Your fixed rate is running out. You’ve had the letter from your lender, or you’ve spotted the date in your calendar, and now there’s a knot in your stomach.
That’s because somewhere in the last few years, life happened. A missed payment or two. A default you didn’t know about until it was too late. A CCJ from an old energy account. Maybe something bigger: a debt management plan, an IVA, a bankruptcy you’ve long since been discharged from.
And now you’re wondering whether you’ll actually be able to remortgage.
Here’s the short version, before we go any further: a bad credit history remortgage is possible in the vast majority of cases. Not guaranteed, not always at the cheapest rate on the market, but possible far more often than people assume.
This guide walks through exactly how it works: what lenders actually assess, what it’s likely to cost, what your options are if your current lender says no, and the practical steps that make a real difference to your chances.
If you’d like to explore your options you can book an appointment with one of our specialist bad credit history remortgage advisors.
Can you remortgage with bad credit history?
Yes. In the vast majority of scenarios, you can.
The important thing to understand is that “bad credit” is not one thing. It’s a spectrum that runs from a single late phone bill payment three years ago all the way to a recent bankruptcy. Where you sit on that spectrum determines which lenders will consider you and what rate you’ll be offered.
However, what it rarely determines is whether you can remortgage at all.
Most high street banks make lending decisions using automated credit scoring. A computer reads your file, applies a scorecard, and returns a yes or no.
That system is fast and cheap, and it’s brilliant at approving people with spotless files, but it’s terrible at understanding context and it cannot tell the difference between someone who overspent recklessly and someone who fell behind during a divorce, an illness, or a redundancy, then got straight back on track.
Specialist lenders work differently. They use manual underwriting, which means an actual human being reads your case, looks at what happened, when it happened, whether it’s been resolved, and what your finances look like today.
Many of them can’t be approached directly at all and are only accessible through mortgage brokers.
That’s the single most important thing to take from this guide. When you have a bad credit history, remortgage success usually comes down to being matched with the right lender.
Fortunately for you we have access to over 100 different lenders and more than 28,000 mortgage products, so we can match you with the lender that’s most appropriate for your situation.
How common is bad credit in the UK?
If you feel like the only person in this situation, the numbers say otherwise…
Pepper Money’s Specialist Lending Study, published in January 2026, found that 16.6 million UK adults, around 30% of the adult population, have experienced adverse credit at some point in their lives.
More telling still, 5.57 million UK adults missed at least one bill or credit repayment in the previous twelve months, and 67% of those went on to miss further payments.
This isn’t confined to low earners either. The same study found that 49% of people earning over £100,000 reported adverse credit at some point, compared with 35% of those earning under £50,000.
County court judgments tell a similar story. Registry Trust, which maintains the official Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines, recorded 1,196,174 new judgments across the UK and Ireland in 2025; an average of 4,728 judgments registered every working day (via Credit Connect).
Meanwhile, on the insolvency side, Insolvency Service figures show that in the twelve months to June 2026, one in every 369 adults in England and Wales entered a formal insolvency procedure. In the year to July 2026, 59% of those were IVAs, 35% were debt relief orders and 6% were bankruptcies.
You are, in short, in extremely large company. And an entire tier of the lending market has been built to serve exactly this group.
What actually counts as bad credit?
Lenders use the term “adverse credit” to cover anything on your file that suggests you’ve had difficulty meeting financial commitments. It ranges enormously in seriousness.
Here’s roughly how the market tiers it:
- Light adverse – Some high street lenders will still consider you. Rate premium is often small or non-existent
- Medium adverse – High street becomes unlikely. Mid-tier and specialist lenders in play. Expect a rate premium and a lower maximum loan to value
- Heavy adverse – Specialist lenders only. Higher rates, more equity required, and a proper case narrative matters enormously
Three things move you up or down these tiers more than anything else: how recently it happened, how severe it was, and whether it’s been settled.
Here’s a quick rundown of the things that will impact your credit…
Missed & late payments
Every time you pay late, pay less than the minimum, or miss a payment entirely on a credit agreement, it’s recorded.
While one or two isolated late payments on a credit card are usually forgivable, especially if they’re over a year old, a pattern of them across multiple accounts tells a different story.
Missed payments on your mortgage are in a category of their own…
Mortgage arrears
This is the one lenders care about most. If you’ve missed payments on the very product you’re now asking them to provide, that’s a big problem.
Most lenders draw a hard line at two or more missed mortgage payments in the last 24 months, but some can be even stricter.
If your arrears are historic, cleared and explicable, options open up. If they’re current and worsening, your realistic first step is talking to your existing lender about support rather than applying elsewhere.
It’s important to note that UK Finance has confirmed that contacting your lender to ask what support is available will not affect your credit score.
Defaults
A default is registered when a lender decides your account has broken down, typically after three to six months of missed payments. It stays on your file for six years from the default date, whether or not you later pay it off.
