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Do the NatWest group refuse a mortgage to anyone who has had a bad credit agreement with them before within an IVA?

ended 26. October 2026

A Newspager is claiming that the NatWest group, including Ulster Bank and Coutts, refuse a mortgage to anyone who has had a bad credit agreement with them before within an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA)  .

He said you may have gone through an IVA more than six years in the past, but if you ever held a credit agreement with any of these banks through an IVA, then your application won't go through.

Questions for Newspagers

  1. Is this true?
  2. If so, why are they so tough on bad credit in the past?
  3. Should they be so tough on bad credit in the past? Or are they just being careful and responsible?

7 responses from the Newspage community

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Darryl DhofferVerified
Founder at The Mortgage Geezer
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What do NatWest Group, Ulster Bank, and Coutts (the bank of King Charles III) all have in common? Apart from their shared corporate umbrella under the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), they possess a corporate memory that stretches back to the Stone Age.
Picture the scene - you went through an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) in the past. Six years have flown by, the IVA has dropped off your credit file, you are back on your feet, and your credit history is perfectly clean. You apply for a mortgage with NatWest, and you breeze right through the Agreement in Principle (AIP). Happy days, right? Not quite.
The moment you submit your full mortgage application and the underwriters look under the bonnet, the engine stalls. If you ever held a credit agreement with any of these linked banks, within the IVA, during your financial difficulties, they will bin your application faster than a Formula 1 pit stop. The only explanation you will get is a cold, standard rejection - indefinitely!
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Justin MoyVerified
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
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Yes
Once bitten....
Its been their policy for a very long time, we have 120+ other lenders to approach.
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Michelle LawsonVerified
Director at Lawson Financial
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Yes this is something I have seen. Also, I have seen them refuse a mortgage for an applicant who has a financial connection with someone who has had adverse credit with or not with Natwest even if the other individual is not an applicant. There are other lenders that don't apply this- it is just a quirk of Natwest's policy. It is imperative that borrowers are fully aware of financial commitments and the importance of maintaining arrangements and ensuring any connected party do the same to give them the best opportunity at getting the best interest rates- moreso now given the current unstable and volatile climate.
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Nouran MoustafaVerified
Practice Principal & IFA at Roxton Wealth
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From my understanding, NatWest Group can take previous adverse credit history with the group into account, even where an IVA has been completed and is no longer visible on someone's credit file.

And personally, I don't disagree with that approach.

We need to remember that banks are businesses lending substantial amounts of money, and they have every right, and indeed a responsibility, to manage their lending risk.

A credit record disappearing after six years doesn't mean the lender's historical experience with that borrower disappears too.

However, I would distinguish between someone who previously caused a lender a financial loss and someone who simply experienced temporary financial difficulties.

I believe in second chances, but I don't believe second chances should mean lenders must ignore their own historical records.

Ultimately, responsible lending isn't about approving everybody. It's about understanding risk and making commercially sensible decisions.
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Ben PerksVerified
Managing Director at Orchard Financial Advisers
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Would you buy someone a pint that hasn’t got their round in? NatWest do hold a grudge, and I don’t mind the policy. At lease you know where you’re at and there are plenty of other lenders to go to if needed.
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David StirlingVerified
Independent Financial Adviser at Mint Wealth
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Credit files may forgive and forget after six years, but some banks apparently have rather longer memories. It's perfectly reasonable for NatWest to consider money it previously lost when assessing a new application, but an automatic lifetime ban would seem pretty blunt. People can recover from financial difficulties, rebuild their credit and become perfectly responsible borrowers. If someone's old IVA or default is effectively a permanent black mark within the NatWest Group, that should at least be made crystal clear to borrowers and brokers.
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Mike StatonVerified
Director at Staton Mortgages
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I’ve looked into this, and there are multiple reports of borrowers being refused mortgages by NatWest because of debts included in IVAs years earlier. Lenders have every right to protect themselves, but if someone has spent ten or fifteen years rebuilding their finances, surely that deserves consideration? A six-year credit record shouldn’t come with a twenty-year grudge! NatWest’s own criteria confirm it can use internal banking records, but I’d like the bank to clarify whether previous losses can mean automatic rejection, regardless of how long ago they happened. Responsible lending is essential, but so is recognising when people have turned their lives around. An IVA should be a chapter in someone’s financial history, not necessarily the final chapter of their homeownership dreams.