Your credit history is the lenders decision maker.

27/8/10 - Dale is away on holiday this week so it has fallen to 'the old man' to scribe and comment on the market. So here goes........

All of the mainstream lenders tend to use a system of credit scoring when deciding if they want to lend to new applicants and even the smallest of 'blips' can cause a lender to decline even best cases. It is crucial that you make all payments to any provider on time. Be it mobile phone, utility provider or lender. They are all prone to putting a black mark on your credit file if you are just a few days late. Some will do so even if you are one day late. So be vigilant, as any such misdemeanour can affect your credit rating. Whilst on this subject, we suggest to clients that they consider subscribing to one of the credit report providers such as Credit Expert or Equifax. Why? Well, a good friend recently applied to a bank to support his son as guarantor. The bank declined my friend who was certain that he had a pristine credit rating. Upon examination, it was found that someone had cloned a credit card and was using credit in his name but not paying back! We managed to resolve this, eventually, but it was a sobering exercise.

Some financial commentators are again talking about a double dip recession. Is this going to happen and if it does, where will it leave the financial services market? There is no doubt that much of the recession was exacerbated by well known TV pundits who seemed to delight in the fame that it brought them. My take on this is that confidence breeds confidence so lets hope that this time we see presenters talking the market up.

The Buy to Let market is enjoying resurgence. Landlords have more tenant applicants than houses available. Of course, this is geographically spread with some areas faring better than others. In turn, first time buyers are still finding it difficult to get on the ladder and parental support is more necessary than ever before.