Lending decision appeal

If the DIP or application has been declined automatically then you’ll be able to see the reasons for decline.

If it has been declined following assessment by an underwriter, we will either call to discuss or send an email with further information. 

This depends on the reason for the decline. The information you provide must be new information that will add additional strength to the case. This could be, for example, if the applicant has additional income that wasn’t needed for affordability or evidence of savings not previously disclosed.

No, we’ll have already reviewed the credit report so sending this would not add any further strength. If there’s an error on your report that could alter the decision we’ve made, this would need to be addressed with the credit reference agency first, and any evidence of correction would be required.

An internal credit score is made up of several factors to determine the risk levels we take as a lender. The scorecard is made up of lots of variables. If your DIP has failed our internal scorecard, it’s outside of our Lending Policy.

All information must be new. You can include the following if you haven’t already given us these details:

• If your client is paying a sum comparable to the mortgage repayment, for example rent or regular savings.
• Details of any savings and any surplus which will remain after the transaction.
• If your client is self-employed or a 20% or more shareholder, please provide the latest 3 years’ net profit & salary figures if available.
• If your client’s income is unstable, or if there are any one-off items or losses, please provide full details and explanation.
• If the reason for the decline is specifically due to an adverse credit history such as County Court Judgements (CCJs) or payment defaults, you may need to obtain a full copy of the credit file from a Credit Reference Agency and be able to prove that an error has occurred or that the circumstances of the adverse information were exceptional. We require a satisfactory explanation for any items of adverse credit or missed payments - please don’t send the report.

If the documents that you’ve already provided to us have incorrect data in them, such as bureau information, then yes, please attach these to your appeal.

If we agree your appeal, we’ll let you know what additional documents we need. Please don’t send anything else until we ask for it as this will cause delays.

For Buy to Let cases we rely on the rental income provided by the qualified valuer. Appeals will only be considered where you are able to supply the following:

• a copy of the single AST agreement (based on an unfurnished basis, with no bills included)
• a copy of the inventory for the property (where the AST agreement does not stipulate it is unfurnished)
• Two months’ bank statements to show the rental income being received by the applicant.

The underwriter will complete further investigations to satisfy that the current level of rent is achievable in the current rental market. If the underwriter is unable to evidence this, then the higher rental income will not be used to determine the loan amount. 

We will only allow one appeal per case. It’s important that you complete the form thoroughly with any new information we may need to carefully reconsider our decision.

An appeal needs to be submitted within 30 days from the original date of decline.