Chine Financial completes difficult case for Comfortable Consolidator

07 September 2022

UK credit card utilisation is growing at its fastest rate for 15 years. Economists have speculated the reported April’s £1.4bn rise in credit card balances could be evidence of the challenges middle and low-income households are facing due to the cost of living crisis. Therefore, it is increasingly important mortgage lenders can provide inclusive lending solutions to allow customers to restructure their finances.

Chine Financial has completed a hard to place case for a Comfortable Consolidator with Pepper Money, helping the customer with a Let to Buy mortgage to fund an onward purchase and capital raise for debt consolidation.

The broker was working with a self-employed customer who wanted to borrow 85% LTV on a property in the South West of England valued at £495,000 to finance a Let to Buy and onward purchase. The customer also wanted to raise additional capital to consolidate existing debts. However, the customer was self-employed, needed to use their most recent year’s accounts for affordability, and had Defaults and mortgage arrears on their credit file, which made the case hard to place.

As a specialist lender that is both able to lend to self-employed customers based on their latest year’s accounts, and provide mortgages for Let to Buy, the case fitted criteria for Pepper Money. An individual approach to underwriting also meant that Pepper was able to understand the reasons for the customer’s credit problems and make a decision to lend based on their future ability to maintain the mortgage.

The result was that the customer was able to succeed in their plans to move home with a Let to Buy mortgage, whilst also consolidating their debts.

Broker from Chine Financial, says:

“Our customer had adverse credit, self-employed income that had been impacted by Covid and a high level of debt that they wanted to consolidate. They had already been declined by a lender via another broker and it was clear that this was a case for a specialist lender with clear criteria and an understanding approach to underwriting. I could immediately tell that Pepper Money was the right lender. The application was supported by excellent service throughout, and the case completed quickly and easily, leaving a very happy customer.”

Ryan Brailsford, Director of Business Development at Pepper Money, says:

“With interest rates rising, lots of customers are considering debt consolidation and this case of a Comfortable Consolidator is a great example of the hurdles that can be cleared to make this a possibility. This was not a straightforward application. The customer was self-employed and had seen a reduction in income during Covid, they had adverse credit on their credit file and wanted a Let to Buy mortgage that enabled them to release enough capital to consolidate their outstanding unsecured debts. Fortunately, at Pepper Money, we understand that life is rarely straightforward and so our mortgages, approach to underwriting and market leading service levels are designed to make difficult cases easy to place. Working alongside Chine Financial, we were able to provide the customer with the mortgage they needed to take the next step in their life.”