Hi. I just wanted to post about my experience to try and give others assurance there is light after the tunnel of an IVA.
My husband and I finished our IVAs, me in Oct 2012 and him in May 2013. We did all he necessary like making sure our credit reports repaired themselves etc and then never thought more of it. Until we decided to buy a house this year.
We checked our reports - found my IVA had reappeared for some unknown reason. Again we set about making sure our credit reports looked as good as could be and then started looking at houses,
We earned good money, didn't have a mass of credit and we had a deposit. We thought it would be hassle free but instead
came weeks of anxiety and no real positive posts about getting a mortgage.
For example, I never knew we would always have to declare our IVA, I never knew that some banks just wouldn't lend to us full stop, it has been a real eye opener. It was also stressful as I didn't think we would ever be able to own our own home because of mistakes that we'd made in the past - even though we repaid 100p in the £1 and repaid early. I thought we had done the right thing.
We agonised over whether to declare our IVAs. We are using the Help to Buy scheme so on,y had access to a few lenders and around 50pc of them won't even consider you if you have been in an IVA, some will only consider you if your IVA was over six years ago - it seemed like endless hoops.
In the end we told our financial advisor everything and although he hadn't dealt with our situation before he did work his socks off. Little did he knew, that I had already done lots of background research using the financial intermediaries sections of all of the high street lenders, calling the banks' mortgage advisors and talking through the situation.
In the end, we decided to apply with Natwest after our financial guy spoke with one of their BdMs and explained our situation. She told him we'd go straight to an underwriter and then for full credit check.
It was a huge decision as they wouldn't do an agreement in principle so we didn't even know if NAtwest would take us - it seemed so risky to not even have an idea.
Paperwork went in last Tuesday and I was sick with worry but on Wednesday after a call that has changed our lives - we have a mortgage offer from Natwest!!
So, there is light, there are chances to be normal afterwards, we're living proof!