That’s not to say paying it off doesn’t matter. A “satisfied” default is viewed considerably more favourably than a unsatisfied one, and some lenders will only consider you at all once outstanding defaults are cleared.
County Court Judgements (CCJs)
A CCJ is a court order confirming you owe money. It stays on the register and your credit file for six years unless you pay it in full within one month of judgment, in which case it can be removed entirely.
Lenders will want to know how recently it was registered, how much it was for, whether it’s been satisfied, and how many you’ve had.
Some cap the value they’ll accept, often somewhere between £1,000 and £2,500. Others have no cap at all but will price for it.
Some specialist lenders will consider unsatisfied CCJs depending on the amount, the age and your LTV. However, satisfying it first materially improves your position, and if you can clear it, you generally should.
Check out our guide on getting a mortgage with a CCJ to learn more.
Debt Management Plans (DMPs)
A DMP is an informal arrangement to repay your debts at a reduced monthly amount. It isn’t recorded as a single entry, but the reduced payments usually show as arrears or defaults on the individual accounts.
You can remortgage during an active DMP, but the pool of lenders shrinks considerably.
Many want to see the plan satisfied and a period of clean conduct afterwards, often at least twelve months.
Some people remortgage specifically to raise capital and clear the DMP, which can work, but needs careful thought.
Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs)
An IVA is a legally binding agreement between you and your creditors that allows you to repay your unsecured debts through manageable monthly payments, typically over five to six years. It sits on your credit file for six years from the start date.
While an IVA is still running you generally cannot remortgage without the approval of your insolvency practitioner, and many IVA agreements actually require you to attempt to release equity in the final year.
Once it’s completed and discharged, specialist lenders will consider you, with the length of time since discharge being the key factor.
Check out our guide on getting a mortgage with an IVA to learn more.
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is the most severe form of adverse credit, and it stays on your file for six years from the discharge date.
That being said, you can absolutely remortgage after bankruptcy.
Mainstream lenders will almost always say no while it’s still showing, but specialist lenders will consider applications, sometimes as soon as twelve months after discharge, with the caveat that you’ll typically need substantial equity.
What lenders really look at…
This is where most people’s assumptions go wrong.
There is no single magic credit score number that gets you approved or declined.
In fact, the idea that this single number exists is completely wrong in itself.
The three main credit reference agencies (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) each use a completely different scale, so a score that reads “poor” with one can read “fair” with another. Lenders don’t share those scales and mostly don’t use them.
What lenders do is either credit score you against their own internal model, or run a credit search and have an underwriter read the file. Those are different things, and it matters. High street lenders lean on scoring. Specialist lenders lean on searching and reading, because they already know your score has taken a hit and they’re interested in what’s underneath it.
An underwriter reading your file is essentially asking four questions:
- How recent is it? Time is the single biggest healer in credit. A default from four years ago carries a fraction of the weight of one from four months ago.
- How severe is it? A £200 satisfied default and a £12,000 CCJ are not the same event.
- Has it been resolved? Satisfied issues consistently open more doors than unsatisfied ones.
- Is it a pattern or a blip? One small cluster of problems around a redundancy in 2023 reads very differently to sporadic missed payments across six years.
There’s also a fifth question, which is unwritten but real: does the story make sense?
Underwriters are human. An application that explains a redundancy, a period of difficulty, and eighteen months of clean conduct since is a far easier yes than a file with no explanation attached.
Part of our job as a mortgage broker is writing that narrative into the case to help you stand a better chance at having your application accepted. We can achieve this via a notice of correction…
Notice of Correction
This is a statement of up to 200 words that you can add to your credit file, sitting alongside the adverse entry. While it cannot remove the marker, it does give a human underwriter your side of the story at the moment they’re reading your file.
Something like the following would work well:
“The defaults registered between March and August 2024 arose following a period of serious illness which prevented me from working. All accounts have since been settled in full and I have maintained all payments since September 2024.”
There are two important caveats you need to be aware of:
- Because a notice of correction has to be read by a human, it can slow applications down or cause automated systems to refer or reject
- It only helps if the story genuinely explains the problem
You can talk this through with us before adding one, so we can help you make sure it is as effective as possible in telling a lender your side of the story.
Your three options with your bad credit history remortgage
When your current deal expires, you have three options. Two of them are decisions. One of them happens by default if you do nothing.
1. A product transfer with your existing lender
A product transfer means switching to a new deal with the lender you’re already with. You stay put; only the rate changes.
For anyone with a bad credit history, this is often the quickest and easiest route, because most lenders don’t run a new credit check or full affordability assessment for a straight product transfer. So, if you’ve never missed a mortgage payment, your lender is generally comfortable keeping you.
