Halifax mortgages

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Lenders don’t generally like to quote mortgage approval times, as they can vary quite a lot depending on the type of mortgage you take, the property you’re buying and your personal circumstances.

Their website quotes a fairly open timescale of up to three months, although the average length of time is generally around two to eight weeks.

This sort of information is not usually openly available, but Halifax may re-look at your credit report after the offer has been issued.

At the mortgage agreement in principle stage, however, they may be happy to do a soft search (which doesn’t show on your credit file).

Halifax allows mortgage overpayments of up to 10% of your remaining mortgage balance per year without paying an Early Repayment Charge (ERC) as standard.

If you're thinking of remortgaging with Halifax, for product transfers, they are usually happy to waive ERCs for the last three months of your existing deal as a thank you for staying with them.

If you switch mortgages to another lender at any time before the deal ends, or attempt to do a product transfer more than three months in advance of the end date, you will have to pay ERCs.

There is not strictly such a thing as a self-employed mortgage, but Halifax can serve self-employed applicants, so long as they meet their criteria. 

Usually, in addition to standard information, self-employed applicants would need to provide:

• Two years’ evidence of a regular income and account statements

• SA302 forms or a tax-year overview for the past three years

• Evidence of profits or dividends if you own a business

• Evidence of upcoming work or business if you work as a trader or contractor

• You may also be asked to provide proof of accounts certified by a registered accountant

Halifax mortgage offers are typically valid for 90 -180 days, but a longer duration is often given for new-build properties.

It’s not possible to extend a mortgage offer with Halifax, however, so once the offer expires you’ll need to reapply.

High street mortgage lenders such as Halifax will typically reject an application that doesn’t fully meet their lending criteria. However, Halifax can potentially cater for milder bad credit mortgage customers, such as those with defaults or CCJs. 

It’s difficult to accurately collect reason for rejection data for each lender, but some of the reasons you may not meet their criteria could be:

• Deposit too small

• Bad credit is beyond their accepted level

• Not long enough period of self-employment (usually less than 12 months of accounts in unacceptable)

• Unable to afford the loan size desired - Halifax caps their lending at a maximum of 5.5 times income for residential mortgages, but this is figure is typically for high income professionals. A more typical income maximum is around 4.5 - 4.75 times your income

• Property not acceptable - Halifax are more flexible than many lenders with the property types they accept, considering both flats over retail premises and Grade 1 listed properties - which many lenders rule out. However, there are still some types they will not lend on - such as freehold flats and maisonettes

If you’re unable to meet the criteria of a high street lender, such as Halifax, a mortgage broker will be able to help you look at specialist lenders, who are typically more flexible with their criteria.

Potentially, but it depends on the level of bad credit. Halifax may consider defaults and CCJs, although they'll want further details before making a decision.

If you have a more serious debt issue, such as having a current DMP or IVA in place, Halifax won’t be able to help you. You’ll likely need to look at specialist lenders.