Prepare For A Mortgage Application Guide for 2026
We Can Help You Secure A Mortgage Even If The Bank Says No
Refused a mortgage? We offer a first class solution to these issues and more…
- Declined By Underwriter
- Declined By Nationwide
- Declined After ‘Agreement In Principle’
- Declined After Survey
- Rejected Due To Overdraft
- NatWest Mortgage Declined After Valuation
- Mortgage In Principle Declined
With Access To 2,470+ Products – We’ll Help Find A Mortgage Tailored To You
Pre-Decision In Principle Application Form:
Refused a Mortgage, What Now?
At 1st UK Mortgages, we specialise in helping people refused a mortgage by well-known high street lenders. 1st UK has access to a very broad lending panel that covers almost all customer circumstances. We have been proven to help on many occasions where others fail.
We offer free, friendly, no-obligation fact-finds to help match your circumstances with our lending panel. Our rates are very competitive and affordable. We do not operate from large call centres; your advisor will manage your application from start to finish.
Being declined/refused a mortgage or any financial product is frustrating. You’ll have had high hopes and plans for your future.
Frustration follows that heart-dropping moment when you discover your hopes have been shattered by a mortgage that was perhaps agreed in principle and then later pulled from under your feet.
What you need to do now is get clued up on the approval processes involving the bank, broker, underwriter, affordability tests, and everything else that happens behind the scenes, so you know what criteria you have to meet to be approved.
Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’ll have been refused a mortgage. Next, read the entire page here to understand the reasons for mortgage approval and/or denial, how to find out what caused your recent offer to fall through, and how to increase your chances of approval BEFORE you apply anywhere else.
1st UK has access to a wide range of market-leading lenders, so we can consider almost all lending applications. If you’ve been declined elsewhere, we can almost certainly help you.
When you’re refused a mortgage, help isn’t really what you need. What you need to do is cease any credit applications and find out exactly what went wrong in the process that landed you where you are.
Always remember…
Not all is lost, especially if you went directly to a bank to obtain a mortgage product. The intermediary mortgage market is much more accessible, and you get specialist advice to access it through a broker service.
This Help Section Will Help You Discover Why
Different lenders have different criteria, and they meet them by reviewing your credit report. Not every lender uses credit scores the same way, as there’s no universal credit score that makes you suitable for every financial product.
Lenders have distinct profiles for the customers they work with. Mortgage brokers are well placed to help you after a declined/refused mortgage, because it’s their business to know the lending criteria of the partners they work with.
Understanding the lending criteria of whatever lender you approach
After being declined or refused a mortgage, don’t jump in with a second application to another lender before you interview someone who can explain why you were declined.
As soon as you learn you were refused a mortgage by whichever lender you applied to, ask for an interview with someone. Numerous applicants nationwide have had their mortgage applications declined, and there’s always a reason for the denial or withdrawal of a mortgage offer.
Sometimes, that reason boils down to a simple data entry error. Your application may have been scanned into the bank’s system with some information omitted, or a data entry clerk may have pressed a 2 instead of a 3 in the section describing how long you’ve lived at your current address.
To eliminate the potential for errors on the bank/lender’s part, make an appointment to discuss their decision to refuse a mortgage and ask them to explain why. If there hasn’t been an error during the application process, you’ll at least be closer to finding out why you were declined.
The least any advisor can do, after you’ve had a mortgage declined before completion of the sale, yet after an ‘agreement in principle’ (as often happens), is to grant you a meeting and discuss what influencing factor(s) resulted in the final decision to reject your application. You’ll need to ask for that appointment, though.
Some of the most common reasons for being declined/refused mortgages include:
Not being on the voter’s roll (Electoral Register)
Even if you are on the Electoral Register, ensure your details are correct. When you apply for a mortgage, you must state your current residency, which is checked against the Electoral Register to verify you’re a UK resident.
The Electoral Roll also confirms your Citizenship Status, as only UK Citizens can take part in elections. If your details on the Electoral Register differ from your permanent address in the UK, your mortgage application will probably be rejected.
To check that your details are recorded accurately on the voting register, check with your local Electoral Registration Office.
Visit:
https://www.gov.uk/electoral-register – For England and Wales residents
http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/ – For Scotland
http://www.eoni.org.uk/Utility/Contact-Us – The Electoral Office for Northern Ireland
Payday loans impact your credit score more than you know!
Many people use payday loan services for quick cash to stay on top of their finances. What the firms providing these services don’t tell you is that, since 2011, the details of any registered payday loan firm will be recorded on your credit report, even if you borrow to make a payment on time and avoid damaging your credit score.