The limitation is that you’re restricted to that lender’s own product range, which may not be the most competitive available. And if you want to borrow more, extend or shorten your term, or change who’s on the mortgage, it stops being a simple transfer and full checks come back into play.
The scale of this route is significant. UK Finance forecasts around £261 billion of internal product transfers in 2026, against roughly £77 billion of external remortgaging. So, staying put isn’t abnormal.
2. Remortgage to a new lender
This is a new mortgage with a different lender, with full underwriting, a credit search, an affordability assessment, a property valuation and a legal process.
It’s more work, but it’s the route that gives you access to the whole market, including the specialist lenders who exist for cases like yours. It’s also the only route if you want to raise capital and your existing lender won’t play ball.
We can take a look at your credit history and current rate to see whether it would be best for you to remortgage or go for a product transfer.
3. Doing nothing and rolling onto the SVR
If you take no action, you’ll roll onto your lender’s Standard Variable Rate when your deal ends.
This is the expensive option, and it’s where a surprising number of people with credit worries end up, precisely because they’re anxious about being declined and put the decision off.
The current average Standard Variable Rate in the UK is 7.34% (as of September 2026) which when compared to a substandard fixed rate (due to adverse credit) of let’s say 6.29% would cost you an extra £113 each month.
How much equity do you need for a bad credit history remortgage?
With a purchase, we talk about deposit but when it comes to a remortgage, the equity in your home does the same job.
A lower loan to value means lower risk for the lender, and lower risk buys you flexibility on credit history. Ultimately, it’s the main lever you have at your disposal.
One thing people often forget is that if your home has risen in value since you bought it, you may have more equity than you think, so it’s absolutely worth getting a local estate agent out to value your property, which is often completely free of charge.
In terms of how much equity you actually need for a bad credit history remortgage, 25% and above will serve you best and help minimise the damage caused by your poor credit. However, if you have less equity than that there are still options available.
How your bad credit history remortgage will work
If you’re fortunate enough to have time before your deal ends, use it. Here’s a practical sequence to follow immediately…
Check your credit
Start by using Checkmyfile’s free trial to receive a comprehensive credit report with data drawn from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. This way you won’t miss anything out!
You’ll be able to check that you’re registered on the electoral roll with all three agencies, see if there’s anything you weren’t aware of, and use their dispute resolution service to help fix any potential errors
If something like an outstanding default or CCJ pops up on your file, this is a sensible moment to settle it if you can afford to do so. Satisfied is meaningfully better than unsatisfied, and opens up more options for you.
*The Levels Financial will receive a £12 referral fee from CheckmyFile when you sign up for the free trial.
Mortgage Advice Bureau Limited and Mortgage Advice Bureau (Derby) Limited do not receive a share of this commission and has no direct affiliation with Check My File
Contact a mortgage broker
Next, get in contact with a mortgage broker (like ourselves) who has significant experience in dealing with bad credit remortgages, and send them the credit report you’ve received from Checkmyfile.
At this point, we’d jump on a call and go through your report together, checking for any errors, making sure any adverse markers that should have dropped off have been removed, checking that you’re correctly registered on the electoral roll at your current address, and confirming that every account has your correct current address.
If anything looks off we’ll help you sort it out or add a notice of correction.
Keep your bank statements clean
From this moment you also need to start treating your bank statements as part of the application, which means:
- Stopping gambling transactions
- Avoiding unarranged overdraft usage
- Clearing and closing Buy Now Pay Later agreements (read our blog on how Klarna impacts your application to learn why)
- Not applying for any new credit, including car finance or a new phone contract
Failing to keep your bank statements clean will just give a lender another reason to decline your application.
Exploring your options
Most lenders let you secure a new rate up to six months before your current deal ends. Once we get to this stage we’ll be able to tell you which lenders are viable and roughly what rate/monthly cost to expect.
If a full remortgage makes sense we’ll submit a properly prepared application with an explanatory case note; however, if it doesn’t then we’ll arrange a product transfer with your existing lender.
Once your application is submitted we’ll respond quickly to any underwriter queries, and make sure the completion date lines up with your current deal ending so you never touch the SVR.
If rates fall between submitting your application and your current deal ending, we can switch you to the new, lower rate. But if rates rise, you’re protected by the lower rate we’ve already secured for you. That’s why starting early, and having a broker on your side, can make such a big difference.
If your deal is ending in three weeks and you’ve just found this article, don’t panic. It’s still worth making the call. Options narrow but they don’t disappear, and a product transfer can often be arranged quickly as a holding position while you plan the better move.
What documents will you need for a bad credit history remortgage?
