Self employed mortgage. Part two. Turned down

[sismile]

Following on to my last thread. My mortgage broker completed an agreement in principle with Abbey and they have turned me down. He says my credit score was too low.

I am using Credit Expert and have checked my files with the other agencies. I have no adverse credit. My broker says it might be I don't have enough credit?

I have a Capital One credit card (£1000 limit) that has been running for about 18 months. No missed payments and the balance paid in full every month. I have a Mint credit card (£3500 limit) that has been running for about 5 months with no missed payments. I have HP for my car (£17000) that has been running for 4 months. My total credit payments amount to about 10% of my monthly income.

I had no difficulty in getting that car loan (It's a PCP with no deposit) so I can't understand why I can't get a mortgage. Apparantly I scored about 15 points less that what Abbey accept.

Any ideas on this? Could it be that my existing credit comittments haven't been running long enough for them to get a clear picture of my payment history? I did have adverse credit in the distant past, but this all dropped off my credit file last year.

[tiglet]

I think lenders are being extremely careful about how they lend credit at the moment because of the credit crunch - it could well be that Abbey's criteria has gone up without you realising it and your broker is not yet aware of how it's going to affect his clients.