Well, I had my interview with Fingal today. It was very pleasant and unformal.
A nice Scottish lady sat down with me and went through all my paperwork. She was mainly interested in my current account statement and what was going in/out of it. I had a few lodgements of odd amounts (cheques lodged to cover my housemate's share of bills, and a sterling cheque from my brother for about £200.) All was in order cept for 2 pieces of paperwork - I have to send in an original copy of my credit card statement (I only enclosed an internet printout) and a letter from my landlord as I dont have a lease.
She says that once all that is in order it will go forward to "management" for approval. Once I get approval, I go on the waiting list. You application is then passed on to their "sales office" and they will call you as properties come available. She said I could get an offer anything from 2 months to 12 months after approval - she explained that an offer depends on things like how much of a mortgage I will be approved for, Suitable areas, Cancellations from other applications, etc.
She said properties will be available all over Fingal as most of their properties come from the Part V 20% rule. She said most of the properties are located in the middle of regular private estates/blocks and will be the same as regular properties in the estate, but wont have added extras like tiling, etc.
Mortgages will be for a period of 25 years and will be directly from Fingal. Mortgage protection, etc, will be included. They will only give you 95% of the total to a max of €185k. She asked me if I would have some way of raising the extra 5% and I said that my family would be willing. She asked me the max amount they would be willing to give.
She mentioned a few things that they are fairly strict on at the time of application:
Credit Cards - on-going balances of over €500 are frowned upon. (mine is about €200)
Over-Drafts - also frowned upon - My Current Account had dipped below sea-level on a few occasions - but only for periods of a few days, so I think it will be ok.
Savings - they need €3000 minimum savings for a period of 3 months or more, she said if you happen to "dip" into your savings which brings it below €3000, they will make you wait another 3 months before they will approve you - I was ok on this too!
So all I can do now is sit and wait!
J