Being prepared genuinely speeds things up. For most bad credit history remortgage applications you’ll need:
- Photo ID (passport or driving licence)
- Proof of address, usually a recent utility bill or council tax statement
- Last three months’ payslips, or two to three years of accounts and SA302s if self-employed
- Last three months’ bank statements
- Your latest mortgage statement
- Details of any existing credit commitments
- Where relevant: your discharge certificate for bankruptcy, IVA completion certificate, or DMP satisfaction confirmation
- Where relevant: evidence that CCJs or defaults have been satisfied
That last group matters more than people expect. Proving something has been settled, with paperwork, is far more persuasive than simply saying so.
What to do if you’ve already had your remortgage declined
Being declined by one lender doesn’t mean you’ll be declined by all of them.
Firstly, you need to find out why you were declined. The lender may not give details, but you’re entitled to know which credit reference agency they used, and you can then check exactly what that agency holds. Very often, the reason is something specific and fixable.
Don’t immediately reapply elsewhere. This is one of the most damaging things people do because every application can leave a hard search on your credit profile. A cluster of applications in a short space of time can drag your score down further and make the next lender more cautious, meaning multiple declines can quickly turn what was a solvable case into a much more difficult one.
A high street decline tells you almost nothing about whether a specialist lender would say yes.
That’s why we’d recommend getting professional advice before the next attempt as a broker will have access to the specialist lenders that might say yes!
Joint remortgages: what if only one of you has bad credit?
Lenders assess joint applications on the weaker credit profile. So, unfortunately, a perfect score doesn’t average out against a poor one.
That sounds bleak, but it isn’t the whole picture.
A strong income, low LTV and clean recent conduct from one applicant genuinely helps the case, even where the credit issue sits with the other. And because every lender has different criteria, the right match still usually exists.
In this situation, an option worth exploring is applying in the name of the applicant with clean credit only. However, this is of course only possible if their income alone can support the borrowing.
You can use our borrowing power calculator to work out if either you or your partner earn enough individually to remortgage in one of your sole names.
Mistakes people make with a bad credit history remortgage
While bad credit doesn’t rule out a remortgage, it does mean small missteps cost more than they would for a straightforward case, and these are the ones we see most often.
- Doing nothing and rolling onto the SVR. By far the most expensive mistake, and usually driven by anxiety rather than a decision.
- Applying scattergun to multiple lenders. Every hard search leaves a mark. Three declines make the fourth application harder.
- Assuming a “no” from a high street lender means no full stop!
- Not checking reports from all three credit reference agencies using Checkmyfile. Lenders use different agencies. The problem might only be visible on the one you didn’t check.
- Applying for new credit shortly before a remortgage.
- Hiding things from their broker. Underwriters find everything and a surprise mid-application usually kills the case. Tell your adviser the full picture, including the parts you’d rather not say out loud. It changes which lender we choose, not whether we help.
- Leaving it until the last three weeks. Options exist but they narrow.
The common thread here is that every one of these mistakes shrinks your options before you’ve even had a proper conversation with someone who knows the market, so the single best move, whatever your credit history looks like, is to start early and be honest.
Don’t overlook protection
If your credit history was damaged by something that happened to you rather than something you did, notably a serious illness or accident that kept you out of work, it’s worth asking what would happen if it happened again.
Income protection, critical illness cover and mortgage payment protection exist precisely to stop an unexpected life event turning into missed payments.
If you’re someone who has already lived through the consequences of an unprotected shock, you’ll be well aware of how valuable having protection in place could have been.
If you haven’t, imagine rebuilding your credit file over two years, only to have a completely unavoidable setback undo all your hard work. The value of protection cannot be understated.
Book your free protection appointment with one of our specialists today to get your cover in place.
For insurance business we offer products from a choice of insurers.
How a mortgage broker helps with a bad credit history remortgage
Here are four main reasons you should use a mortgage broker, like us at The Levels Financial, for support with your bad credit history remortgage:
1. Access. A large share of specialist lenders don’t deal directly with the public at all. Without an intermediary, those products simply aren’t available to you. We have access to over 28,000 mortgage products across more than 100 lenders.
2. Placement. Every lender has its own written criteria on defaults, CCJs, DMPs, bankruptcies, arrears and everything else, and those criteria change regularly. Knowing that lender A accepts satisfied CCJs over 24 months while lender B needs 36 is the difference between an approval and a decline on your record. We know exactly what lenders deal with what cases!
3. Presentation. Specialist underwriting is human. A case that arrives with the credit history explained, evidence of satisfaction attached and the recovery documented gets a different reading to a bare application form. We’ll always present your case in the best possible light.
4. Timing. Sometimes the right advice is to wait four months until a marker crosses a threshold. Sometimes it’s to act immediately before your deal expires. Knowing which is which saves real money.
There’s also the part that doesn’t show up in any of that. Talking about a bad credit history is uncomfortable. People bury it, avoid opening letters, and hope it resolves itself. It doesn’t, and the cost of the delay is measurable.
We’ve had these conversations hundreds of times. Nothing you say will surprise us, and nothing you say will be judged.
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