A mortgage is a bank or building society loan that provides you with the funds required to purchase your property of choice. This can be held by an individual or jointly between more than one person. Your loan will be repaid over a number of years with interested added. Your length of repayments will be assessed based on your personal financial situation.

If you do not keep up your repayments the property may become subject to repossession.

Each individual mortgage lender will have their own qualifying criteria, but as a general rule, the following areas are all common factors for consideration when assessing your mortgage application and deciding on the amount they will lend.

All mortgage lenders have their own criteria. The following factors all play a part in determining their mortgage offer and how much they are willing to lend to you:

• The amount you wish to loan
• How much you can put forward as a deposit
• Your income and employment status
• Your credit rating
• Any existing debts you may have
• Your regular outgoings
• Your age
• The length of the mortgage term you wish to take
• Whether you are a sole applicant or a joint application

You need to convince lenders you can maintain regular payments and complete the repayments of your mortgage. To analyse your capability, a credit report is used to check your repayment history. This will be based on reviewing previous and existing records such as other loans, mobile phone contracts, utilities, any credit cards you may have and any bank or building society accounts you have opened in within a six-year period. Should you have any CCJ’s, debt repayment plans, arrears or have declared bankruptcy, you still have mortgage options open to you and we can help you choose the best choice to suit your personal needs.

To be applicable for a mortgage you will require a deposit of at least 5% although a larger deposit will help secure you a better rate. If you already own a property and are looking to move, you can utilise the equity you have in your property for your deposit.

The next stage of the process is when you have found the property you want to buy. This is where our experts can help is assessing your personal circumstances and begin their search through hundreds of mortgage quotes. We also work closely with providers to secure exclusive deals to us, ensuring we are able to find exactly the right product and at the very best price.

Our advisor will present the product they believe is best for you and once you agree, you receive an AIP (agreement in principle). This gives you an estimated sum of how much the lender will let you borrow.

If your offer is successful you will need a solicitor that can process your searches, surveys and contracts through the remainder of the process. We can help you find a solicitor if you aren’t sure how to go about finding one. Our red-carpet service means that our team will handle the rest of the process between lenders, solicitors to make it as easy for you to prepare to move into your new home.

If your application is to remortgage, it is always worth starting the process early to make sure that we can tailor your new deal to fall in line with the end of your new one, again once we have found the right product for you, our red-carpet service means we handle the rest.

Usually you will be able to borrow up to five times your annual salary from mortgage lenders. Elements such as your age, dependants and financial commitments will affect your loan amount. A lenders loan amount will be based generally on you much can afford each month after you have settled any other financial obligations.

Our advisors will talk you through your financial situation and help you understand how much you will be able to afford before any credit searches or applications are carried out.

You will need to place a deposit of at least 5% however, the more you can place down as a deposit the better the rate will be for your mortgage. There are a few exceptions to this.

– If you already own a home, you can use the equity in your property for the deposit.

– If you are a council tenant and wish to buy under the right to buy scheme, the majority of mortgage lenders will accept your discount through the right to buy scheme as your deposit.

With property prices increasing, it’s becoming harder for first time buyers to save the amount required for their deposit. To help first time buyers get onto the property ladder the government has introduced the help to buy scheme.

The cost of family income benefit will depend on several factors:

• The age at which you take out the policy: the older you are, the higher premiums you’ll pay.
• Your health: having pre-existing medical conditions, smoking, or drinking in excess of recommended guidelines will increase your premiums. Some pre-existing medical conditions, like diabetes, especially if badly managed, may make it difficult for you to obtain insurance except from specialist providers.
• The length of the term: the longer the policy term, the higher the premiums.
• The amount of the income: the more generous the potential income, the more you’ll pay for the insurance.