Mortgage Criteria Hub

Across the specialist lending market, four age breakpoints come up again and again: 6, 12, 24 and 36 months. Nearly every specialist lender structures their CCJ criteria around these same milestones — here's how the pattern typically plays out.

What else moves the needle, beyond age:

Illustrative composite based on patterns across multiple specialist lenders — exact age bands, ignore-thresholds and rates vary lender to lender. Worth knowing: the median UK CCJ is actually above £500, so don't assume a small-value threshold automatically applies to you without checking. A larger deposit can also shift you into a better tier than age alone would suggest.

Defaults follow the same 6/12/24/36-month pattern as CCJs — with one extra, genuinely useful fact: what the default was for often matters as much as when it happened.

The type of default genuinely changes the outcome:

Illustrative composite based on multiple specialist lenders. If your only defaults are small utility bills, you may find your options are considerably better than the "default" label alone suggests.

DMPs are treated differently to CCJs and defaults — the key question isn't just age, it's whether the plan is still running or already finished, and how long it's been well-conducted.

A genuinely useful detail: several lenders will still let you borrow more if the plan is active, provided it's been running well for 12+ months — it's not simply "active DMP = no." The main practical difference is usually a lower maximum loan-to-value (often capped around 85%) rather than an outright refusal.

Illustrative composite based on multiple specialist lenders. Debt Arrangement Schemes (DAS, used in Scotland) are generally treated the same way as a DMP.

These carry the most weight of any credit marker — but there's a genuinely important distinction most people don't realise: an IVA typically needs far less time to "age out" than bankruptcy does.

Why the gap exists: lenders generally view an IVA as a structured, voluntary repayment arrangement — a sign the person actively managed their situation. Bankruptcy is viewed as more severe because debts are written off rather than repaid, which is why it typically takes longer to rebuild a lender's confidence.

Illustrative composite based on multiple specialist lenders — some lenders' most flexible tiers will consider an IVA discharged for as little as 1 year, while most still expect at least 2-3 years post-bankruptcy.

This is one of the most common — and most forgiving — credit issues, because lenders judge the pattern, not just the fact that it happened.

Most specialist lenders express this as a "worst status" over a rolling window (commonly the last 12 months) rather than a single hard rule — one isolated missed payment two years ago is treated very differently to three in the last year.

Credit files update monthly, not instantly — a recently cleared late payment might not show up straight away.

Still very relevant in today's market. The key distinction most people don't realise: it's less about whether you've ever used one, and much more about whether you have one open right now.

Even at more flexible lenders, having any live short-term credit account is one of the more common instant deal-breakers — closing it before you apply, if you can, is one of the simplest things that can genuinely widen your options.

Worth knowing upfront: your three-digit score matters far less than most people assume.

This is genuinely lender-specific — there's no single number that determines your outcome across the market, which is exactly why matching your full file to the right lender matters more than chasing a better score alone.

How your income is calculated depends entirely on how your business is structured — this genuinely changes what you can borrow.

Your main salary or self-employed income isn't the only thing that counts — several other income types can be included, though how much weight they carry varies a lot by lender.

If your income comes from a mix of sources, this is exactly the kind of situation where a broker earns their keep — matching your specific income mix to the lenders most likely to count all of it, not just the easiest bit.

Foreign currency income narrows the lender pool considerably — this is one area where "not all lenders" really means it.

This is a smaller, more specialist corner of the market — exactly the kind of case where using a whole-of-market broker matters most, since only some lenders touch it at all.

A bigger deposit can genuinely offset a more severe or recent credit issue, several specialist lenders will accept higher-risk profiles specifically because a larger deposit reduces their exposure.

The property itself can affect your options just as much as your credit history — some property types are more restricted, regardless of how strong your application is.

Property issues are often overlooked until late in the process — worth raising with us early, especially for leasehold flats, so we can match you to a lender comfortable with the specifics from the start.