Having a high credit rating has an impact on what mortgages will be available to you (you have less options) and can also delay the mortgage process, increase the eventual interest rate and mean increased product fees.

However, even with a bad credit rating it is still possible to get a mortgage. There are independent mortgage brokers who can help to find a mortgage that is suitable for your credit score. Brokers are able to find mortgages based on their knowledge of the current market and can also best advise you on which lenders are likely to lend to you.

If you are successful in your mortgage application, if you then make all your repayments on time then your credit score will improve, which will in turn allow you to arrange better borrowing terms in future.

Family deposit mortgages typically involve a close associate, normally a family member, placing money into a linked special savings account which is used as security against a mortgagor not making repayments on the mortgage loan.

If the mortgagor does default, the lender can look to make good any shortfall by taking cash out of the account in question, which it controls. One incentive for the associate is that savings interest is payable on the account in question so if the mortgagor does manage to make the correct, timely repayments, then, beyond locking up cash for some years, the close associate will have helped the mortgagor to buy a home while gaining interest on their savings and for no other cost.