Mortgages for self-employed returnees

[oidara 10]

We have returned to the UK and we are struggling to get a mortgage because were self-employed and haven't been in the UK for a decade. The mortgage broker said lenders like to see at least a year's history of income in Blighty, if not 2-3.

 

It occurred to me that many of you may have faced similar situations, so I wondered if you can recommend banks or other lenders who might be willing to touch us with a ten foot barge pole!

 

Thanks!

[The Pom Queen 5,788]

Have you tried posting on Brits Abroad http://www.britsabroad.com on there you have members returning back to the UK from all over in the world so someone may be able to help. Do they not do the self certified mortgages still? I know you will pay more interest but you could change over once you qualify

[oidara 10]

Thanks. I'll give it a try.

[Rupert 1,312]

We have returned to the UK and we are struggling to get a mortgage because were self-employed and haven't been in the UK for a decade. The mortgage broker said lenders like to see at least a year's history of income in Blighty, if not 2-3.

 

It occurred to me that many of you may have faced similar situations, so I wondered if you can recommend banks or other lenders who might be willing to touch us with a ten foot barge pole!

 

Thanks!

 

You might be better off renting for a year and then getting a high street mortgage. If you re deemed high risk you might find none if the good deals are available to you at the moment.

[oidara 10]

Problem is that we have found our dream house, the likes of which will probably only come up once in a blue moon! (somewhere with land in the SW that doesn't cost a small fortune)

[MovingtoTasmania 2,089]

Problem is that we have found our dream house, the likes of which will probably only come up once in a blue moon! (somewhere with land in the SW that doesn't cost a small fortune)

 

You could try somewhere like Kensington or somewhere like Kingfisher but you will be hammered for interest as you will need a sub-prime mortgage. Your best bet is to find a broker (usually attached to the Estate Agent). They won't charge you (as they get paid when you get the mortgage) and they can shop around for 100's of products for you in just a couple of hours. Sub-prime mortgages are rare nowadays due to the recession but you should look in to the Government Equity Loan that will give you an additional 20% of the house cost so that you don't need to borrow as much (assuming you took some money back with you?).

 

I don't know if this helps but please do look in to these Government schemes now as they are for everyone, not just first time buyers and you are allowed to have your own money saved up and it's 20% of the asking price, not 20% of the mortgage.

[oidara 10]

Thanks for the input. We will try more brokers tomorrow and see if they can be more useful than the ones we tried today.

 

As far as I understood the equity loan thing, it only works right now for new-builds, but will be in place for all properties from January. Is that right? If so, that will be too late for us on this one unfortunately, which we have stupidly set our hearts on after so many years of looking and finding nothing decent. Note to self: do not house hunt in future without finances in place!!!

[MovingtoTasmania 2,089]

Thanks for the input. We will try more brokers tomorrow and see if they can be more useful than the ones we tried today.

 

As far as I understood the equity loan thing, it only works right now for new-builds, but will be in place for all properties from January. Is that right? If so, that will be too late for us on this one unfortunately, which we have stupidly set our hearts on after so many years of looking and finding nothing decent. Note to self: do not house hunt in future without finances in place!!!

 

I think you're getting your schemes confused. The Help to Buy Equity Loan is for right now and 20%. The Help to Buy Mortgage Guarantee where you will get a mortgage with only a 5% deposit, starts from January 2014. For now, I think if you really do have your heart set on this particular property, you need to get the ball rolling on applying for your equity loan, explaining on your mortgage app that this is what you're doing, plus your own deposit and that might help you. If that doesn't work, then you may be eligible for the Mortgage Guarantee scheme, but understandably, you don't want to divulge your private affairs on a public forum, but if you want to PM me, that's fine as I have recently helped my best friend's daughter get a mortgage to move and looked in to this for one of my kids too.

[oidara 10]

Hello again.

 

Thanks for taking the time to respond to me again - much appreciated! We do have a sizeable deposit, so that's not so much an issue, but we're still a long way short.

