Your Home Finance
Missed payments don't automatically stop you getting a mortgage.
Whether yours are recent or historic, isolated or a pattern, the right lender usually matters more than the count alone.
30+ years
payment conduct
Recency & pattern
expertise
Specialist lenders
matched daily
FCA regulated
advice
How your case is assessed
How lenders assess missed payments
Lenders read payment conduct — not just a credit score. Recency, pattern, and how late each mark went usually matter more than the headline number.
How recent are the late marks?
Marks in the last 12 months weigh heavier than older, settled history — timing often decides lender appetite.
One-off or a pattern?
An isolated late is judged differently from repeated consecutive misses across months or accounts.
How many months late?
Status depth (1 / 2 / 3 months late) changes specialist tiers — depth matters as much as count.
Which accounts — and is conduct clean now?
Mortgage or secured arrears are scrutinised differently from a single unsecured card late. Current on-time conduct strengthens the case.
You don't need to decode status codes yourself — we assess the full payment history first.
Specialist insight
Not every lender reads payment conduct the same way
Recent or repeated lates
Higher challenge
Fewer high-street options · more specialist scrutiny · consecutive months late can matter more than a single historic mark.
Older, isolated late — clean since
More lender choice
Broader panel when the miss is aged, explained, and followed by clean conduct — pattern and recency drive the difference.
Independent reviews
Verified client reviews on Reviews.io
Live verified reviews — not cherry-picked on-page quotes.
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Your adviser
Jay Sabine
Expert mortgage adviser specialising in complex cases including adverse credit, self-employed borrowers, and first-time buyers. All advice is tailored to your individual circumstances.
Content reviewed: 3 August 2026
CeMAP awarded by The London Institute of Banking & Finance. Cert CII (MP) awarded by the Chartered Insurance Institute.
Specialist in payment-conduct and adverse-credit mortgages
Helping clients with complex credit histories for over 30 years · CeMAP, Cert CII (MP) · FCA regulated
“Recent payment conduct often matters more than one isolated historic missed payment — lenders read the pattern, not just the count.”
Reviewed by Jay Sabine · Mortgage adviser · 30+ years' experience
Lived experience
Mistakes we repeatedly see
Where missed-payment cases go wrong before a specialist reads the pattern.
Treating every late mark as equally fatal
An old isolated miss and recent consecutive lates are different conversations — lenders know the difference.
Applying while marks are still very recent
A short period of clean conduct often widens choice more than another hopeful application.
Only approaching high street after a score decline
Automation rarely re-reads payment history kindly. Specialists do.
Ignoring which accounts were late
Mortgage arrears and a single card late are not assessed the same way.
Real client scenarios
How we've helped with missed payments
Based on genuine cases we've helped with. Personal details have been changed to protect privacy.
Older isolated card lates
- ~2 years old
- Isolated marks
- 20% deposit
- Placed
Situation
Three missed payments on a credit card about two years ago. Declined by a mainstream lender.
Challenge
Assumed the late marks made them unmortgageable — and kept approaching lenders who score on headlines, not patterns.
What changed
Stopped high-street applications. Matched a specialist who reads payment history: isolated marks, no defaults or CCJs, perfect conduct since, 20% deposit.
Outcome
Right tier, one considered approach — the marks were old and isolated; the wrong lender was the blocker.
Why it worked
Pattern and recency reached a specialist — not a score that treated historic marks as current pressure.
Recent lates on two accounts
- Last 6 months
- Brought current
- Waited — then placed
Situation
Missed payments in the last six months on two accounts. Strong income and a workable deposit.
Challenge
Applying immediately would likely mean further declines and more hard searches on an already pressured file.
What changed
Brought accounts current, maintained six months of clean payments, then one application to an adverse lender who can accept recent marks with a stronger deposit.
Outcome
Honest wait advice first — timing beat hope; one placement after conduct improved beat three quick nos.
Why it worked
Clean months changed the tier. Waiting was the commercial decision — not another footprint.
What happens after you get in touch
From first contact to a clear answer
What happens when you get in touch — no hard search at this stage.
- 1
Tell us what happened (no hard search at this stage)
- 2
Jay reviews your circumstances
- 3
We discuss the appropriate route — honestly, without promising approval
- 4
If proceeding: Agreement in Principle → application → completion
Reassurance
- Free initial review — before any hard credit search
- We do not promise approval — we match honest advice to your file
- Wrong lender first hurts more than waiting — we guide the sequence
Before you enquire
What we'll ask you on the first call
Straightforward questions — no hard credit search at this stage.
- How recent the late marks are
- One-off or a pattern?
- Which accounts were affected
- Whether conduct is clean now
Advisory promise
When we might tell you to wait
We won't always tell you to apply today.
We may advise waiting where missed payments are very recent and a short period of clean conduct is likely to increase lender choice or improve pricing.
If waiting would meaningfully widen options, we'll say so and help you plan that path. We give advice — not just applications.
Straight answers
Common questions about missed payment mortgages
Our promise
What we'll never do
- Tell you to apply if it won't work
- Send applications everywhere
- Recommend borrowing beyond your budget
- Hide bad news
We don't judge your credit history. We help you understand what's possible.
Find out what's possible
Tell us about your payment history and we'll assess what's realistically possible.
We don't recommend a lender until we've understood how recent the marks are, whether they're a pattern, and whether conduct is clean now.
£500 adviser fee — payable on completion.
Let's review your payment history
Free adviser assessment • No credit search • FCA regulated
We review your whole situation — CCJs, defaults, declines, all of it — before recommending a lender. No credit search at this stage.
Related guides
Not missed payments? Explore similar situations
If late marks became something else on the file, these chapters are the next step.