If you’ve gone to a bank to find out what they’re offering by way of a mortgage, only to find that the deal that they’ve offered you is shockingly bad, then there are a few things that can be done to improve the situation.

First of all, you need to make sure that you don’t stop at getting the one mortgage quote. Most banks have a lot of similarities in how they figure out the rates they’re prepared to accept, but there are differences which can make all of the differences for you. Any time you have multiple quotes also means that you can each of the banks what the others are offering, and perhaps improve your offer that way.

The second option is basically to have patience, and slowly work at building up your credit rating. This and your yearly income are going to have the largest impact on the interest rates you’ll need to pay and how much you can actually borrow, but it does require patience. You may need to spend a few more years using credit cards, or perhaps even buy a car on credit, before the banks will be prepared to offer a good deal.