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Why you should never use joke references when sending money to mates

Maybe it's not so funny after all.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 20th August 2021

A mortgage adviser’s word of warning to prospective homebuyers this week has got hundreds of thousands of people reconsidering the references they use to transfer money.

Transferring money to pay back anything from holidays and takeaways, to drinks, taxi fares and everything in between is a pretty common occurrence within most friendship groups, and let’s be honest, we’ve all thought it was funny to crack a bit of a joke in the reference box when sending over our share too.

Sure, perhaps the more sensible of the friendship group will actually put ‘Chinese Takeaway’ or ‘Ibiza Flight’ as the reference.

Others will probably opt for ‘money for drugs’ or ‘sex’ instead.

No matter much these highly-questionable references makes us laugh though, a mortgage advisor has taken to TikTok this week to warn against it if you’re hoping to get on the property ladder anytime soon.

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KAG Financial (@kagfinancial) has informed her followers on the popular video sharing app that a minor gag might not actually be worth it in the long run when it comes to applying for a mortgage as, besides sender and recipient of the cash being in on the reference joke, so are the banks and lenders.

During the 13-second video – which has already amassed nearly half a million views, over 24.4k likes and nearly 1000 comments – KAG Financial explains: “Remember the money you transferred your pal? We see it and so does the lender.

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“‘Money for drugs’ is probably not the best thing to use. (This is actually tame compared to what we see).

“Avoid joke references.”

And then, when people asked if it could actually harm their chances of securing a mortgage, the company responded to say: “For those of you asking how far they check back – most of the time it’s three months, your application is also only affected if it’s something illegal”.

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“For those of you asking how far they check back – most of the time it’s three months, your application is also only affected if it’s something illegal” they said.

Some took the advice one board, as one commented to say: “Jesus, some of mine are horrific.”

Another added: “And this is why I will never ever ever get a mortgage”.

Featured Image – TikTok / KAG Financial