Mortgages

Does anyone have much experience with obtaining mortgages in the UK as a relative newcomer without indefinite leave to remain? I am a US/Canada dual citizen, and my wife is a US citizen. We are on a tier 2 visa, and have lived in the UK for about 1.25 years. We are planning on staying in the UK indefinitely, and I have permanent employment in the UK.

We have no problem with income for the size of loan we are seeking, and have a 15-20% deposit (depending on the property). We were working with a mortgage broker who had a lender who might have lended to us (I think it was Halifax, but the broker has not told me), but we failed the credit check. There are no problems with our UK credit except that it only goes back about 1.25 years (and our US credit is great). Also, since I have Canadian citizenship I can be on the election register, but my wife who only holds US citizenship cannot.

Is there anyone else who has obtained a mortgage under similar circumstances, and if so what lender/broker did you use? I understand that the policies of most lenders changed dramatically in the last few years, so please only reply if your experience is relatively recent. We really want to buy a place since we have a young son, and we are currently getting gouged on rent for a fairly crappy house by a not too great landlord.

Some fairly recent info here:

http://www.immigrationboards.com/settling-in/reccomended-mortgage-broker-for-tier-1-visa-holders-t162791.html

Sorry no personal experience though.

Thanks for the reply Shandy. That is interesting but mostly makes me depressed. We truly have no credit issues, previously had a mortgage in the US, and have plenty of income/deposit, but are unable to borrow. My wife is constantly looking at nice houses absolutely within our price range on Zoopla, while we have to stay in our rundown, POS rental unsure what we will do when the lease is up and therefore also unsure where our son will be able to start primary school next fall.

FYI for others, I have discovered that if you are not an EU or commonwealth citizen then you can have a note placed in your UK credit report with each of the three credit agencies stating you are unable to register to vote. This apparently may help you obtain credit as (for reasons only understood by the British) registering to vote impacts your credit rating. Supposedly it has something to do with proving your address, but that is absurd as bank accounts and utilities also prove address. Apologies, but I am rather worked up about this at the moment.