While it's never pleasant to be told you can't get a mortgage, it's worth considering the situation from the lender's point of view for a moment. A mortgage usually represents a considerable sum of money – according to Credit Action, the average outstanding mortgage is nearly £100,000 in almost 12 million households in the UK!



When dealing with such a colossal amount of money it's no surprise that lenders seek to minimise risk wherever possible. A significant part of this is not to lend to people that are considered a high risk.

In the UK, there tend to be two groups of borrowers – prime (those people with a regular, provable income from an employer and no history of bad credit) and sub-prime. It's a rather unflattering term but those in the sub-prime category represent those who are more likely to be declined a mortgage by the High St lenders.

There may be obvious reasons why you've been turned down for a mortgage – for example if you have been repossessed or faced a County Court Judgement in the past.

Ironically, sometimes remortgaging your home can be the ideal way of sorting your credit problems out by releasing equity from your house OR in the case of mortgage arrears and repossession by showing the courts that you have the means of settling your debts (with a remortgage with a repossession specialist). If you're in this situation and can't get a mortgage it's worth searching for a specialist lender.

One of the major groups that face regular refusal from High St lenders is the self-employed. While you may feel annoyed at being included in the same category as those with bad credit or mortgage arrears, the fact is that if you're self-employed, have incomplete or missing accounts and can't prove your income you represent a higher risk to the banks – that's why self-employed people frequently choose to self-certify thus avoiding the necessity of proving their income.

You may of course be in regular employment with no history of bad credit and STILL have been turned down for a mortgage. If this has happened to you it's worth checking your credit record with one of the UK credit agencies – you can do this online and get a copy of your credit record for only £2.

Of course, being refused a mortgage by a High St lender doesn't mean it's the end of the road for your borrowing – there are number of lenders who specialise in finding mortgages at reasonable rates for those who fit into the sub-prime category.