Get the right mortgage deal

Our straightforward guide will help you pick the home loan that’s best for you.

Bad credit mortgages

Can you get a mortgage with bad credit?

So, you’ve got a bad credit record. Perhaps you’ve missed a few credit card payments, have had a County Court Judgment awarded against you or have previously been made bankrupt. Does this mean you can’t get a mortgage?

Years ago, the answer probably would have been ‘yes’. These days though, lenders may be more prepared to lend to people with a less than perfect financial history. The technical term for this type of mortgage is sub prime. They are also known as poor credit, credit problem or adverse credit mortgages.

Try a mortgage broker

You’ll probably need to approach a mortgage broker to get a credit problem mortgage and they will search the market on your behalf. Increased interest in this type of mortgage has resulted in most lenders offering credit problem mortgages as part of their service these days.

What sort of deals can you get?

As you might expect, the interest rate you’ll be charged, will be slightly higher than for an ordinary mortgage, and exactly how high will depend on how bad your credit history is. Arrangement fees and early repayment charges tend to be higher than for a normal mortgage too.

Although increased competition has resulted in better rates becoming available, there is still a big difference between the best and the worst deals on the market. Because of this, it is often advantageous to seek advice from an independent broker.

Like ordinary mortgage deals, you should be able to get a fixed-rate bad credit mortgage in order to protect yourself from interest rate rises. Other types of interest rate such as discounts and trackers are also available.

Even better news is that once you’ve had a bad credit mortgage for about three years, and not missed any repayments, you should have repaired your credit record to such an extent that you’ll then qualify for a cheaper mortgage deal from a standard lender.