 

I looked into what you said and I found this:

https://www.gov.uk/affordable-home-ownership-schemes/help-to-buy-equity-loans

"Help to Buy equity loans are open to both first-time buyers and home movers on new-build homes worth up to £600,000."

It's the new-build part that's the problem as it's not a new-build. As I understand, from January this won't matter, but this will be too late for us for this particular property. Please do correct me if I'm wrong!

[mrsindecision 249]

We were in the same boat even though OH NHS worker - my self employment an issue. Most lenders want at least two if not three years books. We rented for two years and made sure financial year end for accounts was linked to return date (i.e we came back in June - financial year July-June to maximise time for accounts). We went with our own bank in the end (Yorkshire Bank) who are part of NAB group and therefore were willing to include my Aussie accounts in reckoning. They wouldn't lend us the full amount we wanted but we have just topped it up as my year end just finished and now have 3 years UK accounts. Don't think there is a way around it without paying outrageous interest rates. However important to weight up the final costs as in 6 months of having a mortgage we have paid 10k off the capital - we had two years of rent that went nowhere except into landlords' pocket. So might be more cost effective to take higher interest rate just don't tie yourself in for too long.

[oidara 10]

Thanks for the input. Glad it worked out for you in the end. We will continue to put our thinking caps on about how to get around this. Contractor mortgages look to be a promising option.

[CrozierFamily 20]

Hi there

 

In the good old (or not so good) days you could probably have self certified and been fine, but that is no longer an option post credit crunch.

 

You might want to have a quick read of this from Which and maybe give them a call.

 

http://www.whichmortgageadvisers.co.uk/specialist/self-employed-mortgages/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=generic_e&utm_content=self_cert_e&utm_term=self_certification_mortgages&cmp=ppc_google

 

I would agree with other posters that because you have no books to show your previous income, you will be considered a higher risk than an established self employed person. However, the risk decision will also depend on what your profession is and whether you can demonstrate steady income. I would imagine if for example you are a project manager or an IT contractor with a contract for work for decent length of time that could help. Having a chunky deposit can't help either, because if the you know what hits the fan at least the lender can sell your property and recover their funds.

 

You will be paying a premium until you can get a few years books though. That unfortunately for you is a certainty in this market.

[Guest]

This is also the position we are in, luckily we already own a house in the general area we wish to live so can sit it out until we can get a mortgage but would like to know if we do have other options so interested in this thread and any info people have.

 

I am wondering if accounts from Australia can be taken into account?

[CrozierFamily 20]

This is also the position we are in, luckily we already own a house in the general area we wish to live so can sit it out until we can get a mortgage but would like to know if we do have other options so interested in this thread and any info people have.

 

I am wondering if accounts from Australia can be taken into account?

 

I would not expect Australian (or any kind of foreign accounts) would be something a UK lender would be overly interested in as they do not demonstrate any kind of future earning in the UK. For a number of reasons it is unlikely a lender here would have any real interest in foreign books, unless the foreign business is still trading and generating income of some kind. What the lender would be more interested in is forward looking income, so any solid contracts of future income etc.

 

There will be companies out there that can help. But you will pay a high price for being a very high risk in the eyes of a lender.

[Dawny 11,397]

We had the same problem, it was an estate agents finance guy that got our mortgage settled for us, where a bank wouldn't help when we went direct, but we also had added issue because hubby is self employed and we already owned our own home with no mortgage, halifax came through for us!

[le petit roi 36]

We had the same problem, it was an estate agents finance guy that got our mortgage settled for us, where a bank wouldn't help when we went direct, but we also had added issue because hubby is self employed and we already owned our own home with no mortgage, halifax came through for us!

 

Without wishing to get into the nooks and crannies of your personal finances, did Halifax charge you a higher interest rate because of the higher risk of your circumstances or were you given their normal published rate?

[Dawny 11,397]

Without wishing to get into the nooks and crannies of your personal finances, did Halifax charge you a higher interest rate because of the higher risk of your circumstances or were you given their normal published rate?

Nope got a decent interest rate and fixed for two years. if anything the banks were charging higher rate!

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