I doubt if your new loan will make much difference to the lender's thinking,
but then all has changed over the last few months, so who knows?

Rob Graham

Cool. Good point about track record because I'm actually not a big
borrower, more the the type that pays everything off on time. My only
borrowings are two mortgages (different properties), one of which is
to be replaced with a bigger mortgage. I need/want to maximise the
amount that I will be able to borrow this time round. Seems like a
toss-up between spending 4k from my own pocket and risking it being
taken off the mortgage that I eventually apply for.
My worry is that a lender might reduce the mortgage borrowing after
applying a factor 1 to an existing outstanding loan amount, e.g. if I
have a 4k loan, they reduce the borrowing amount by more than 4k.

And, yes, buying a car is a necessity at this time.