Your credit score shows how you’ve managed money in the past. It’s made up of things like your debts, store cards, bill payments, and car loans.
There are a few things you can do to get your credit file mortgage ready:
Make sure your credit rating is in the good or very good category, there are a few different providers such as Experian, Clear Score and Credit Karma that are free to check and monitor your credit score.
Once you’ve got a copy of your credit report, fix any mistakes you see.
Try to avoid taking out any credit or finance in the months leading up to applying for a mortgage. Each time you do this, you would usually be hard credit searched and all secured and unsecured lending is taken into consideration for your mortgage application. This will show up on your credit file and may impact your ability to get a mortgage.
Register to vote so you show up on the electoral register. This reassures lenders about your identity as it shows you are who you say you are and live where you say you live.
Make sure you're not going over your credit limits and you're paying them back on time.
Try to pay off debts before applying for a mortgage.
While you don't need a perfect credit score to apply for a mortgage with us, we do take your credit history into consideration when looking at your application.
To have a more in-depth look at getting mortgage ready, you can visit the Money Saving Expert guide here.