Filth and Affordability

In our office, dealing with this kind of thing is our light entertainment. Many a training meeting has revolved around the techniques to be used in broaching such awkward conversations with clients. Some things that we see are pure filth, and an example of one of the cleaner versions of a joke is "boob job" accompanying a payment transfer between husband and wife. It seems that clients are oblivious to the fact that lenders might not be so keen to lend to them if they see such behaviour in their financial transactions for the income stretch mortgage amount they are applying for. It follows lenders tracking the spending patterns of clients with bank transactions for gambling. Applicants often have no idea that lenders see this as a frivolous expenditure.

I work on the other side of this and find mortgages for the people receiving these payments. There is just as much difficulty from this side of the screen, too. Some lenders consider it a short-term vocation and ask for very short terms on their mortgage. As the gent still had this subscription as he applied for a mortgage, he is obviously not going to give it up and it should be taken down as a commitment during fact-finding, however, as it's not a contract, if he were to give it up a couple of months before, it may be seen as only a temporary thing. It's not awkward, it's real life and I'm sure we have all seen enough 'Lovehoney' etc purchases on bank statements. My favourite is always the best friend who returns small sums of borrowed money with a nice description of adult services.

One of our brokers had a client spending £400 on fans websites quibbling over £50 a month on their protection which is pretty shocking when you think about their priorities.

I once had a young mortgage adviser talk to me about a client he was working with. There had been a regular series of large cash withdrawals showing in their statements. I told the adviser he needed to establish what the withdrawals were being made for as they did not appear to match up with declared expenses. Upon being asked about the withdrawals, the client casually confirmed they liked a certain white powder at the weekends. Affordability was fine but not a hope for reputational risk, plus the client would lose their job if it came to light.

It's possible to obtain a mortgage if you subscribe to Adult-only content but only if the mortgage is affordable and the conduct is satisfactory. Conversations are awkward but necessary and clients do feel embarrassed to talk about their 'extracurricular activities'.