My boyfriend and I have been saving for a house deposit and have been living with my mum, paying a small bit of rent for the last year. She has now surprised us by giving us all of the rent back and that means we can start looking for a mortgage (and an apartment) in January.

The problem is that my boyfriend used to have a bit of a gambling habit. He is clean now and got help for it, but he is still paying back some debts and we are worried the bank won’t give us a loan. How far back can they check? Our savings account is very consistent, but his Revolut would not be.

​Answer

Congratulations on both counts. It’s very nice of your mum to do what she did, and I suspect she had always planned on giving you back the cash.

As a small aside, you’d want to ensure that the lump sum refund won’t appear like a gift from her to you, because some banks will ask for proof of where the money came from and why, so prepare to be asked for a letter from her confirming the action she took.

Separately, a lender looks at two elements primarily when you apply for a mortgage: your ability to repay (by far the more important), and your financial history and I suspect you believe this is where they might scupper you.

When you apply for a home loan, a bank generally asks for up to six months worth of bank statements from all sources from employed applicants.

Self-employed people can be asked to provide accounts for two or three years.

Your savings account is one thing, and it’s good you can show consistent ability to save. The current accounts, if they have recent evidence of gambling (i.e. large, regular amounts being spent in bookmakers, or online gambling sites), may cause them to ask questions.

It’s important to be open, honest and address their concerns; evidence of your boyfriend’s treatment and gambling-free status since then will be in his favour.

The debt is another issue. When a bank is assessing a loan application, it’s obliged to see what outstanding debt is owed. It will check this on the Central Credit Register (CCR) which holds information on this.

If, for instance, there is a credit union or bank loan your boyfriend took out to pay off gambling debts, this will be indicated, along with his regular repayments.

It may affect the level of borrowing (as it reduces your available income to service a mortgage). If there are no gaps in the repayment history, this is good.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission says: “Missed repayments will be recorded on the CCR for years, so if you see problems coming up, talk to your lender before they happen and see if you can make a different arrangement.”

If there are gaps, then it advises “a bad credit history will likely result in a loan refusal even if your income is enough to repay it. You have the right to include an explanatory statement of 200 words or less relating to any of the information. This will then be included on your credit report”.

My advice after that is to use a mortgage broker to engage in the loan application on your behalf. They know the market, and the lenders involved, and which ones are likely to be favourable to your position.

I’d be doing that sooner rather than later, and definitely before you start house-hunting, because knowing your budget will guide that process. Best of luck.​

​Send property questions to [email protected]. Sinéad presents The Home Show on Newstalk on Saturdays from 8am.

The Ryan Review

‘Rev me some cash, mum’, is the plaintive cry of teenagers everywhere, especially during the languid summer months.

With so many languishing at home until their 30s, perhaps “Rev me a mortgage” will become a reality.

The Revolut fintech has indicated that it will begin offering mortgage services in Ireland, a country which has surpassed the growth targets of the Lithuanian-based bank, and where it claims over 2.3 million customers.

But a mortgage proposition is very different from a personal loan, or money transfer service. It tends to be advice-based, lengthy in process and paper-heavy.

While there’s absolutely no doubt that if any new operator can do this entirely digitally it’s Revolut, it also remains to be seen quite how much of the lucrative market that it can tap.

While the pillar banks here may be nervous about the ability to corral a younger and enthusiastic banking cohort, they may not have too much to worry about when it comes to the big-ticket stuff.