^"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;  in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight" - Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

I was visiting with a couple who are still in the middle of training for their professional lives – good income but big educational fees to cope with. There is light at the end of the tunnel for them, they are beginning to think about buying a house. Thank God they are thinking about buying a house and not a mansion!

My thoughts turned to mortgages and the knowledge that I have had many mortgages but am not an expert in such financial matters. What does a person do when you want to give advice but don’t have the expertise? The quick answer is to hunt for good advice and not just rely on the newspaper adverts and those who use Google ads.

I had a hunt through different reputable magazines and focussed on one called ‘moneywise’ to scout for some quick advice.

Ten tips were mentioned, check your credit report, make sure you are on the electoral role, clear your debts, cancel direct debits you no longer need, switch to the cheapest energy provider in your present home, reduce your transport costs, stop saving (temporarily), make your deposit for the house you are buying as large as possible, think about getting a very long-term mortgage and then use a mortgage broker to help you find the very best mortgage.

It is up to you to work out if any of the above advice is of any use to you, what really matters is to really think through what you can do in order to make a mortgage provider think you are the most wonderful and reliable person to offer a mortgage to.

May we look at just two items? The first and second items are clearing your debts and cancelling certain direct debits. Why should you do these? It seems obvious that clearing your debts is important.  You don’t want debts hanging around your neck all the while strangling your future with increasing interest. The second, cancelling certain debits, is likewise an obvious step. Do you remember that phase you went through when you fancied yourself an Olympic athlete? You took yourself down to the gym and took out a membership at the gym. Can you remember how often you went? Cancel that Direct Debit if you can, hopefully without penalty. The same too with the magazine subscription for the camera magazine, finish that one.

Apart from trying to reduce your monthly costs what you are actually doing is letting the mortgage provider know that you have the regular disposable income available to know that you can afford many months of mortgage payments.

 Years ago anyone could get a mortgage. My friend Joe, not his real name, managed to get himself a 105% mortgage. Thank God he could afford it. Not everybody could, which was the reason why many mortgages had to be foreclosed. These days banks are a little more wary about the money they are looking after. Mortgage providers set out to check that you can afford to pay your mortgage over a long period of time. They have to do this by law.

I can’t think of a direct spiritual application here, what I can think as sensible is the idea that Jesus advised even kings to think through the wisdom of going into battle against a king. We should be doing the same with all of our activities. We are to think our actions through very carefully. We really should be seeking advice about new things we plan to do, we should be looking to experts and we should truly be measuring whether those experts really make looking after your life a priority. Then we should give thanks that in a modern society there are some protections in place to act as a guard over you.


"People Need the Lord" - performed by Steve Green is Bryn's choice of music.  Click on the picture to listen.