If your credit history has taken a hit since you first took out your mortgage — a missed payment, a default, or even a County Court Judgment (CCJ) — you might assume remortgaging is off the table. In reality, options usually exist, though they may look different from the mainstream deal you had before.
Why your credit history matters more when remortgaging to a new lender
A brand new lender will run a full credit check and affordability assessment as part of any remortgage application, meaning any adverse credit events since your last mortgage will be visible and factored into their decision. This is different from a product transfer with your existing lender, which often involves lighter underwriting and sometimes no new credit search at all — a genuinely useful fallback if your credit has deteriorated.
How different types of adverse credit are viewed
| Credit issue | Typical lender view |
|---|---|
| A single missed payment, 12+ months ago | Often manageable with mainstream or near-prime lenders |
| Multiple missed payments or a default | Usually needs a specialist adverse-credit lender |
| A County Court Judgment (CCJ) | Assessed by size, age and whether it was satisfied (paid) |
| Historic bankruptcy or IVA | Specialist lenders, often once discharged for a set period |
The specialist lender market
Beyond the well-known high street names, a genuine specialist market exists for borrowers with adverse credit, offering products specifically underwritten around past credit issues rather than automatically declining anyone with a blemished file. Rates and fees on these products are typically higher than mainstream deals, reflecting the additional risk the lender is taking on, but they can still represent a meaningful improvement over sitting on an expensive Standard Variable Rate.
Product transfer: often the simplest route
Steps to improve your position before applying
- Check your credit report across all three UK agencies and correct any inaccurate entries, which can happen more often than people expect
- Satisfy (pay off) any outstanding CCJs where possible — a satisfied CCJ is viewed more favourably than an unsatisfied one
- Build a recent track record of on-time payments, since lenders weight recent behaviour more heavily than older issues
- Register on the electoral roll if you haven't, as this supports identity verification and can affect scoring
- Avoid further credit applications in the months before applying, since each search can compound existing concerns
Why a broker matters even more here
Lender criteria for adverse credit vary enormously — one lender's acceptable threshold for a satisfied default might be another lender's automatic decline. A mortgage broker experienced with adverse credit cases will typically know which lenders are realistically likely to accept your specific circumstances, saving you from unnecessary hard credit searches with lenders unlikely to say yes.
What to expect on cost
Specialist adverse-credit remortgages typically come with higher interest rates and sometimes higher arrangement fees than mainstream deals, reflecting the lender's additional risk. Even so, for many borrowers this is still preferable to remaining on an expensive SVR, and it's often possible to remortgage again to a more competitive mainstream deal once your credit history has recovered further.
Worth reading next: our guide on Product Transfer vs Remortgaging: What's the Difference?, and Mortgages with Adverse Credit History: A Practical Guide.
Our free Remortgage Cost & Savings Calculator can help you check this against your own figures.
The bottom line
Bad credit makes remortgaging more complicated, not impossible. Start by checking whether a product transfer with your existing lender is realistic, explore the specialist adverse-credit market if not, and use a broker who understands this part of the market to avoid unnecessary declined applications along the way.