Buying Your First Home | Credit, Deposit & Mortgage Explained

First Home & Credit · Decisions - part of the find your point (fyp) autumn programme.

A first home has three levers - your credit score, your deposit, your rate. Most people work them in the wrong order, and the order is worth real money. This session is about finding your order, and putting dates on it.

WHAT WE’LL WORK THROUGH:

• Your credit file, read the way a lender reads it - and which levers genuinely move it

• Your deposit plan against real London entry prices - and whether the £450,000 Lifetime ISA cap changes the answer for you

• What your mortgage rate actually prices - and why one lever could be worth fixing before the others

• The rules are moving toward the borrower: the stress-test flexibility already in force (roughly £30,000 more borrowing capacity for many), higher-multiple schemes for first-time buyers, and the FCA’s proposed Mortgage Rule Review - what is in force today versus what is on its way

• The Lifetime ISA decision of the moment - open before the April 2028 First-Time Buyer ISA changeover or wait, and the routine that makes sure the 25% bonus actually lands

• The interactive quiz to close - where the evening’s ideas get tested and the discussion gets going

Every find your point (fyp) session sits at one of three levels: Foundations - assumes no prior knowledge · Decisions - assumes the basics and focuses on weighing up the choices · Optimise - focuses on improving what you already have. This session is Decisions.

WALK IN: thinking seriously about a first home, knowing what a credit file and a Lifetime ISA are - no previous session needed.

WALK OUT: with the first home as the target and your credit file working for you rather than against you - your own fix-first order, with dates on it.