Online Gambling and its Impact on Mortgage Applications in the UK

Scottish Mortgage Podcast

Online gambling has become a popular pastime for many people, but it's important to be aware of the impact it can have on your mortgage application. As a mortgage broker, it's my job to make sure you are informed about the factors that lenders take into consideration when assessing your application. I'll be discussing the key things that lenders look out for when it comes to online gambling and how it can impact your mortgage application.

The first thing that lenders will take into account is the amount of money that you are spending on gambling compared to your income. If you're earning £50,000 a year and you're gambling £5 a week, it's an negligible amount of money considering your salary, and it's likely to be sustainable. However, if you're earning £20,000 a year and you're gambling £1,000 a week, that's more than your income going on gambling, which is not sustainable. Lenders will take a view that it's not going to be sustainable unless you are a professional gambler. This is why the amount that you're gambling is going to be the key factor that lenders will look out for.

Another thing that lenders will take into consideration is the frequency of your gambling. If you've placed the odd bet on the Grand National and you haven't done any gambling since then, it's unlikely that lenders will be overly concerned about it. However, if you're gambling every day or if you're gambling more than what you're earning, then this is something that lenders will be looking into.

The key thing that I would look out for as a mortgage broker is the level of sustainability. If it is regular, I would factor it into the affordability checks. For example, if you are regularly gambling £5 a day, I would factor that in and make sure that £5 a day is going to be sustainable when you buy your house. This gives us a good indication as to whether a lender would see sense in it.

Another thing that lenders will take into consideration is whether or not you are using your savings to fund your gambling. If you've got £20,000 in savings and over a period of three months, that comes down to £10,000, and it's because you're doing all of the online gambling, lenders don't like that. You're showing that you're not managing your money properly and they would pull the plug on it and they would probably suggest that you reach out and get help for what's going on.

If you think that your gambling might be excessive, then it's always worthwhile to reach out and get help. There are different companies out there, such as GameStop, that can put stop so on your online gambling accounts. But it's important to note that this is not to scare monger, getting a mortgage with online gambling, generally speaking, is going to be possible. The majority of cases and the majority of clients that I'm talking to, there is a little bit of it there, whether it's a bet at the weekend or whether it is betting in horses every now and then, that there are occasions where we'd only gambling as there, and it's frequent, but it's affordable and it's well within the income limits and it's well within the affordability limits to be sustainable in the long run.

So, although it's something that could impact things, if it's within your budget and it's affordable, I wouldn't be overly concerned about it. But it's always something that you can get checked out. You can get your bank statements reviewed by a mortgage broker who can have a look at it and let you know what their thoughts are before you proceed with your mortgage application.

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