Page 35 - NOVEMBER 2017 'A' ISSUE

November 2017 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition
PRESS RELEASE
SINCE Habito first launched in
early 2016, we’ve made it our mission
to break down barriers in the mortgage
process. We want securing a home loan
to be simple and straightforward for as
many people as possible.
And now we want to help even more
potential homeowners by busting the
myth that non-UK citizens can’t get a
mortgage. Just imagine: you’re living
and working here and have spotted your
dream flat for sale. You’re desperate to
get a mortgage, but you’re not a British
national. Impossible, right? Wrong.
The fact is that getting a home loan
approved when you or your partner
are non-UK citizens is often more about
credit history than country of birth.
Don’t worry if you feel confused,
you’re not alone. Out of a population of
65 million in the UK, some nine million
were born abroad. Which means there
are a lot of foreign-born house-hunters
out there just like you. But there are
plenty of homeowners too – foreign
buyers own nearly 10% of Britain’s
housing stock.
So read on to find out how to join
them. We’ll unpack everything you need
to know – from visas to credit scores.
And we’ll show you how to maximise
your chances of getting a mortgage
through a broker such as Habito.
I’m an EU national. Can I get a
mortgage? Several things affect how
easy it is to get a mortgage in the UK as
a foreign national. But for now, if you’re broker such as Habito. We have access
an EU citizen, nationality shouldn’t be
one of them. The truth is lenders cannot
discriminate between EU citizens solely
on the basis of their country of birth.
So whether you were born in Bristol
or Berlin shouldn’t make a difference
to you obtaining a mortgage offer. As
long as you’ve been an EU resident for
Task force formed to probe slays of foreign traders in Cotabato province
PIKIT, North Cotabato — Law
enforcement agencies in Cotabato
province have created a special task
force to speed up the investigation
of the recent killings of two foreign
businessmen, an American and a
Pakistani, in Pikit town.
The special task force is composed
of personnel from the provincial police,
National Bureau of Investigation and
Criminal Investigation and Detection
Group, provincial police spokesman
Superintendent Bernard Tayong.
Pakistani trader Etesham Ulhaq was
shot dead by motorcycle-riding gunmen
who also took his bag with P12,000
cash in it in Barangay Dalengaoen, Pikit
town on October 24
On the other hand, Jeff Micheal
Keith, a former U.S. serviceman, was
slain Sunday afternoon, October 29,
again by motorcycle-riding killers,
as he delivered goods to a store in
Barangay Poblacion. The victim’s bag,
with P20,000 and other valuables,
at least three years, and have a bank
account and permanent job in the UK.
Far more crucial is your credit
history–and this could be a stumbling
block if you’ve only recently moved
here. Having a good credit rating is
essential when it comes to getting the
best deal–or any deal at all. So you need
to build up your credit score as soon as
you arrive. This means everything from
registering to vote to making sure you
pay your mobile phone bill on time.
Brexit has created a lot of uncertainty EU national as long as you have one of
and confusion over the status of
EU citizens in the UK, and the rules
regarding eligibility may well change in
the near future.
I was born outside the EU. Can I
still get a mortgage? Unsurprisingly,
things become more complicated if
you’re a non-EU citizen and you want
a mortgage. But don’t despair – it’s not
impossible. The main problem you’ll
face if you’re not an EU national is that
you won’t have any traceable credit
history in the UK. This could cause
major complications when applying for
a mortgage.
So you’ll need to build up a positive
credit footprint to increase your chances
of getting your hands on a home loan.
Different lenders will have different
requirements when faced with a non-
standard mortgage request like this, so
the best approach is to use an online
to a vast range of mortgages across
the whole marketplace. We scan more
than 70 lenders, covering over 20,000
products – so our experts will be able
to advise you every step of the way and
find a loan to suit your situation. To get (ILR), then you’re eligible to apply to
you started, here’s a quick round-up of
what you can expect from lenders.
As a non-EU citizen, you’ll have to
was also taken.
The American, who had been
living in Cagayan de Oro, was with his
Filipina wife and two children when he
was killed.
Tayong said municipal police chiefs
have been ordered to account for all
NEWS
produce evidence that you:
•Have lived in the UK for at least
two years
•Have a permanent job in the UK
•Have permanent residency in the
UK
•Have a UK bank account
•Have a sizeable deposit (as much
as 25%)
If you don’t have permanent
residency (PB) or indefinite leave to
remain (ILR) in the UK, you may still be
able to apply for a mortgage as a non-
the following visas:
•Tier 1 or Tier 2 Visa
•Residence Card
•Family of a Settled Person Visa
•UK Ancestry Visa
The above visas apply to sole or
joint applications, where one or both
applicants are from outside the UK/
EU. You can apply for a visa up to three
months before the day you’re due to
start work in the UK and you should get
a decision within three weeks.
