Mortgages - So pee'd off!

[laceyfreckle]

I am ripping my hair out.

as most of you know we have been looking for a new house as a 3 bed house with 5 children and 2 adults (of which 3 of those children have lifelong disabilities.) is not much fun/easy.

We can't extend or improve where we are.

My husband works but is self employed and has only been self employed for 15 months so his wages doesn't count as income for mortgages purposes and as we're in early years and have had a lot of intial costs his profit hasn't been huge each year either although we hope it will steadily improve.

I had to give up my job when my youngest son was born as he needs around the clock care. I say give up as I was made 'redundant' not long after my son was born and my employer knew about his problems. :frown: I claim carers allowance and we get enough money from disability based benefits to pay our current mortgage and to provide for the children. I HATE claiming benefits but having three children with problems I have to as they have needed me at home day and night.

I'm having a real job getting a new mortgage even though we already have one and have never defaulted payment etc. A lot of the time it's because they won't take all the disability benefits into account.
We have found ONE lender that will but they want 6.99% interest and will only offer a 5yr fixed rate on that interest.

That is a LOT of interest. We can pay the monthly amount (not easily but ok) on that but it just feels like I'm being penalised because I claim disability and can't work. It's not even like we fit in the house we have now.

Our current mortgage is on variable rate at 4.99% (was a 3yr fixed rate which expired) but I can't even get a fixed rate for lower interest then 6.99 for the mortgage I have now and leaving it unfixed is just asking for trouble.

I even looked at myself getting a full time job with hubby reducing his hours when the littlest one is ill or the eldest is off school. but then we would lose all the carers allowance and would have to pay childcare (assuming I work a 40hr week at minimum wage I'd earn only £232 a week (BEFORE tax) I doubt we would be entitled to any childcare help so all of that would pretty much go on childcare for my youngest (not sure any provider would be happy to have him either) plus before and after school care for my other children. even if I did get help with childcare i believe it's not much as it's based on a maximum of 2 children.

Even then it wouldn't be classed as wages for about 6 months and we could do with moving now.

I suppose it annoys me because I know of other people in our situation who have sold their houses, spent all the money from it and then applied to be housed by the council and have ended up with a house big enough. I don't want to do that. I want to buy my own house and pay my own way.

I want to go back to work eventually when my disability children are older but that doesn't really help me now, even then it will probably be self employed so I can be around when the children need me. (besides don't fancy my chances of getting a employed job as most employers don't like meploying women with large families as they are now entitled to take so much unpaid leave per child more if the child is disabled....makes it very hard to get employed in the first place as employers think you will leave them in the lurch and are legally entitled to.)

Just a moan I supposel, nothing anyone can do....Think we will just end up paying a stupid 6.99% interest for the next 5 years then hopefully we may be able to get a better interest rate as hubby will be more established.

On a plus point, we have someone interested in buying our house, and we have found a suitable house for a good price which we have had a offer accepted on.

 

[eml]

Have you tried a mortgage broker.

I know you have to pay them fees but often they can conjure up offers that aren't available publicly or from some less known sources. Being self employed anyway is a big enough problem to most providers but our brokers (I use Savills) always come up with imaginative ideas.

 

[Innocence]

I know how you feel, although we both work our new mortgage rate was offered at 6.25% on a repayment mortgage. We are currently variable rate which is something like 5.10% .

We use an excellent mortgage broker if you want her number, she is a friend of the family so tends to get the best rates she can for us.

We are hoping to move in the next 2 years but even with us both working full time it will be difficult.

Can you not transfer your current mortgage to the new property?

 

[laceyfreckle]

Have you tried a mortgage broker.

I know you have to pay them fees but often they can conjure up offers that aren't available publicly or from some less known sources. Being self employed anyway is a big enough problem to most providers but our brokers (I use Savills) always come up with imaginative ideas.

Thanks, I'll try Savills...have tried looking myself and am also using a broker (abbots) who came up with the 6.99% one (I couldn't find any).

I think what annoys me most if myself and OH will probably both be self employed in time and it makes it so hard with a lot of things. Especially as things like council tax take my childrens dla into account so we have to pay full council tax even though we're not earning loads but we can't use the same dla for half the mortgages lol.

