At Forge Financial Solutions Ltd we have access to a panel of over 50 lenders and alternative finance options our understanding of these lenders criteria and our support tools sets us apart. We work differently, as you are guided by our home buying experts and property finance partners that help every step of the way.

• If you are a first-time buyer and or need advice on specialist schemes such as Help to buy we can help.
• If you require advice on Buy to lets or Limited Company buy to lets, we can help.
• If you have a low credit score and need to understand your position we can help.
• This is a short example of how we can help as the list goes on.

Whether your circumstances are simple or complex, understanding your current position is key to getting a mortgage. This allows us to formulate a tailored plan to help you buy the property or home. Remember that it isn’t ‘if’ you can buy a home it is ‘when’ can you buy your home. Whether you have bad credit, are self-employed, have just started a new job or are not sure how much you can borrow, rest assured you’re in the right hands.

1. Your appointment. The first appointment is to find our facts, check your lending feasibility, confirm your identity, and find a solicitor. We will also identify any costs relating to your home purchase and suggest a likely deposit.
2. Your deposit. Once you have saved a deposit and found the house you wish to purchase we need to negotiate with the relevant parties to determine a purchase price. Should you require assistance at this stage Forge Financial Solutions Ltd are always happy to help.
3. Agreement in Principal. Forge Financial Solutions aims to secure the mortgage from the right lender for you. The Estate Agent will need a copy of this, to prove that you can obtain the necessary funds to buy the house.
4. Application. Forge Financial Solutions Ltd will make the application to the lender and send them the relevant documents they need.
5. Valuation. The lender will value the house and carry out the home buyers report should you have paid for it and opted for this application stage.
6. Mortgage Offer. If the lender is happy with the valuation and the application they will enter into a form mortgage agreement and is called the offer stage, a copy of this offer will be sent to you, the solicitor and your Forge Financial Solutions Ltd broker.
7. Insurances.  Once a mortgage has been agreed Forge Financial Solutions Ltd will look to give you the correct protection and home insurance advice.
8. Finalising. Your solicitor will be in contact with the results of the property searches and a completion date.

The document you will need include, but are not limited to:

• Proof of ID (passport/drivers licence)
• Proof of address (dated in last 3 months: utility bill, credit card statement or council tax statement – not mobile bill)
• Proof of earnings (last 3 months payslips & P60)
• Full last 3 months bank statements for ALL active accounts (See criteria below)
• Proof of deposit (savings statement or gifted deposit letter)
• Credit reports (if history of adverse credit – Experian, Call credit & Equifax)
• New property details (address, construction material, approximate year of build, detachment type, garage or number of parking spaces, number of bedrooms/bathrooms/kitchens/other rooms)
• Estate agent details
• Solicitor details
• Bank Statements: Lenders normally request the latest 3 months bank statements to meet the following criteria
  • A full 3 months – So if you’re requested Bank Statements in November, you’ll need to provide the previous three months – August, September and October – with no pages missing
  • Identifiable to you – must have your name, address, account number and bank name on
  • Online statements – must have identifiable information and ideally the web URL on the bottom. Bank prints – must have identifiable information and a branch stamp and signature, ideally on every page.

Not having the right documents required for a mortgage application will slow your application down.

If you’ve had adverse credit in the past, our mortgage advisers will want to review your credit report before doing anything. Doing so will provide them with the same data lenders will be using to assess your application, in terms of the specifics of each credit issue.

With the right mortgage knowledge, our mortgage advisers will match your credit history with the criteria of the right lenders.

Whenever an initial decision in principle is made with a lender, they perform a credit search on your file. Multiple searches in a short space of time can have a negative impact on your credit score and so it’s essential that there are no unnecessary searches made with the wrong lenders who would never accept an application anyway.

Our advisers know there are 3 main credit reference agencies, and that each lender uses a different one. These reports each hold different information and can look different, it’s important to review them all before application to avoid surprises and further unnecessary searches against your file.  Sign up to CheckMyFile to check your multiple credit report.

In order to calculate the affordability of the mortgage you are applying for, lenders will need to establish what your household income is.  Every lender is different in;

1. What they ask for
2. What type of income they accept
3. The amount they will deem you can borrow based on this salary

For example, some lenders expect self-employed applicants to have 3 full years trading, others require only 12 months. Some lenders accept 100% of car allowance, where others only 80% etc. Lenders will also be interested in the type of job you do, and how long you’ve been in the role. They will use this information to establish the risk of their position to lend to you.

Committed expenses such as loans, credit cards, catalogues, hire purchases, childcare costs and student loans directly affect the amount that you can lend. For example, a car loan for £200 a month will reduce the amount that you can lend on a mortgage, reducing your purchase power.

