Whether you're transferring money for food, holidays, or just paying a mate back, we've all thought we're funny when it comes to typing in your reference. But now a mortgage advisor has warned against making such jokes:
Some people will go down the drugs route, others opt for 'sex toy' or 'penis enlargement' but the more sensible of the group will actually put 'Chinese Takeaway' or 'Ibiza Flight'... which is what we should be doing, according to a mortgage advisor.
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Posting a video on to TikTok, mortgage and protection specialists KAG Financial explained how your references are seen when you're trying to buy a house. Is it time to get some new mates?
The caption for the video simply reads: "'Money for drugs' #mortgage #firsttimebuyer #mortgageadviceuk #mortgageuk #mortgagebroker."
Then captions on the video itself tell people: "How to avoid embarrassment when applying for a mortgage..." before adding: "Remember the money you transferred your pal? We see it & so does the lender.
"'Money for drugs' is probably not the best thing to use... This is actually tame compared to what we see. Avoid joke references..."
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Joke bank refences may generate additional questions from lenders and delay the process when applying for a mortgage.
However, Daniel Bailey, mortgage broker at Middleton Finance, told the Financial Times that the main thing is that payments are legitimate.
He said: "The reality is that they are looking for whether your payslips are real or not.
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"They want to know whether the money is really coming in, and they check that carefully. I've had clients with loans from friends and family, and they scrutinise them for things like that, but I've never seen anyone scrutinised for bad language."
A third asked how far back banks and mortgage advisory services look back because they might be 'too late' and KAG Financial replied telling them it's three months.
They later went on to write: "For those of you asked how far they check back - most of the time it's three months, your application is also only affected if it's something illegal." Phew.
Featured Image Credit: TikTok/kagfinancial