Whether you pay it back on time or not, and even if you do, with no defaults reported, the fact that you’ve had to get a fast loan signals to lenders that you’re not very good at money management.
You may have done that, and instead took out a loan for someone else, or even went through a joint loan application to help a friend access finance. It won’t matter, though, because if your credit report shows any association with a payday loan company, lenders will question your ability to manage money efficiently. It will raise doubts.
If you have a history of this type of loan on your credit report, it will take six years before it’s removed. If it were back in 2011, the entry would have been placed, which is when credit reporting agencies began to register this type of borrowing on reports; it could be withdrawn sometime in 2017.
As soon as your six-year period is up, request that it be removed from your credit report. It does no good there, even if it shows as satisfied and has no negative entries. The fact that it’s a payday loan is enough to negatively affect your ability to access financial products.
You can have entries revised by contacting each credit reporting agency, but only after six years have passed. At that point, it should be removed anyway, but just in case, request it be done.
Credit Reporting Agencies include:
- Experian
- Equifax
- CallCredit
There is a £2 fee for accessing your statutory credit report. This is an administration fee. Under the Data Protection Act, all companies are obligated to disclose to you the information they hold about you on file.
When you receive your credit reports, look for anything negative, like missed payments, unsettled accounts, CCJs, debt management plans, and any other entry that could make you look high risk to lenders. In addition to how you manage your finances, you’ll also have a credit footprint to check because lenders will look at it when you apply for a mortgage.
A credit footprint is not the same as your credit history
When an entry is made on your credit report, it stays for six years after you’ve obtained the credit, and any subsequent entries against that credit, such as defaults, stay for six years from the date of entry. The credit footprint, though, consists of entries on your credit file from every firm that searches your history.
Each time you apply for any type of credit that results in a credit check through any credit reporting agency, the firm enters it into your credit file. Experian and Equifax will retain information about all credit searches done on your file over the past year. Still, CallCredit holds credit footprint information for two years.
That is why it’s not advisable to apply for multiple financial products quickly, as it can trigger multiple searches on your credit file. If you do, your credit score will be negatively affected.
Note, though, that your credit footprint is affected only when a hard check is done. Soft checks won’t always show.
The difference between hard and soft credit checks
If a lender runs a credit check on your files to make a lending decision, it’ll involve a hard pull, which means all information will be made available.
The more hard checks are done on your credit report, the lower your credit score will be.
- Hard credit checks lower your credit score
- Soft credit checks don’t affect your credit score
Any company can do a soft credit check as part of its research.
However, it won’t reveal enough information to make a serious lending decision. Your employer can also run soft checks, as can any company that requires you to verify your identity, and you may also get soft checks when you receive pre-approved credit card offers in the post.
Limit hard checks on your credit report to no more than two per year. In other words, once you’ve been declined for a mortgage, you have only one more shot at approval within a year.
Soft checks it doesn’t matter how many are done. Any time you’re considering applying for an account, find out whether a credit check will be conducted and, if so, what type (hard or soft).
At the initial stages of the application, always find out whether the banks will run a soft or hard check on your credit file. If it’s a soft check, don’t rely on the information, especially for a mortgage ‘agreement in principle’. A hard check is more reliable.
Most people who refused a mortgage after being offered an agreement in principle have gone through a mortgage broker. Many mortgage brokers will run a hard check on your credit file to get a more thorough view of your financial background.
This is because brokers work with multiple lenders and understand each lender’s lending criteria. By running a hard check on your credit file, they can better match your current financial situation and credit score with the most suitable mortgage provider they know.
If you’ve had trouble getting a mortgage from a bank because of a declined mortgage in principle, get in touch with us. We work with several partners, and we’re very familiar with this situation.
Joint applicants are being denied mortgages
When you apply jointly, lenders place more weight on the person with the worst credit history, so even if your credit file is exemplary, it won’t matter. It also doesn’t matter who the main applicant and joint applicant are in the risk assessment process lenders carry out.
When they’re assessing the level of risk they’re being asked to lend to anyone, they consider the worst-case scenario: an application from someone with a poor credit history. If you feel this may be why you’ve been declined/refused mortgages, bad-credit mortgages may be better suited to your circumstances.
The joint applicant with good credit will be considered essentially the same as a guarantor. For joint applications, both applicants should review their credit scores. One person’s income may be dismissed, lowering the income you have for affordability assessment purposes.