Will I have to see a mortgage
adviser face-to-face? In short,
no. When you sign up to Habito, our
Digital Mortgage Adviser (available
24/7 from any device) will give you a
quick overview of what your mortgage
may look like. After that, our dedicated
(human) mortgage experts are always
on the end of the phone or live
chat. They will answer your questions
and keep you updated with the progress
of your application from start to finish. where I should look, by the time we were
Habito does mortgages online, free and
in record time.
Can I still use the government’s
Help to Buy scheme? If you’re an
EU citizen living and working in the
UK or have indefinite leave to remain
foreign nationals in their respective
areas of jurisdiction and ensure their
safety.
Foreigners will also be advised
to avoid areas tagged by police
as “hotspots.” n Philippine News
Agency | November 1, 2017, 9:34 AM We know that mortgages can seem
www.hello-philippines.com
the government’s Help to Buy (HTB)
scheme. The best place to start with
Help to Buy is the official website, where conveyancing. Whether you’re buying,
you can find out about the various
options available. When you sign up
to Habito, just follow the instructions
on the dashboard and let one of our
advisers know that you’re looking to use
the HTB scheme.
Moving to the UK and getting a
mortgage – A Habito Customer Story
Name: John White
Age: 29
Occupation: Self-employed; John
works as a sole trader, as an Identity &
Access Management (IAM) Solutions
Architect in the IT industry
Property type: Semi-detached, modern
Location: York
John was looking to buy for the first
time since moving from Canada with
his British wife. After navigating the
immigration process when he moved
to the UK, he was prepared to spend
at least as much time familiarising
himself with how mortgages in the
UK work – particularly since he knew
his nationality would likely be a factor,
on top of being self-employed. “I read
that Agreements/Decisions in Principle
were leading many people to falsely
believe they would be approved, only to
be rejected as soon as the lender took a
closer look during the actual application
process. I wanted to get a really good
idea of what might be asked of me, and
ready to start house hunting so I did a
lot of research.” Although he found a
deal for a mortgage in principle, he was
curious about what a broker might say
and how easily they could find him a
mortgage, given his circumstances. He
turned to Habito and successfully got a
mortgage in a few weeks.“Being a self-
employed, foreign national, I thought
it would be incredibly difficult to get
a mortgage. But Habito took it all in
stride and landed me a great mortgage,
making sure we had all the supporting
documents/evidence covered. I actually
went through the motions with an
estate agent’s mortgage adviser, who
would have charged £400 for their
services, and their at-a-glance search
came up with the same deal Habito had
already found me (for free!).“Mortgage
A-Z: 10 Common Terms Explained
baffling, even to people born here, and
this is due in part to the overuse of
jargon and acronyms by the industry. So
here is a quick run-down of some of the
terms we use in the UK in the process of
home-buying:
Agreement in Principle (AIP). This
is a document from a mortgage lender
confirming that you can borrow a certain
amount from them. This will show the
seller that you can afford to buy the
property and hopefully your dream
home can be taken off the market. can exceed £1,000 in some cases. The
Conveyancing. The process
35
of managing the legal side of
property transactions is called
selling or remortgaging a property,
you’ll need to appoint a licensed
conveyancer. We recommend speaking
to Premier Property Lawyers for all your
conveyancing needs.
Fixed rate. A fixed rate mortgage
means the interest you pay won’t
change for the period of time you agree.
This rate is unlikely to be fixed for the
duration of the mortgage, more like two
to seven years. Once this period is up,
you’ll go on to your lender’s standard
variable rate.
Freehold. If your property is
freehold, this means that you own the
building and also the land on which it
stands.
Gazumping. If you have an offer
accepted on a property but then
another buyer comes along and makes
a higher offer, which the seller accepts,
then you’ve been gazumped. You’ve
been warned!
Leasehold. If the property is
leasehold, then you own the building
but not the land it stands on, and only
for a certain length of time (anything up
to 999 years).
Loan-to-value (LTV). This is the
size of your mortgage as a percentage
of the value of the property you’re
buying. This is the ratio of the size of
your borrowing amount to the size of
your deposit. The more deposit you can
put down on a property, the lower the
LTV ratio will be. The most competitive
interest rates are usually available to
customers with lower LTV ratios, often
below 70%.
Stamp duty. Stamp duty land tax
(SDLT) is a tax payable when you’re
buying a property for more than
£125,000. There are several rate bands
for stamp duty, and the tax is calculated
on the part of the purchase price that
falls within each band (0% on £0-
£125,000; 2% on £125,000-£250,000;
5% on £250,001-£925,000 and so on).
Standard variable rate. A standard
variable rate (SVR) mortgage is an
interest rate that’s set by, and varies,
between each lender. When your fixed
term ends, you’ll automatically be
moved over to the SVR. Your lenders
SVR can be seen as a default interest
rate, and is not usually based on any one
factor. It varies between lenders, and
is usually several percent higher than
your lender’s fixed rate products.
Valuation fee. Lenders will need to
carry out an inspection of the property
before approving your mortgage. This
is to make sure it’s a sound investment
to lend on and valued correctly. Typical
valuation costs are around £400 but
valuation process will be different
depending on what type of buyer you
are, and the property you are looking
at. n