More than one in five (22%) potential homeowners blame a bad credit history for not being able to get a mortgage, new findings from Haysto have revealed.

The specialist mortgage broker platform suggested that fear of credit scores is preventing people from making their home buying dream a reality, with 70% of people worrying they won’t get a mortgage because of their credit score.

Haysto’s findings, based on a sample of 2,012 adults, showed that 29% of consumers don’t believe their credit score is “good” or “excellent”, while 16% think their credit score is “fair”.

Another 8% described their score as “poor” and another 5% believe it’s “very poor”. Haysto also found that one in ten (11%) don’t know what their credit score is, meaning they could be in for a shock when it comes to applying for a mortgage.

Haysto co-founder, Paul Coss, commented: “There are all sorts of reasons people miss monthly payments and find themselves labelled as ‘bad credit’.

“This last year has thrown numerous curve balls into the mix – from furlough to redundancy – with many people taking home less money and perhaps missing monthly payments. That doesn’t mean they are not trustworthy and should be penalised for years to come.  

“Some banks and mortgage brokers will make you feel like a bad person when they refuse to give you a mortgage. Automated online mortgage advisors won’t judge for themselves. But even if you have bad credit, you can still get a mortgage. You’ll just have less options open to you than if you had a perfect credit score.”

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