I even did some calculations to see if me getting a employed job would help but I would hate not being able to be with my son and to have to trust his care and health to someone else. Plus financially it makes us (even with childcare help) £20 a week plus petrol costs to work worse off each week, so I would in theory be paying to go to work :furious:

 

[laceyfreckle]

I know how you feel, although we both work our new mortgage rate was offered at 6.25% on a repayment mortgage. We are currently variable rate which is something like 5.10% .

We use an excellent mortgage broker if you want her number, she is a friend of the family so tends to get the best rates she can for us.

We are hoping to move in the next 2 years but even with us both working full time it will be difficult.

Can you not transfer your current mortgage to the new property?

my current mortgage is with alliance and leicester and as they've co-joined with santander they won't offer to transfer my mortgage as we "don't fit santander's criteria and alliance and leicesters criteria is now irrelevant". Our variable rate is 4.99 at the moment.
I tend to only get repayment mortgages as want to get rid of the damn thing really lol.

Our new payments would go up from £830 a month (variable interest) to £1200 a month (fixed for 5yrs). we can afford it I just begrudge paying 6.99% oop:
Might be worth your brokers details if you don't mind, might have a chat and see if they have any ideas (and savills!) before putting in anymore apps as trying to limit the amount of credit searches/footprints.

 

[happyhacker101]

I feel for you LF - you're inbetween a rock and a hard place atm and hope a broker can get you a better deal - good news about finding a new house though

Friends of ours have just been given a brand new council house and whilst I dont grudge them it as they've been through a lot this year - hubby and i were saying who'd help us if we ever needed rehousing???

Sometimes, it would seem that you're better off having very little in the way of houses and savings as you stand more chance of getting some help

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

I absolutely sympathise. Both I and my OH are self employed and mortgages are an absolute nightmare.

The last time I got one, brokers were no help. The only way I managed it was by speaking directly to a mortgage underwriter (at Egg, who alas no longer offer mortgages) and explaining myself. The underwriter is the person who makes the real decisions. Unfortunately we normally get to speak to people at call centres and in branches, who are "only following orders" and find the easiest thing to say is that the Computer Says No.

I got the underwriter's number from a friend who is a more persistent customer than me. But my first port of call in your shoes would be to try to get hold of a decision maker - underwriter, loans manager, I don't know what they might be called - at your current lender. Ask them to look at your record, explain the situation. They are interested in risk, and if you can demonstrate that you are a low risk, they may be prepared to make you an offer. Perhaps even at your current rate!

I do wish you luck. It's a terribly tough time. oop:

 

[laceyfreckle]

I feel for you LF - you're inbetween a rock and a hard place atm and hope a broker can get you a better deal - good news about finding a new house though

Friends of ours have just been given a brand new council house and whilst I dont grudge them it as they've been through a lot this year - hubby and i were saying who'd help us if we ever needed rehousing???

Sometimes, it would seem that you're better off having very little in the way of houses and savings as you stand more chance of getting some help

Tell me about it. I don't have a problem with people who need and use social housing, in fact this is our first bought house as previous to that we, too had a housing association house (smaller but worth a lot more money then the one we've got at the moment) and I have previously been a single parent with hardly anything myself. Just feels like hubby and I have tried to work at not being so reliant on the state and are being penialised for it.

I don't really want help as much as the ability to use the help I do get (which i appreciate) in a way that means our family costs the goverment less. To be able to provide for ourselves. It seems they expect everyone who does get help to want to waste it rather then to use it to its best benefit.

 

[laceyfreckle]

I absolutely sympathise. Both I and my OH are self employed and mortgages are an absolute nightmare.

The last time I got one, brokers were no help. The only way I managed it was by speaking directly to a mortgage underwriter (at Egg, who alas no longer offer mortgages) and explaining myself. The underwriter is the person who makes the real decisions. Unfortunately we normally get to speak to people at call centres and in branches, who are "only following orders" and find the easiest thing to say is that the Computer Says No.

I got the underwriter's number from a friend who is a more persistent customer than me. But my first port of call in your shoes would be to try to get hold of a decision maker - underwriter, loans manager, I don't know what they might be called - at your current lender. Ask them to look at your record, explain the situation. They are interested in risk, and if you can demonstrate that you are a low risk, they may be prepared to make you an offer. Perhaps even at your current rate!

I do wish you luck. It's a terribly tough time. oop:

Thank you for that...I think that's what the broker at abbots have done, basically spoken to Natwest and explained that we're fairly low risk as the income we do get is only ever likely to go up (eg. we're on the minimum at the moment and can still afford a mortgage) as hubby's work gets more etc

I don't think my current lender will be much help though as since being taken over they don't exsist for new/further mortgages.

