₦airaland Forum

I hail the financial guru in the house.

I got this credit card in February, and I’ve always made sure to pay off any balance weekly. This kept my balance low, which has been helping my credit score grow (the main reason I got the card). Around August, I started the process of buying a house, and due to the financial strain, I couldn’t continue my weekly payments. Instead, I waited until a few days before the payment due date to pay the balance in full.

However, I started noticing high credit utilization on my credit report, which surprised me. I thought I might be doing something wrong, but the same thing has happened for the last two months.

For example, my billing cycle runs from September 18 to October 17, and the minimum payment is due by November 1. I paid the full balance on October 28, but I’m still getting high credit utilization.

Abeg what am I doing wrong or do I need to talk to my credit card company?

Solumtoya:
Hmmm... Do you have a matured LISA? That would have made this really easy as it was my case. I just moved most of my salary to my LISA and my wife's and showed the LISA as proof of deposit.

Know this: the Mortgage Advisor isn't trying to trap you or make you lose the house. It's the opposite. You can actually be open with them: "I have savings and income from my home Country but don't want to use that to complicate this Mortgage Application so I'd like to use my Salary for the next few months to raise the deposit while I live off my Nigerian income and savings".

I have a feeling the Mortgage Advisor would even want to delay application till you're 2 years in the UK so they have more lenders willing to lend on a 90% LTV. So you don't have much of a problem.

That Developer would most likely still have houses in a few months so take your time and do it right.

Thank you for this. I will call the mortgage advisor and explain.

mex551:
Are they aware that you are on. Visa and still want to do 5%?

It's actually 10%, but I only need to provide 5% since the developer will contribute the remaining 5%.

Hi Everyone,

Apologies for the long post.

I’ve been following this thread, and I have to say, you all are amazing, especially @Lexus. Initially, I wasn't a fan of your mantra "Rent money is dead money," but now I see your point (After I calculated my rent) that na people Dey beg me not to buy house lol.

I've been in the UK for 1 year and 7 months, and I believe it’s time to start looking for a house. Last week, I found a new build for about £200k with a 5% deposit contribution from the developer, which means I need £10k instead of £20k. I called the developer to inquire, and they confirmed it's available. They ask if I almost had my 5% deposit ready and I said I only have about £5k (truthfully, I have nothing saved yet) and would need about two months to complete it. I said this so they wouldn’t think I was unserious. My plan was to raise the deposit in two months as follows:

My monthly salary is close to £4k. I have ₦10 million saved in my Nigerian account and receive about ₦1.5 million monthly from my company in Nigeria. I plan to save my UK salary for the next two months, which will give me £8k, and transfer an additional £2k from my Nigerian account. I can cover my monthly bills with funds from my naira account.

The developer asked me to speak with their mortgage advisor, who said I qualify for the house. Now, they are requesting proof of my deposit and my bank statements for the past six months. I informed the developer that I don’t have the complete deposit yet, hoping they would give me more time, but they asked me to submit the information for the £5k deposit to move forward.

Here’s my dilemma: Raising the £5k is not a problem as I will be paid my salary this week, but I’m concerned that they might question why the deposit is coming from my recent salary and start asking how I will manage my expenses. If I don’t answer them, I fear they might think I’m whining them (Nigeria in me talking) and stop responding to me later on. Dem dey my neck like anything

Any help will be appreciated.