Don’t Pretend to Live Somewhere Else
Once you start the process of moving home, you’ll have a lot of stresses to deal with. One that is always a hassle, but is still highly important, is updating every record of your address, so that all of your bills and other post can go to the right place.
You’ll have to change everything from your doctors surgery to your Amazon account and even more; There’s a lot for you to work through! It’s not just for you post though, as having consistent personal information is helpful in many instances.
A lot of the time, you can miss an address when updating everything, which can mean that your name might have multiple addresses tied to it. Something you might not realise it can affect, is your credit score. The less varied addresses you have, the healthier your credit score will be.
Due to the significance of your credit score in a great many areas, your credit score will, in turn, need to be seen in a favourable manner if you are looking to apply for a mortgage on a home that you are looking to buy.
In more recent memory, first time buyers in Essex and home movers in Essex seem to feel as if have a much greater understanding of how their credit scores work and will look to intentionally use their previous and current addresses to work in their favour.
Typically, they will look to do this when they have moved out of their family home with their parents, now renting their own home. Even though they now have a new address, they don’t see the issue of leaving their credit cards, electoral roll info and bank statements at their parents’ address.
A lot of them think that in doing so, they can have a long-standing and stable address in their name, rather than multiple addresses. In theory, this would give you the advantage during your mortgage process, but it doesn’t quite work in practice.
Records of Your Address
The reason why this will not work in practice, is that somewhere as time has progressed, if you have moved house, there will be a record on your credit report of your new address. Keeping ties to your previous address is an incredibly flawed strategy.
Whether you are paying bills to keep your home running, car insurance, have ordered from online stores like Amazon or eBay, or have inputted your address anywhere else at any point in time, there will be a record of it on your credit file.
This in turn, can make it appear as if you are actually living in two places at once or alternatively, like you have failed to disclose crucial information to a mortgage lender. In either case, these can harm your chances of mortgage success, as your mortgage lender needs to trust you.
Keeping Your Address Up-to-Date
The best thing that you can do if you are looking to purchase a new home in Essex and apply for a mortgage, is to make sure that every record of your address is accurate and up-to-date.
This means you need to make sure that all those shopping accounts, electoral roll, credit cards, and really anything that comes to mind with your address on, are all correct and have the right address for you and your current home.
When you update your address to your current place of residence on the electoral roll, make sure that you definitely put down the correct dates for when you moved in and out, as getting this wrong can also make it seem like you are living in two places at once.
Keeping all of your addresses and dates for moving in and out up-to-date is a much more open and honest way of handling your mortgage application with a mortgage lender. Not only will it make you seem good to a mortgage lender, but it will make everything a bit easier.
What else can be done to help me obtain a mortgage?
Aside from making sure that your address is up-to-date, there are a selection of different tips that could also be highly beneficial to first time buyers in Essex, as they begin their own mortgage journey.
Useful tips include maintaining your bank accounts, trying to avoid unnecessary charges if possible and limiting your gambling transactions, if you are a regular gambler. Gambling can have a seriously negative effect if done too often.
Remember that your bank account will represent a true reflection of your ability to consistently make your monthly payments, generate income and handle your finances in an appropriate manner. This is a big determining factor in whether or not you are able to get a mortgage.
Gifted Deposit
A gifted deposit can be a very helpful way for a first time buyer to take their first steps during their mortgage process. This is where a family member or friend, can gift you a portion or even the full amount of a deposit to you, as a way to help you get onto the property ladder.
It’s important to remember that it has to be solely a gift and not a loan for you to repay, something your mortgage lender will want to see a confirmation of.
Check My File Credit Report
We would always suggest to customers that, whether new or existing, they should look to obtain an up-to-date credit report as soon as they can.
Check My File is a really good tool that can pull together information from a variety of sources, to get a more complete view of your financial position.
Date Last Edited: December 6, 2023