I'm thinking I might have to swallow the 6.99% for 5 years. After 5 years we will have more equity and hubby will have been trading (hopefully) for 6 1/2yrs. I might even be self employed too by then so might be able to get a much lower interest rate on a new deal then that would offset this 5 years overall.

We're not hoping to move again after this one and if worse came to worse the house we have put a offer on is a good price and if some work was done to it would be worth a lot more then we are paying.

 

[happyhacker101]

My hubby also went self employed a couple of years ago and when we thought about moving back in the summer - he seriously doubted he'd get a decent mortgage now!

Looks like I have to stay where we are then!

 

[laceyfreckle]

My hubby also went self employed a couple of years ago and when we thought about moving back in the summer - he seriously doubted he'd get a decent mortgage now!

Looks like I have to stay where we are then!

That's the problem we have, downside is we can't even stay where we are at the moment for much longer (imagine 3 kids in a small-standard bedroom, including one that needs night care, not to mention the two kids in a single bedroom) Hubby has been very inventive with beds as the bedroom with three in sports this triple bunk!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4418088&l=32b9389a2a&id=504821277

 

[LauraGeeGee]

Definitely try a broker if possible.

For various reasons we couldn't put down our actual household income. We got a Self Certificate Mortgage. Basically, you don't need proof of income amount as such just proof of employment. It's designed for the self employed.

This was pre "credit crunch" I'm not sure they are still doing them but it's worth mentioning. I'd never heard of it before and it was the answer for us!

Brokers have a lot more offers than those which are available on the high street. Yes you pay a fee but it gets included in the mortgage, we never paid anything up front and it wasn't that much. Compared to the amount you borrow on a mortgage anyway, it's really a drop in the ocean.

 

[Joyscarer]

I think the thing to do is to take what you can get get if you can afford it but to be a bit canny and to look at the early repayment penalties and be wary of those.

That way if you get to the stage where you are in a position to shop around and take advantage of more products before the fixed rate term is up to get a lower interest rate then you'll have the option to do so without paying through the nose for the priviledge.

 

[laceyfreckle]

I think the thing to do is to take what you can get get if you can afford it but to be a bit canny and to look at the early repayment penalties and be wary of those.

That way if you get to the stage where you are in a position to shop around and take advantage of more products before the fixed rate term is up to get a lower interest rate then you'll have the option to do so without paying through the nose for the priviledge.

you can pay up to 10% a year without charge as a overpayment within the five years.

Although I'm going to hate paying that rate of interest for the next 5 years I think our plan is going to be...get through the next five years then when it's up/nearly up have a look at a new fixed rate as we will by then have a lot more equity (have 15% now so will have more after 5 more years) save what we can as well to put down as a lump sum when fixed term has ended and hope we pay a lot less interest in the long term so it evens out.

just re-read your post...that is a good idea as well :spin: I will see what there redemption fee is if you pay it all off earlier and then see if we can get a better deal before the 5yrs is up (say like when hubby has had 2 good years of self employment ;-) )

 

[Joyscarer]

Yeah sorry LF, should have made myself a lot clearer :redface:

Having the ability to overpay is good and something we've made sure we have on our mortgages but it's the being able to shift mortgages when the market improves that can be really costly as the penalties can be horrendous. Find something with lower penalties so you can take advantage of a product offering lower rates i the future is something worth considering if you feel your circumstances are likely to change or the market getting more flexible and offering more products.

 

[laceyfreckle]

Just want to say thank you to everyone...I was really down when I started this thread and could really see no end. (I HATE spending money!)

You have all made me feel a bit happier with possible solutions to follow up. :redface:

I did worry when I wrote this thread because sometimes I feel a bit inadequete for not working f/t even though I would love to if it was possible.
Thanks for being so understanding.

And for all you nosey people out there this is our current house -


http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property...wHome=&auction=false&x=109&y=25&thumbnailId=1

and this is the house we have a offer in on (but we didn't pay that price :wink

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-16167435.html

 

[laceyfreckle]

Yeah sorry LF, should have made myself a lot clearer :redface:

Having the ability to overpay is good and something we've made sure we have on our mortgages but it's the being able to shift mortgages when the market improves that can be really costly as the penalties can be horrendous. Find something with lower penalties so you can take advantage of a product offering lower rates i the future is something worth considering if you feel your circumstances are likely to change or the market getting more flexible and offering more products.

yes will definitely look into that. At the moment we only have the choice of 1 product so might have to decide what to do on the basis of the ability to shift or not on it.

