This is such a nightmare. We have a mortgage and HSBC won't let us port it to a new house! We don't want to borrow more and we would have a greater amount of equity in the new place. I also have a permanent part-time contract as a lecturer. We have been paying our existing mortgage without default for 7 years! I approached Santander and Halifax neither of whom accept the bursary. I am pinning my hopes on Natwest thanks to the advice in this forum- have had a web chat with them and they agree to 'consider' the bursary so they are ringing me later for a chat. Really hope they will take us on!
When we applied with HSBC they had a letter from my supervisor and the payment slips.... how times have changed- my husband was in receipt of a bursary when we first got our mortgage (in 2004) for a Masters and they welcomed us with open arms and I now earn more part-time than I did full-time... BONKERS!! Good luck to anyone else who is trying but stay clear of HSBC, Santander and Halifax they gave me a clear 'NO'.