Expat Mortgages - a solution?

[Geege]

Hi, have been talking to expat-mortgages.co.uk and they seem to have found us a bank in the UK who can provide a sharia mortgage at good rates for us to use as a deposit on a house down here in Aus.

They've been very friendly, responsive and quick in their work and seem to have come up with a solution to our deposit problem but I'm wanting to know if anyone has had dealings with them before as I only know them through their website and a voice on the phone.

Thanks

Geege

[Cerberus1]

Well, looking at the Total exemption full accounts they filed with companies house last year, the Net current (liabilities)/assets were (£3,079). For a company dealing in financial advice, that personally wouldn't fill me with confidence.

[Gaskit]

I wondered if you proceeded with your mortgage application?  I've also been going through the same process and had an offer from a Shariah bank.  I'm guessing it was Al Rayan ?  For ethical reasons I wasn't keen so decided to go to another lender - an off-shore branch of one of UK's big banks.  It proved to be a long drawn out process that ultimately got me nowhere.  After having initial approval my application was declined when they found the property used to be my home.  This has left me back at square one and looking back at Al Rayan.  Thanks to the Australian Corporate Governance Act there are so few UK lenders willing to lend to AU residents these days.  I'd be interested to know if you followed through with your Shariah lender or found another option? 

[Geege]

Hi, we decided against it in the end for similar reasons to yourself. I'm still trying to find other routes and am planning to make a couple of calls to banks tomorrow. Might be worth keeping in touch to swap experiences. Does this forum have messaging?


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[Gaskit]

I think it does.  It would be good to see how you go. I'll PM you.

This link has a pretty good review of what I've found to be the current situation - who still loans, who doesn't and at what penalty.  I think it might come out of Hong Kong.

http://www.international-mortgage-plans.com/a-z-expatriate-mortgages.htm

[chrismain]

Did anyone make progress with this at all? 

Based on my research; Barclays, Natwest and HSBC basically require you to be rich to access their international services. Nationwide will do a buy to let new mortgage but not remortgage my existing property. My next stop is Santander.

[Gaskit]

I've still not progressed. Having done a lot of searching, I can say it's a very complex picture and the combination of your own circumstance and lender's position means it is very hard to generalize options - but it's easy to say that it's very hard for UK expats in OZ to secure a new UK mortgage.  I believe the best options are with Family Building Society and IMP at the link I posted above.  FBS were no good for me as I don't have a current UK mortgage.  Note I have no affiliations to IMP and am not a customer but I did talk to them.  They seemed to be able to offer reasonable if not the best rates through their exclusive Ipswich BS products.  Al Ryan  are also a solution if you are comfortable with Sharia lending. There are more options available through brokers but rates and product fees can make your eyes water. 

I held off applying as I'm waiting to see if Barclays change their position on Consumer Buy to Let mortgages.  They previously indicated their position may change in October after a systems review.  Note that Barclays do have a high salary threshold which means they're not an option for many people but at least they don't require you to keep GBP40k on deposit with them like HSBC. 

I would be great if people could keep this thread current by posting here when they do secure a new UK mortgage as it seems the market and options do change quite quickly.