Your salary can result in you being refused a mortgage
Since 2014, the way lenders assess income levels has changed. It’s more than how much you have coming in. It’s about how much of that you spend as well. The new affordability test result is around 3 to 5 times your annual salary, or the combined salaries for joint applications.
For people on lower incomes, perhaps £16,000, even as a couple, thus doubling your household income, a mortgage of £135,000 wouldn’t meet the requirements of the mortgage affordability rules that came into effect in 2014. A mortgage declined on affordability is among the top reasons for rejection.
The best way to address this is to lower the amount you’re applying for by increasing your deposit. This results in a bank’s lending criteria being met at a lower “Loan-to-Value”, which simply means they’re lending out with less risk attached because the home is linked to your mortgage. If you default, the bank/lending institution is more likely to recover its funds without incurring losses. Therefore, the more you deposit, the less of a risk you’re asking any lender to take by granting you a mortgage product.
The type of property you’re asking for a home loan for also matters
Take, for example, a mortgage on a home through the Right to Buy scheme, which offers discounts to public-sector tenants. These are low risk because you’re asking for less finance than the home is worth, and are used for security against the mortgage.
Lenders are keen for obvious reasons to provide finance of say £25,000 to help you secure your own home that’s worth £75,000 as an example. If you default on that loan, they can repossess it and make a good profit.
Therefore, there’s hardly a financial risk. If, on the other hand, you’re asking for £80,000 of a home loan to purchase a property valued at £85,000, the deposit is so tiny in comparison that the lender would treat it as full funding and therefore use a more rigorous approval process.
Work and employment history
It’s ideal to be in a stable career with as few gaps in your employment history as possible. However, that’s become rare these days, so lenders expect you to be working and have a stable job with a permanent employment contract. Part-time contracts can be considered, provided your income includes a guaranteed element.
Zero-hour contracts are a problematic area for lenders when it comes to risk assessment because, under the terms of your contract, you could lose all your income and be left struggling to repay your mortgage, and you would struggle to dispute any claims of wrongdoing by your employer.
Another group that regularly encounters problems accessing mortgages is the self-employed. It used to be easier before self-certification mortgages were banned.
If you’re self-employed now, you will need audited accounts and detailed records going back for more than one year. With less than a year’s accounts, you will find it difficult to access any mortgage product, unless you can offer a substantial deposit.
Previous address history
The less you’ve moved around, the better. A mortgage is a long-term home loan, often over a 25-year term. While it doesn’t mean you’re committing to that home for the entire mortgage term, it may be considered risky if you’ve had a string of previous addresses, each lasting under a year.
When you’re asked for previous addresses, lenders want the history for the past three years. If yours shows you have had six previous addresses, all temporary Private Lets, each lasting the minimum six-month term, it will be viewed as suspicious.
It’s highly unlikely that six different landlords in succession would refuse to renew a lease. It indicates they’ve had tenant problems, such as non-payment of rent, trouble with neighbours, or even general housekeeping issues.
Lenders consider more than your financial situation in the risk assessment. It’s also your trustworthiness, notably in maintaining the property, which is required to maintain its value. Unmaintained properties will depreciate in value and therefore put the lender’s investment at risk and your own.
Having a Mortgage Declined After Receiving An ‘Agreement in Principle ’ (AIP)
This is a painful process, particularly if you’ve already paid fees upfront. Always remember that an AIP is not a legally binding agreement. People have had their mortgage applications declined by NatWest, Santander, and many other high street banks because the process isn’t fully explained to customers.
What many people don’t understand is why they can be issued with an ‘agreement in principle’ and then have the bank pull the offer later, after building their hopes up.
As explained above about credit checks, there are two types: soft and hard checks. Most agreements in principle are based only on information obtained from a soft check because it’s not intended to base a lending decision.
When the hard check is done, you may find the mortgage declined after an ‘in principle’ offer was made. Consider an ‘agreement in principle’ or, as it’s known by some banks, a ‘decision in principle’ as a guidance note only.
Never get your hopes up based on an agreement or a decision in principle, as the offer can be withdrawn.
A mortgage was declined by an underwriter
This is an issue when you apply for a mortgage directly with a bank or building society. Banks will always use mortgage underwriting as part of the risk assessment process.
The main interest of the underwriter is assessing your risk of defaulting. You can feel full of hope because of what a mortgage advisor at the bank tells you, only to be declined because the underwriter can’t approve your application as it doesn’t meet the lending criteria they use.
When any bank offers an agreement in principle, find out if it goes to an underwriter. Sometimes you can bypass the underwriter by lowering the bank’s risk through a larger deposit. It depends on the bank’s lending criteria.
