I hope it's OK to post here. Has anyone any experience, can you provide pointers about getting a mortgage as a PhD student?

I've never tried, but I did once hear that it can be difficult getting a bank to recognise that a PhD stipend is actually a source of income.

Hi,
I managed to get a mortgage last year with Sottish widows. They took my studentship into account but I had to provide supporting evidence about what I would do after the PhD etc.
Don't know whether they will still give these out what with the credit crunch. I went through an independant mortgage advisor anthey were great at finding the best deals.
Good luck

There is a previous post on this, if you have a look back. I had an absolute nightmare of a time trying to get a mortgage with my PhD stipend but managed it eventually. (ironically, I'm now getting divorced and wish I'd never bought the house!) My advice is to go to an independent financial advisor who looks at whole of market and does not charge but takes their money from the mortgage provider. Let them do all the work for you otherwise you will be spending your time phoning round, making appointments etc etc and will not be able to get on with your PhD. There are some lenders who will take into account your stipend but if I were you I would get it all in writing that they will definitely take it into account before you go any further. I wasted months with the Nationwide after they said they would accept if for them to turn round and say no they wouldn't. I complained and actually got some compensation from them for all the hassle they had caused.

I think Lloyds TSB accept them , and I am with Godiva, which is a part of the Coventry. However, unless you have a large deposit I think in the current market, with the crackdown on mortgage lending, particularly to sub-prime customers, then you are going to have real difficulty. Sorry to be negative. Good luck though and keep us informed. But do have a look at previous threads.

Thanks everyone. Yes, the studentship is not acceptable to the bank I'm with and another declined because they have a minimum threshold of £150,000 and I wanted to borrow £125,000! I thought this very strange, especially in the current climate.

Will follow up the other pointers.

The easiest way is to get a guarantor - someone who is willing to cover the payments if you can't. Ours is my bfs mum - they have to prove they can do this as well as their mortgage. I think they will let anyone get a mortgage with a guarantor as we had it when we were 19 and undergraduates.

I was checking the spelling of guarantor lol and found this

Guarantor mortgages – how they work

With a guarantor mortgage a parent or close family member can either cover the shortfall in the mortgage needed to cover the borrowers income or can cover the full mortgage amount. By covering the mortgage, or part of it, the guarantor is liable to make payments if the principal slips into arrears or defaults. For instance, if you earn £20,000 you could borrow £80,000. If the property you want to purchase is worth £130,000, there is a shortfall of £50,000 that the guarantor would cover. The mortgage lender will assess the guarantor’s income, current mortgage and other financial commitments to ensure that they can cover the loan amount.

With guarantor mortgages a parent can hold a mortgage in their offspring’s name. Once the young person’s income increases, he or she can then take on full responsibility for the mortgage.

Many mortgage lenders now offer guarantor mortgages. As with any mortgage, it is important to compare rates, fees and other features. It is important that financial advice is taken before committing to a guarantor mortgage.

it is difficult, my stipend was rejected as income around christmas time.

my boyfriends dad is an independent financial advisor and he said our best bet was the halifax.

in the end we decided to leave it and rent until the market decided what is was doing...

good luck

When we got our mortage 2 years ago I had no problem using phd money as a stipend as they just viewed it as a 3 year contract. Although we did have a deposit of about a third of the value of the house. Im guessing things have changed now. All the best with it!

Hi, Skipton Building Society were happy to use my stipend as an income. I was buying with my boyfriend who has a job, which may have helped. It took me three mortgage advisors before I found one who could help, so persevere and someone will be able to find you the mortgage you need. A good mortgage advisor makes it easy.

i've talked to two independent mortgage advisors. both of them tried to find a lender who would accept my studentship and both failed. this was just last month.

but the situation is complicated in that my funder is from abroad and my studentship is paid in a foreign currency. perhaps you could be luckier with a UK studentship.

as is, it looks like my partner is buying as a sole applicant. luckily he has a good job/income!

Thanks everyone for being so helpful. It's unlikely I'd be able to get a guarantor (age of parents) but I own my current property and just hope to upgrade and so I hope they look kindly on this. Must start scouting around.

It depends on what you mean by "own your property". Do you actually own it outright or is it mortgaged (i.e. owned by your lender until you pay it off)? Anyway, the upshot is how much capital (after the buying and selling transaction costs, say between £5 and £10K) you have from the sale of your existing property to use as deposit. If you have a large deposit (e.g. 50k or 25% of the value of the property), lenders will see you as low risk because if you default on the loan they can seize your deposit and safely cover their costs and the current downward trend in property prices. I'd make a point of telling them that you have a large deposit and see if that makes a difference.