Lenders will be interested in how old you are to establish the maximum term you can borrow over. Since the mortgage market review, most lenders impose a maximum age on a conventional mortgage and brought into focus your actual retirement age and the impact of working beyond this. The term of the mortgage impacts the amount that you can lend as the less term available to your stated retirement age reduces the amount that you can lend. Each lender sets their own maximum age and lending to and into retirement policy.

The property that you choose to buy will inevitably determine which lender is suitable. Each lender determines through their lending criteria what property is adequate security to lend money against and this varies greatly, for example, one lender may only lend on 1 acre of land and others will lend up to 10 acres. Some will consider properties of non-standard construction (i.e. thatched roof / concrete build etc) and some will not, some will accept new-build flats, some don’t.

The Loan to Value is determined by the amount of borrowing you need compared to the property value. Traditionally, the larger the deposit or equity stake you have the lower the loan to value. As you pose less risk to the lender they normally reward with a cheaper interest rate. YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE.

This is a crucial step in securing your property. Every lender has different criteria in the source of your deposit, some will accept true gifts from relatives and some won’t, some will accept the government’s Help to Buy Scheme and some won’t. It is our job to help you understand which lenders will accept what.

Your credit history is a holistic view of all your credit accounts and commitments that you currently have and have had for the last 6 years. Lenders use this information to determine if they will lend to you. The better your credit report the more chance you have of a lender saying yes. Things can affect the lenders decision are Arrears or missed contractual payment, Level of indebtedness as these show your ability to keep up the repayment of your new mortgage.

So that we can get a full picture we ask you to get a credit report downloaded ready for any meeting. CheckMyFile is a multi-agency report and to download your report please follow the link here.

Certain insurance policies are mandatory such as buildings insurance, others are recommended to give clients an informed choice (contents insurance / life cover / income protection).  As part of our meetings we will recommend such policies to you if we have found a need throughout the conversation. As we recommend to a panel of insurers, we will advise on the right policy to meet your needs.

Due to our years of experience we at Forge aren’t scared of self-employed clients. As we have a panel of lenders we have a good spread of the market to help clients and their circumstances. We can help clients that have been trading from 1 year upwards.

Buy to let has been a hot topic for a number of years as it can be a great investment for the future. This is an area that seems to change every few years or so. We at Forge are Buy to Let experts and keep up with changes in local and national Legislation as it changes. Buy to let over the last few years has seen some changes and subheadings e.g. Ltd company Buy to Let, consumer buy to let are some and we will help you make sense of these.

Please see the document library for ‘Buy to Let Tax Changes Factsheet’ for info on the latest tax treatment for Buy-to-lets. Please remember we aren’t tax experts and for expert tax advice please speak to a tax expert.

Some buy to let mortgages are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Knowing when to apply for a mortgage can be key to getting the home you most want. It’s always best to know what mortgage you will be able to get before setting your heart on a property may not be able to get a mortgage on. So, our advice is to get the Agreement in principle before you put in an offer on a house. Most borrowers will need to understand how much you can lend and if a mortgage company will lend before starting the search for a house. We also need to show you the monthly costings of a mortgage so that you can understand what you can/will and cannot/won’t afford.

If you’ve got a low credit score at present it could indicate that you have had bad credit in the past Generally, the worse the issue, the higher the deposits required, but you’ll be surprised at what lenders are considering in today’s market, and mortgages for customers with adverse credit are growing in availability. We are also specialists in this area and will still talk to clients that have experienced;

• No credit history
• Low credit score
• Late payments
• Missed mortgage payments
• Defaults
• CCJ’s
• IVA’s
• Debt management Schemes
• Repossessions
• Bankruptcy
• And mortgage customers with multiple credit problems

With credit issues, applications are often much more complex and require a higher level of detail when being underwritten. As a result, matching you up with a lender that considers your application can be much harder.

This is a question that mortgage borrowers sometimes ask, because naturally people feel it may be quicker, easier, and cheaper to go straight to the source.  The truth, however, is that the majority of intermediaries help you to save, whether that’s in the currency of time, or cash. The second truth is in most instances you need a broker to find a mortgage with bad credit, as the majority of (if not all) the lenders that cater for adverse credit borrowers only deal through a mortgage intermediary. Brokers offer a professional service and will understandably charge fees, but if you get the best finance possible then it’s well worth it, so trusting a broker to take care of everything is an important part of the process. They can search an extensive panel of lenders and match you with the right mortgage for you, but do pretty much everything for you, managing the application through from enquiry right up to you getting the keys or money in the bank. Remember, intermediaries work for you, not for the bank, and certainly not for the estate agent whose main goal is to sell a house for the highest price in the shortest time.

If you want to move quickly with a direct mortgage application or ask a more general question about your options, give us a call on 01724 310120 or fill out the enquiry form for a no obligation chat. We’ll introduce you to one of the expert brokers we work with, ensuring they have the experience to get you the right mortgage solution, at a competitive price, taking all your circumstances into account.