortgage adviser would be able to gain a full understanding of the situation, to find you a lender accordingly.
If you would like I NEED ADVICE to match you with an experienced mortgage adviser, who can offer you a free consultation with no obligation to proceed, please complete the contact form.
They are experienced, which can boost your chances of being approved.