Otherwise I shall have to be really mean and hope the interest rate rises so much that mine doesn't seem all that bad, would make me feel better anyway :giggle: I know they are set to rise anyway by a fair bit (hence all products increasing their interest rates anyway at the moment)

 

[devonlass]

Know very little about mortgages,as I am one of those 'have it easy' people who has a council house (have to say starting to feel a little bit sterotyped on this thread!!),but just wanted to wish you the best of luck with your move.

Being self employed is always a pain,but it should be possible to still sort out a mortgage eventually.AFAIK they won't ever take benefits into account as income,which does make sense really TBH.

Can you really not put up with where you are another couple of years?? Think I would TBH if it meant paying so much extra money,and having very little choice of lenders.I understand how difficult it can be with kids sharing rooms (I currently have a 19 yr old and a 10 yr old sharing,nightmare!!),but is there no shuffling around you could do just to make it bearable for a while until your OH has been self employed long enough to meet the criteria??

Sorry for all the waffling and Q's,just seems like you *might* end up in a bad position financially due to such limited options.

 

[laceyfreckle]

Know very little about mortgages,as I am one of those 'have it easy' people who has a council house (have to say starting to feel a little bit sterotyped on this thread!!),but just wanted to wish you the best of luck with your move.

Being self employed is always a pain,but it should be possible to still sort out a mortgage eventually.AFAIK they won't ever take benefits into account as income,which does make sense really TBH.

Can you really not put up with where you are another couple of years?? Think I would TBH if it meant paying so much extra money,and having very little choice of lenders.I understand how difficult it can be with kids sharing rooms (I currently have a 19 yr old and a 10 yr old sharing,nightmare!!),but is there no shuffling around you could do just to make it bearable for a while until your OH has been self employed long enough to meet the criteria??

Sorry for all the waffling and Q's,just seems like you *might* end up in a bad position financially due to such limited options.

Hi devonlass....I haven't meant to stereotyped anyone, I mean I had a housing association house myself before we bought this house. I don't think people in council houses have it 'easy' but it is fair to say if housed by the council you are more likely to pay less for a house that is generally a more appropriate size (or you can apply to upgrade/exchange) A 4 bed house is about £1250 to privately rent a month around here, what would be my new mortgage would be £1200 a month (repayment) but a 4 bed housing association house to rent here is around £600 a month but you can't get a housing association house unless you have no assets/savings at least here anyway. If you then fall on better times then you do end up having a cheaper monthly amount with a house just as nice as if privately bought, and then you also have right to buy (cheaply) although I know that is being phased out. Of course by buying you would at some point no longer have rent to pay.

Most mortgage companies do take the benefit into account as they are long term benefits but they vary as to which ones they do/don't. For example one would use the CTC and WTC but not the childrens DLA. Another would use the DLA, child benefit and CTC but not my carers allowance. Natwest use all of them.

I had to give up work (not by choice) and tbh I think the carers allowance they pay me (which is £50 a week) to offset the fact I can't go to work is rubbish. I do think you should be able to use a part of the disability benefits towards housing simply because their disabilities does make our housing requirements a bit different. For example, NO-ONE officially is happy with my eldest daughter having to share a room due to the nature of her problems. My middle son is in a middle bunk but has dyspraxia/muscle problems so has to be lifted in and out of bed (could get in himself if it was normal level). and the littlest son wakes everyone in his room up when he has to be cared/fed at night. I have the added problem that they are all in shortie bunkbeds that are narrow which my hubby made, the two older ones are fast outgrowing them lengthwise and I don't have anywhere to put bigger beds.
We have 2 girls 11 and 4 in one room and three boys 8,5 and 2 in the other.

Other big prob is we have a variable interest rate at the moment which is going to go up. The only rate I can fix it at is the 6.99% so even if we stay here we will still be paying 6.99% interest.

The house we are in also limits my husbands work a little as we don't have much storage space.


Anyway I seem to have rambled on....didn't mean to offend anyone at all! sorry.

 

[Innocence]

We're with alliance & leicester and they offered us a rate at 6.25% fixed for 3 years i think it was.

After xmas we will be looking to fix our rate again because we don't want to be caught out with the hike in interest charges.