Can I get a mortgage with bad credit?
Often, yes — but it depends on four things, and most of them are not what you would guess. Answer eight short questions, nine if you have already been declined, and I will tell you roughly where you stand.
- Your answers stay in your browser
- No email address needed
- Takes about two minutes
Eight questions. No details, no sign-up.
Your answers stay in your browser. They are not submitted or saved, and I do not see them unless you ring and tell me. The site keeps one anonymous count: how many people start the check and how many finish it.
This checkup is for guidance only and is not financial advice. Your results are based on eight questions and cannot take account of your full circumstances.
This checkup is for guidance only and is not financial advice. Your results are based on eight questions and cannot take account of your full circumstances.
The real answer needs twenty minutes on the phone — that call is free and there is no credit search.
David Bourne
The four things that actually decide it
How long ago it happened. The single most predictive fact, and the one people underestimate. Most lenders in this market band by months since the event, and they step down at intervals — so something close to a threshold can be worth waiting out by weeks rather than years.
How serious it was. A missed payment on a mobile phone contract and a mortgage arrears marker are not the same thing, and are not treated as such. Size matters less than type.
Whether it is settled. A satisfied CCJ reads very differently from an outstanding one. It does not remove it, and it does change who will look at it.
Your deposit. The lever most within your control, and the one that opens the most doors. Lenders price in bands, so crossing into the next band down matters more than saving a bit more in general.
Is there a minimum credit score for a mortgage?
No. There is no minimum, no threshold, and no number you can reach that makes a lender say yes — and the score you have been looking at is not the one they use.
Experian, Equifax and TransUnion each sell you a rating. They are consumer products, built and scaled by three separate companies, which is why the same person can look at three apps on the same afternoon and be given three different numbers. None of those numbers is handed to a lender.
What a lender receives is the underlying file — the accounts, the dates, the missed payments, the searches — and it runs that through a scorecard of its own, weighted for the things that particular lender cares about. Two lenders reading an identical file can reach opposite conclusions, which is exactly why a decline from one is not a verdict from all of them.
So "what score do I need" is a question with no answer, and chasing the number is time spent on the wrong thing. What is actually on the file, and when it happened, decides it. That is why the check above asks what happened to you rather than what your app says this week.
What the answer usually is
For many of the people who ask me this, the answer is that it is possible, it costs more than the advertised rates, and it is a step rather than a destination — two years of mortgage payments made on time is the strongest evidence a lender can have about anybody.
For a minority, the honest answer is that waiting a few months is worth more than applying now. If that is you, I will say so, and I will give you the date and the reason rather than a vague "try again later". It costs me the enquiry and it is the right advice.
What people ask before they ring
Does this check do a credit search?
No. Nothing about it touches your credit file, and it collects no details at all. It is a handful of multiple-choice questions answered in your browser.
Will you see my answers?
No. Your answers never leave the page; the only thing recorded is an anonymous count of people starting and finishing the check. If you want my view on your actual situation, ring me and tell me.
Is the result a decision?
No, and it could not be. It is a guide based on what you told me. Lenders decide, and they look at far more than eight questions.
What if I do not know the dates?
Answer "not sure" — it is a real option throughout. Your credit report will have the exact dates, and it is free to check your own.
The check gives you a rough answer. I can give you the real one.
Does one of these describe your situation?
What happened, how long ago, and whether it is settled decides more than almost anything else.
How long it stays on your file
Six years is the famous answer. It is rarely the date that actually decides your options.
A mortgage after bankruptcy
Lenders count from discharge, not from the order. Most people wait for the wrong date.
A mortgage after repossession
The shortfall usually outlives the repossession, and it is the part that stops applications.
A mortgage with a DMP or after an IVA
When the clock starts, and why the completion date matters more than the start date.
Back to mortgages with adverse credit · The broker people ring after being declined