Credit Search Mortgage Advice in Coventry

Nowadays, people focus a lot more on their credit rating. We have seen an increase in consumers becoming aware of credit scoring and this has been evident here at Coventrymoneyman with many people who get in touch and have looked at their credit report online.

There are a variety of credit reference agencies out there. Experian and Equifax is the most popular ones that people use. As a Mortgage Broker in Coventry, we recommend potential new clients to use Check My File for a 30-day free trial. It will then be £14.99 a month after your free trial but you can cancel this at any time. This report pulls together the information into an easily understandable colour-coded report.

Try it FREE for 30 days, then £14.99 a month – cancel online anytime.

When customers contact our team, we usually receive questions about whether we will be doing a credit search on them. As mentioned, many people are aware of credit scoring and will also know that too any searches can have a negative impact on their credit score. Lenders always run credit checks, however, we do ask for the client’s permission before its carried out. Hard credit searches and soft credit searches are the two different types of credit searches that banks can run on a customer.

Credit Searches

For a detailed analysis of your credit report, a hard credit search would be carried out. This type means any financial institution will need your permission for this to happen. The lender will be looking in depth into your situation with a hard search. Passing the credit means there is a high chance that your application is also successful which is a huge advantage.

One drawback that can happen is if for some reason an applicant cannot provide satisfactory documentation to support the information you have provided or they find that you have put forwarded false details.

Furthermore, a hard search will leave a ‘footprint’ on your credit file which means any who views your report in the future will be notified that a search has been carried out. Keep in mind that this isn’t a bad thing immediately, however, it can be if you have multiple footprints registered in a short period of time this could look like you have applied for lots of credit at once.

Even though the footprint left doesn’t determine whether your application was successful or not, lenders’ systems may automatically assume that you are being declined. From their perspective, they would think why you would go to a second lender, unless the first lender had said no.

Having a hard footprint on your every now and again is not a big issue which you don’t need to worry about but you need to be careful that you don’t have too many within a short period of time.

The analysing aspect of a soft credit search is a lot more straightforward. You will find soft searches on price comparison websites which can give you an idea of what products might be on offer to you or if someone wants to verify your identity.

Many mortgage lenders carry out soft searches initially, with most lenders switching to this type of search. The financial institution carrying out a soft search does mean they obtain less information compared to a hard search, however, if you are granted an agreement in principle from one of these lenders, it still increases the chances of your full application being accepted.

You may find that soft searches are more discreet because you can see that someone has carried out a soft search if you check your credit file, however, this won’t be shown to other financial institutions like banks.

With this, you will be able to apply for an agreement in principle for a mortgage because it’s pretty unlikely that this would harm your credit score, regardless if it’s successful or not.

What is a mortgage agreement in principle?

For those that are looking to make an offer on a property, we strongly advise that you have your mortgage agreement in principle in place before contacting the estate agent.

It’s key that you put yourself in the best possible position of securing the property you want at the lowest price by having your finances in place which will result in you being in a better position going forward.

With an agreement in principle in place, it will prevent the agent to “cross-sell” their own in-house mortgage services to you.

Is your situation a little out of the ordinary?

If you feel that your situation may be too complex for a Mortgage Broker in Coventry, like ourselves, to sort out, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Here at Coventrymoneyman, we have extensive experience and rich knowledge under our belt that has allowed us to work with customers that are from a variety of circumstances. Therefore, it’s very likely we have come across a situation like yours before and our team can provide specialist mortgage advice in Coventry to help with this.

Date Last Edited: December 6, 2023