Does your visa status preclude you from getting a mortgage?

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Lender: Regional Building Society
Product: 5yr fixed
Rate: 4.89%
Mortgage Adviser: https://themortgagebroker.co.uk/about/meet-the-team/the-mortgage-broker-scotland/fiona-simpson/
Client name: Akin
Mortgage Application date: 21st September 2022

Akin was introduced to me via an estate agent that I look after. Akin and his partner were first time buyers and had struggled to get a mortgage approval before being introduced to The Mortgage Broker.

The reason they had struggled to get mortgage approval was that Akin and his partner are both Nigerian and neither of them hold indefinite leave to remain in the UK having only been in Scotland for 10 months at the time of the application. Both applicants were employed, Akin as a manager at an accounting firm and his partner as an administrator.

We were very limited to the lenders that we could use based on these factors as some lenders would consider lending to them without indefinite leave to remain, but these lenders would then not lend in Scotland so the choices available to me were extremely restricted.

The potential choice of lenders was then further reduced due to the fact they only had a 20% deposit. With these circumstances, it meant that there was only one lender that would consider the case and this is who I approached to get a pre-approval and to discuss the case with the lender to ensure the criteria were a match.

I recommended a 5yr fixed rate as the client was looking for long term stability and this term meant that they would be much further down the visa route potentially with the right to reside in the UK, making future mortgage applications that much easier. After 5 years they would also have more equity in the property meaning better mortgage rates as their loan to value would reduce and they would have access to a wider range of lenders moving forward.

Although it is a quirky lender that we ultimately used it really was the only option as the mainstream high street lenders that we all recognise would not lend based on a variety of reasons.

Published on 12 December 2022

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The Mortgage Broker

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