Self-employment is booming
More than 4.5 million of us work for ourselves these days.
But getting a mortgage when you're self-employed can be tricky, often because mortgage lenders have to comply with strict rules to ensure you can afford your loan. One of the biggest hurdles can be proving what you’ll earn each month.
Fortunately, whether you think of yourself as a sole trader, freelancer, side-hustler or majority shareholder, our common-sense approach means we'll consider your application on its merits – looking at the whole picture, not just your credit score or loan-to-income ratio.
Even if you’ve had CCJs or defaults, or been turned down elsewhere before, you could still apply with us.
No penalties
As a self-employed applicant, you’ll enjoy the same rates and minimum deposit as everyone else – with the peace of mind that we can fix your rate for up to five years, to make things more predictable for you.
And because we want to make the mortgage application process more inclusive for self-employed workers, some of our Personal mortgages include no Early Repayment Charge options – so if your circumstances change and you decide to remortgage elsewhere, you won't be penalised.
Proving your income
We have no minimum income requirements. We'll simply check you can afford the payments on the loan you're asking for.
We don't mind if you're a limited company director taking a basic salary plus dividends, or a sole trader doing your own books; we'll treat your mortgage application the way it deserves to be: individually.
As well as your self-employment income, we'll also take into account things like income from investments or rental properties, any pension you're already claiming, or tax credits you qualify for.
Exactly what evidence you need will depend on the nitty-gritty of your application. But in most cases, we'll ask you for your last two SA302s (dated in the last 18 months) or your last two tax calculations for HMRC. Whatever the case, having as much documentation as possible will play in your favour.
Overall cost for comparison
For example: A mortgage of £106,800 payable over 17 years, initially on a fixed rate for 5 years at 5.6% (and then on a tracker rate for the remaining 12 years at 0.5% above the Together Homeowner Managed Rate (THMR)) would require 60 instalments of £833.14 followed by 144 monthly payments of £822.03 plus a redemption administration fee of £110.00.
The total amount payable would be £168,471 made up of the loan amount (£106,800) plus interest on the loan (£57,455), arrangement fee (£2,670) plus interest on this fee (£1,436) and the redemption administration fee (£110.00).
The overall cost for comparison is 6% APRC representative.
The actual rate available will depend upon your circumstances. Ask us for a personalised illustration.
Any property used as security, including your home, may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage or any other debt secured against it. Consolidating unsecured debt through secured lending could increase the total amount you pay back.