Mortgages after a Trust Deed

What lenders look for

There's no legal credit limit in a Trust Deed, but in practice, lenders won't offer a mortgage during a Trust Deed; check your deed's terms with your trustee. After discharge, each lender sets its own criteria.

Your Trust Deed stays on your file for six years from the date it started, or the date it ended if that is later, and lenders look at that alongside your record since your discharge.

How we help

We introduce you to partners from our panel. This guide is to help you understand the landscape before that introduction, so you know what to expect.

Your deposit

Lenders set their own deposit requirements; a regulated mortgage broker can tell you what applies.

What lenders look at

• Your record since discharge: how you have managed credit and bills since your Trust Deed ended.
• Clean conduct since the Trust Deed: no new defaults, arrears or missed payments. Lenders look at your recent history.
• Your deposit: each lender sets its own requirement.
• Affordability: income, outgoings and the usual checks, same as any borrower.

If you already own a home

One Scotland-specific point: your trustee can keep an interest in a property you owned during the Trust Deed, even after you're discharged, until that interest is formally dealt with. If you own a home and are thinking about remortgaging, this is something your mortgage broker and trustee will need to sort out first.

If you're buying your first home after a Trust Deed, it doesn't arise.

Why use a mortgage broker

Some specialist lenders work mainly through brokers. A regulated mortgage broker can tell you which lenders may consider your situation, so you can apply where your circumstances are more likely to fit a lender's criteria. If you'd like help with a mortgage, AfterMy can introduce you to a regulated mortgage broker.

While your Trust Deed is still running

There's no legal credit limit in a Trust Deed, but check your deed's terms with your trustee. In practice, lenders won't offer a mortgage during a Trust Deed, and any new borrowing sits outside the Trust Deed. Come back when your Trust Deed has finished.

Mistakes to avoid

• Applying while the Trust Deed is still active: in practice, lenders won't offer a mortgage during a Trust Deed.
• Applying without checking first and collecting hard searches.
• Applying without knowing what each lender asks for: a regulated mortgage broker can tell you.
• Letting your record slip after discharge: clean recent conduct is what lenders look at.