Professional immigrants to the country, such as Indian software or banking professionals, can afford the mortgage on their desired houses yet they do not find it easy to get on the housing ladder. They arrive in the country with no savings and it takes them years to save up enough to afford the 15%+ deposit required by most banks to get an acceptable interest rate on the mortgage. In today’s environment of rising house prices, this delay often proves to be punitive. A typical family looking to buy a house in London will need to save for 4-5 years before they can afford the deposit and stamp duty. Over that period, house prices may rise by more than 25%, stretching affordability as well as increasing the amount of the required deposit.

First generation immigrants have no family in the country and cannot rely on their parents to contribute with financial assistance. Borrowing through the conventional route is also not an option in such circumstances. Any additional unsecured borrowing will show up on their credit files, reducing the monthly mortgage affordability and therefore the mortgage amount available to them. As an example, a personal loan of £10,000 at 8% interest rate for 5 years requires a monthly repayment of c£200, which will reduce the ability to service a 30-year mortgage at 3.0% interest rate by c£50,000. For every £1 borrowed on the personal loan, the mortgage amount available reduces by £5.  

Unbolted now offers a simple solution to raise a deposit at an affordable interest rate without impacting the credit file or affordability calculations. When Rashi (name changed) and her husband found it difficult to meet the stamp duty payments on their new house purchase, they took advantage of this offer from Unbolted. They borrowed £10,000 against her gold wedding jewellery to cover the stamp duty payment of the new house they were looking to buy. They plan to pay-off the debt and redeem the jewellery when her husband (who works in the City) receives his bonus. Unbolted advanced the funds within hours at an affordable rate. And it did so without any credit checks and without leaving any footprint on the credit file. 

For Rashi, it was a revelation to find Unbolted after looking for a way to raise funds against her gold. At an interest rate of 2% per month, Unbolted offered interest rates that are closer to credit card rates than the 5-7% per month loan offers she received from other lenders or pawnbrokers. The quality and speed of service and interest rates were more representative of the £15bn gold loan market in India, where she grew up and where her parents still live. In fact at Unbolted, she was pleasantly surprised to learn that there were no monthly payment requirements and that the loan is not recalled if gold prices fall. The ability to have a payment holiday on her loan with Unbolted allowed her to plan for small improvements and decorations to her house.

With Unbolted, you can use your gold or other valuables locked up in the safe to get onto the housing ladder faster.