Free preparation pack

Late / Missed Payment Mortgage Preparation Pack

A pack for preparing when your credit history includes late or missed payments: get the facts from your own files, record each item accurately, write short factual explanations, and see what is genuinely within your control.

Time needed: About 45 minutes once your credit files are in front of you.

Read the full guide

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Who this is for

Anyone who knows, or suspects, that their credit file shows late or missed payments and wants to prepare accurately instead of anxiously.

What this pack cannot do

This pack does not score you, predict whether an application would be accepted, or tell you how long anything takes to stop mattering. Those depend on lender policy and advice, not on a checklist.

Credit information checklist

Start with your own data. Everything else in this pack depends on having it.

Statutory credit file from at least two credit reference agenciesLenders may use any of them, and their records differ.
Every account listed, including closed ones still shownClosed accounts can still carry historic markers.
Each marker's date, and the account it belongs toDates are the single most important detail and the most often misremembered.
Current status of each accountUp to date, in arrears, arrangement, default, satisfied.
Any account you do not recogniseIt may be an error, or it may need explaining.
Your address history as the agencies hold itMismatched history causes verification problems unrelated to payments.
Any notice of correction or dispute already recordedIt is part of the picture and shows action already taken.
Evidence of payments made since, where relevantA consistent recent record is factual and within your control.

Marker-by-marker tracker

One row per item, copied from the file rather than from memory. Repeat the rows as needed on paper.

Account name and type: As the file shows it.
Date of the marker: Month and year at minimum.
What the marker says: Late, missed, arrangement, default — use the file's own wording.
Current status: Settled, satisfied, still active, in arrangement.
Amount involved, if shown: Only if the file shows it. Do not estimate.
What was happening at the time: One factual sentence for your own use.
What changed afterwards: How and when the position was resolved.
Anything you believe is wrong: And whether you have raised it, with the date.

Short factual explanation worksheet

Two or three sentences per item, in this order: what happened, what you did about it, what is different now. No apology, no speculation.

The earliest item, in three sentences.
The most recent item, in three sentences.
Any item caused by something outside your control, stated factually.
Anything you would want read alongside the file, such as a period of illness or a change of circumstances.
What your record over the last twelve months shows.

Things you may not know yet

Do not fill these in with guesses. Take them to an adviser.

How lenders weigh recency against severity in your case.
Whether a specific marker type matters more than another for the route you are considering.
Whether an item on your file is reportable in error and can be challenged.
Whether waiting changes your position, and what would actually change.
Whether anything you are planning to do next would make preparation harder.

Questions for a qualified adviser

Bring your tracker and your written explanations.

Given the dates on my file, what would you want to establish before any application?
Would you present any of these items differently from how I have written them?
Given everything above about late or missed payments, what would you want to see before you would consider an application ready to submit?
Which of my documents would you expect a lender to question, and how would you present it?
Is there anything in my situation where lenders differ enough that it changes who I should apply to?
What would you advise me to do first, and what can safely wait?
How long would you expect my preparation to take from here?
What should I avoid doing in the meantime, and why?

One-page adviser handover summary

The single page that makes the appointment productive.

What I am trying to do: One sentence: buy, move, remortgage, or find out whether now is realistic.
Where I am in preparation: Just started / gathering documents / documents ready / ready to talk to an adviser.
The three facts an adviser needs first: Write the three things you would want them to know before anything else.
Documents I already have: List by name only. Do not attach anything to this page.
Documents I still need: Include who you have to ask, and how long they usually take.
Things I cannot explain yet: Anything you know will be asked about but cannot yet answer confidently.
My questions, in priority order: Take these to the appointment written down.

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