Having a mortgage declined by an underwriter is gut-wrenching, but it’s not the be-all and end-all. It only ends one application with one lender. And you’ll have taken a direct approach.
Consider this, though…
Your entire spending habits and current debts are reviewed. If you’ve taken out a car loan over 24 months because you’re living with your parents, and you want to repay the finance faster, you can reshuffle it to extend the current loan terms and increase your disposable income.
This will be reflected in your credit files, but the change will not be immediate. It’ll take a few weeks, and you may have to chase up Experian, CallCredit and Equifax to have your files updated to reflect any current loan terms that have been updated.
If you are reshuffling current debts to make a mortgage application more attractive to lenders, ask the lender you’re working with to submit the updated terms of your loan agreement to the credit reporting agencies as soon as possible. The more disposable income you can show, the more attractive your application will be to lenders.
Mortgage Declined After Valuation
In many instances, when you receive an agreement in principle, it will state that it’s subject to a valuation approval or similar wording. Lenders will want to have the property you intend to buy surveyed to ensure it is worth what you’re telling them it’s worth. What they don’t want happening is an applicant telling them the home is valued at £100,000 only to find it’s worth half that.
If you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of having a mortgage declined after valuation, it’s because of the difference between what the surveyor uses to value the home and what the seller states it’s worth.
Other Useful Guides:
- 2018 Remortgage Industry Report
- Options For Pensioners 65-85
- Zero-Hour Contract Finance
- Government Mortgage Schemes
- Leasehold Property Good Or Bad?
- Near Prime Or Sub-Prime Borrowing
- No Credit History of Property Purchasing
- How To Get An Application Approved
- How To Repair Your Credit
- Credit Refinancing Post Divorce
- Remortgage Without The Risk
- Funding Lending Scheme Mortgages
About The Intermediary Mortgage Market
Not all banks are involved in the intermediary mortgage market; some work directly with consumers and exclude mortgage brokers.
Often, you’ll find that banks and building societies offering the best deals will exclude the intermediary market for mortgage products, which enables them to get a high amount of applications from which they can cherry-pick the best. When this is happening, it’s almost guaranteed that the mortgage underwriting process will be more stringent.
Where 1st UK Mortgages Can Help When You Are Declined a Mortgage
1st UK Mortgages has access to a variety of specialist lenders. We offer a free, no-obligation quotation service and an advisory service available Monday to Friday, 9 am to 9 pm.
All our Specialist Mortgage Brokers are CeMAP-qualified and have a wealth of knowledge of the lending criteria of our partner mortgage providers. In many instances, when mortgages are declined, the refusal is due to information obtained at the application stage, resulting in an ‘agreement in principle’ being issued.
As with many mortgage brokers, we are aware of variances in information obtained from the types of checks banks do and we work to obtain the real information that’s used for a hard credit check that all lenders will use before approving any mortgage.
We always act in our customers’ best interest. Nothing is done without your full knowledge. We’re transparent in everything we do and work to ensure you’re always in the picture of what’s happening during your application process.
Our service is handy for those who have been declined a mortgage at any stage of the application process, as our advisors can identify why things went wrong and then act as intermediaries to find a mortgage provider whose lending criteria match our customers’ circumstances.
Being refused a mortgage is common practice, and it’s most certainly not a reason to give up hope on owning your dream home. Our team has an in-depth understanding of the mortgage market, access to whole-of-market mortgage products and specialist lenders, and knowledge of the criteria our partners use.
Equity Release Products For Retired Homeowners From 1st UK Mortgages
- Should You Consider Equity Release?
- RBS Royal Bank Of Scotland
- LV= Liverpool Victoria
- Equity Release Providers
- Aviva
- Just Retirement
- Canada Life
- Pros and Cons
- HSBC
- Free equity release calculation with no personal data
- Hodge Lifetime
- Equity Release For Under 55
- Legal and General
- Sunlife Equity Release
Too Many Messy Loan Payments? Consider A Secured Loan
- 2nd Charge Loan Overview
- Norton Finance
- United Trust Bank
- Masthaven Bank
- Secured Debt Consolidation Loans
- Together
- Pepper Loans
- 1st Stop Loan Reviews
- Paragon
- Spring
- Precise Mortgages
Am I more likely to be approved for a secured loan if I’ve had a remortgage application declined?
Maybe, yes, as homeowner loans with bad credit history have different underwriting criteria, sometimes more lenient than a full mortgage application, and they are particularly ideal when you just want to release equity and not remortgage for another reason.
