One question I see asked time and again about matched betting is whether it affects a mortgage application. I was nervous about exactly this when we remortgaged our home while I was matched betting, so here's what happened and what I learned.

The short answer: matched betting doesn't show on your credit report, so it won't affect your credit score. But mortgage lenders do look at your bank statements, and lots of payments to and from bookmakers can raise questions. A separate bank account for matched betting keeps things simple.

Does matched betting affect your credit score?

No. When you open an account with an online bookmaker, they usually run a soft search to check your identity. Soft searches show on your own credit file, but lenders can't see them and they don't affect your credit score.

I'd read this in plenty of guides, but I still wasn't 100% sure it was true until I went through a mortgage application myself. My application was accepted with no questions about it.

Does any betting affect a mortgage application?

It can. Lenders don't usually mind the odd bet, but they review your bank statements to judge whether you can afford the repayments. Frequent or large payments to bookmakers can make them worry about gambling, which may lead to extra questions, a lower offer or, in some cases, a refusal.

Matched betting is different from gambling, as you cover every outcome so there's no gamble. But on a bank statement, it looks exactly the same as gambling, with lots of deposits and withdrawals to bookies. That's why how you manage your money matters.

Should I stop matched betting before applying for a mortgage?

Some people suggest stopping completely. I didn't. Instead, I kept all my matched betting in a separate bank account, with a different bank from my main current account.

Most lenders ask for around three months of statements for the account your income goes into, along with any others they specifically request. Mine asked for my main current account and credit cards, which is where all our normal household spending was, so that's what I sent.

One important point: if a lender asks you to list all your accounts, or asks directly about other income, answer honestly. Leaving out information they've asked for can cause far bigger problems than matched betting ever would. A separate account keeps your main statements clean, but it isn't something to hide.

Keep the matched betting account completely separate

I'd also avoid transferring money between your main account and your matched betting account.

Our lender wanted to see statements for every account we'd been transferring money into over the past three months, even the £20 a month we paid into each of our children's savings accounts! We were never asked for that when we first got our mortgage around five years earlier.

So if you have regular transfers to an account you use for matched betting, expect the lender to ask about it. I'd started my matched betting account with its own small starting fund and never moved money to or from my main account, so it never came up.

Want to try matched betting? I used Outplayed for my whole two years, and you can start their 7-day free trial here. 

Do mortgage lenders even care about matched betting?

Honestly, I don't know, and I'm not a mortgage adviser. Lenders aren't interested in how you spend your money for its own sake. They want to know you can repay the loan. If they think you have a gambling problem, that could be an issue, and a whole account full of bookmaker transactions could look that way, even though matched betting is the opposite of gambling.

If you're worried, a mortgage broker can tell you how different lenders view it before you apply.

My mortgage application was accepted while I was matched betting

I was so relieved when we got the call to say everything had been accepted. Here's what I did, and what I'd do again:

• Keep a separate bank account just for matched betting

• Have it with a different bank from your main account

• Don't transfer money between your main account and your matched betting account

• Don't include matched betting profits as income on your application, as lenders won't count them

• Answer honestly if you're asked about other accounts or income

• Keep records of your bets and profits, so you can show it's a money-making system, not gambling, if you're ever asked

What is matched betting?

Matched betting is a way of making a profit from the free bet offers bookmakers regularly give away. You cover every outcome of an event, so it doesn't matter who wins, and you extract the profit from the free bet.

It sounds complicated, and I didn't fully understand it at first, but I followed the Outplayed step-by-step guides (they were called Profit Accumulator back then) and made a profit straight away.

The sign-up offers are the most profitable: I made £1,341.81 in my first two months. After that, reload offers keep the profits coming, though they're smaller. Over two years I made £5,685.15, sometimes in only half an hour a week, and it was all tax-free.

Not sure it's legit? It's been covered by The Guardian and plenty of other journalists, and you can read whether matched betting is legal, safe or a scam for my honest answers.

If you'd like to give it a go, try Outplayed free for 7 days, the same software I used for my whole two years. Just remember it rolls into a paid subscription unless you cancel within the 7 days.