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Homeowners aged 18-24 are much more likely to have faced mortgage rejection than older applicants, according to research by Which?.
Four in 10 (41%) homeowners aged between 18 and 24 said they'd had a mortgage application rejected in the past, compared with just 4% of those aged 60 or above.
Below, we explain the most common reasons for failed mortgage applications and explain steps you can take to improve your chances of a lender saying yes.
As part of our 2018 mortgages survey, we asked over 3,500 people whether they'd ever had a mortgage application rejected.
One in six said yes, but as our survey only questioned those who currently have a mortgage (and so were, in the end, successful), the number may actually be higher.
We also found stark differences between the youngest and oldest respondents, as the chart below demonstrates.
Money has a lot to do with this difference. As younger buyers tend to have smaller deposits and lower incomes, mortgage lenders are more stringent when they assess whether to lend to them. Younger applicants will also have had less time to spend building up a strong credit score.
But it wasn't just age that affected people's mortgage chances; geography made a difference, too.
Our survey found that people living in London had the hardest time getting accepted, with 29% saying they'd had an application turned down compared with just 11% of those in the South West.
A mortgage lender will look at several things when considering your application, meaning there are a number of possible reasons why you could get rejected:
Find out how to decrease the likelihood of getting rejected with our guide to improving your mortgage chances.
Having a mortgage application rejected is a pain, as you'll have wasted time getting all your paperwork together. But it can also have more serious consequences.
A mortgage rejection will leave a mark on your credit file, and this will be visible to other lenders who you apply to in the future.
This won't automatically mean another rejection, but the new lender will certainly want to know why your previous application was turned down and this may influence its decision over whether to lend to you.
If you've had a mortgage application refused, you may need to spend time building your credit rating back up. Our research found that the most common length of time people waited before being accepted by another lender was three to six months (33%).